Famous Chinese female journalist Luqiu Luwei Lailuo! Let's take a look at her views on feminism, the MeToo movement in Japan and South Korea, and what she wants to say to her friends in Taiwan!
Rose is a truth-seeking journalist who covers many international events around the world. From the war on terror in Afghanistan to the war in Iraq to the waves of the Arab Spring, she uses keen insight and professional observation to show the problems of different levels of society, while allowing the audience to feel the emotions and humanity contained in them.
Gender gaps that remain
Rose mentioned that there were no women in the eight presidents of Hong Kong's universities, and now there is one. Wei Xuan said that Taiwan's figures may be similar, with more than ninety percent of the management of companies with more than 100 employees being men, and Rose then responded that the gender ratio of Hong Kong's top managers is also unbalanced.
When it comes to housework, Rose also asks students to think about whether housework needs to be paid, Wei Xuan added that this is called unpaid labour, and there are many structural issues in this society.
"A lot of people think that women's fans are not radical enough, because we are taking a pluralistic and inclusive stance, and we want to create a change that is not between men and women, but communion with each other." Wei Xuan said. Women's fans understand men's situations and predicaments, and acknowledge and see them, and when we try to do this, we will face a lot of attacks on ourselves as feminists.
Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels
What is feminism?
Wei Xuan shared that some feminists believe that true feminism should first defeat men and should not love beauty, and said that she has even encountered such a statement as "It's a pity that you are heterosexual". Curiously, she asked Rose if she had encountered feminist divisions, disillusionment, or any stories to share.
"I myself will encounter examples like you just mentioned, in fact, some feminists also have dictatorial, female competition phenomenon. They will decide that they are the most right, and the code of conduct must be according to their own approval." Rose replied. This, she said, is the embodiment of the totalitarian society we oppose, and that any social movement, including feminist pursuits, should avoid this.
In fact, to put it simply, as long as you don't take yourself too seriously, sometimes too narcissistic and take yourself too seriously, you will reject other people's practices.
The pursuit of gender equality is already so difficult, since everyone has a common goal, they should climb the mountain and work separately. Some feminists may be anxious, feeling that if they don't take some very extreme or off-the-top approach, no one will pay attention to the issue.
Rose further mentioned that many times it is true that if you are not so extreme, the media does not pay attention, the public does not pay attention, and many people may not feel that it is fast and thorough enough. "This is the interesting thing about certain social movements, there are different spectrums, some people are very radical; Someone is mild; Someone is conservative. In fact, people are different." Wei Xuan responded.
Rose talked about being conservative and radical, and shared her examples for students. When women were fighting for the right to vote in Britain, there was a movie she highly recommended, Suffragette. At that time, there was a great controversy, whether to smash glass and burn oil drums, after she showed it to students, students could understand the so-called violence in the eyes of others.
(Guess you want to see: Yang Cui's article | "You don't look like a feminist?" Publicly claiming to be a feminist, why is he always treated as a balance breaker)
Photo | "Suffragette" poster
Become violent in the eyes of others?
If you use a peaceful way where no one listens, then you can only choose a violent way to make the voice heard. However, it is possible to be depleted in the process of being heard, because you will be described as very violent, disrupting social order, and fearing a lot of the public. So you originally wanted to win the support of more people, which may be antipathy to more people.
Back in the movie Suffragette, a woman storms the racetrack, and amid a lot of media attention, Rose asks if someone has to die or die?
"There are so many social movements that need martyrs to arouse a sense of empathy, and that someone would be willing to sacrifice their lives for emotional mobilization. This is a personal choice, and I believe that there are people all over the world, everywhere, who would be willing to have the courage to become martyrs." Wei Xuan said.
She also expressed the hope that before becoming martyrs, we will use all kinds of methods and think that there is a chance. Especially now that the younger generation, especially in Taiwan, Wei Xuan believes that he sees more people who are willing to listen to each other and act for each other.
MeToo in Japan and South Korea
Wei Xuan asked Rose what she thought of MeToo in Japan and South Korea, and their process was even a year or two ahead of Taiwan. Rose thinks South Korea is an interesting example, in fact, South Korea's gender wars are quite typical, they are really radical, both sides are powerful, that is, the misogynistic side and the extreme feminist side.
But because of their conflict, this phenomenon of individual efforts is actually seen by many people, even the international community. "I found that they actually have a lot more visibility than the MeToo movement in Taiwan. From my perspective and expectations, I think our international visibility is quite low." Wei Xuan responded.
Rose went on to share her research in academia, where she found that Korean scholars, especially female scholars, have a lot of gender research, and they are able to make their voices heard in various international forums. Then they published, which attracted a lot of attention from the international community, but South Korea itself has some characteristics.
(Same screening: How far can we sail after Taiwan's MeToo movement?) ）
And Japan is a good example, although we have always felt that Japan ranks very low when we look at gender rankings. But recently, you will actually see that he has made a lot of progress, such as the provisions after the amendment of the law are very clear, what is consent, marital, drunk, but also because of unequal rights, because of fear and did not say at the time.
Rose said it was important for the law to be clear and very clearly defined, and that the amendments passed by the House of Representatives were a little surprising to her.
"In addition to making the laws on sexual assault and harassment clearer, Japan has just passed a large company this year that a certain percentage of female directors must be represented in order to be represented. In fact, Japan is getting more and more progressive." Wei Xuan added. Rose said that if you look at some data or live in Japanese society, you will feel that there is improvement.
When it comes to Taiwan, Taiwan's laws exist, but recently I have heard many people say that victims may feel secondary harm or difficulties if they want to follow the legal channels.
The process of revising the law requires more professional advice, not for the sake of amending the law. And then can such social movements not be influenced by party politics? It should be sustainable and not harvested.
What Luqiu Luwei said to her Taiwanese friends
Rose said that in fact, in the Chinese society, Taiwan is an open society, but the open society has many vulnerabilities, which need to be jointly maintained by the government and the people. As a communications researcher, she said that the advice she can give is that media literacy is very important, which every citizen can do, as long as you have the heart to do it.
Media literacy is that you have to prevent disinformation, hate speech, propaganda, infiltration, etc., and you can resist it, identify it, and not spread it.