From Beijing… – Zhēn de Gender

Sell-by Date: Fertility and F**kability

on April 2, 2017June 10, 2020 By ZhendeGender 2 Comments

A woman’s perceived value is tied up in her fertility and her physical appearance. The biological clock has supposedly ruled women’s lives for generations. In many industries, a woman’s sex appeal can equate to her recognition and success. So how does the notion of a “sell-by date” affect real women’s lives? For generations, the average woman has lived her entire life with the overpowering idea that one day, her eggs will suddenly run out and she’ll be immediately infertile. Thankfully, the biological clock is a myth.

Xingping: The Twenty Yuan View

on March 29, 2017March 1, 2020 By ZhendeGender

Xingping, China, July 2015 © ZhendeGender The 20 yuan (renminbi) image is the view from Xingping, China Xingping, China, July 2015 © ZhendeGender

Thirty-one Months Later: Adapting to Life in China

on March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 By ZhendeGender

When I first arrived in Beijing in September 2014, I knew almost nothing about the country I’d just moved to. I was embarking on a new life that didn’t seem to have a sell-by date – I had no idea how long I’d stay or even when I would next go home. While many of [...]

Closer Look: Jin Xing, China’s first transgender woman

on March 20, 2017June 10, 2020 By ZhendeGender 1 Comment

I was born in China. It is in China I must be reborn as a woman. Jin Xing was the first transgender person to undergo sex reassignment surgery in China with government approval, and the first whose sex change was officially recognized by the Chinese government. As a boy, Jin had an affinity for dancing and soon [...]

Looking Back

on March 19, 2017March 19, 2017 By ZhendeGender

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Daj1qlw5qrI Reading this in China? View Narrate China on youku “It was a very peaceful place… and up ahead, we hear this blood curdling scream”. When he met a traveller on the way to Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), Tom accidentally got more than he bargained for. In this video, Tom thinks back on an old story from [...]

LGBTQ+ in China: a quick introduction

on March 18, 2017June 10, 2020 By ZhendeGender

In China, the LGBTQ+ community face severe discrimination. Many LGBTQ+ people's families and communities refuse to accept their sexuality or gender identity, and therefore find themselves in compromising situations like 'fake' marriages to fulfil their filial duty. Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder until 2001, and some private Chinese clinics still offer 'electroshock' gay conversion therapy. [...]

Words and Women: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

on March 17, 2017March 31, 2017 By ZhendeGender

In the face of the proposition that feminism has become too mainstream, that feminist activism has become an empty marketing tool, Adichie responds: This idea of feminism as a party to which only a select few people get to come: this is why so many women, particularly women of colour, feel alienated from mainstream western academic [...]

Ovaries: Putting Reproductive Health on the Line at Work

on March 16, 2017June 10, 2020 By ZhendeGender

I’ve vowed to myself that my body is my public, political sphere as well as my private, personal sphere. It’s my mannequin on which to display my beliefs, my vehicle in the fight for gender rights, my pathway to strength and to weakness. I’m not afraid to bare the truth to the world. What doesn’t help is feeling that the system is pitted against me because I speak a different language, because I am a foreigner, and because I am a woman.

Embracing Labels: Small Steps Toward a Big Goal

on March 15, 2017June 10, 2020 By ZhendeGender 1 Comment

Guest Post | Alexandra Sieh Looking up from my book, I scanned the crowded subway car, eager for some good people-watching. But as a new group of folks clambered on, I cringed at some of the actions and attitudes I saw. Boyfriends pushing (excuse me, “guiding”) their girlfriend onto the train, or speaking to them [...]

China’s International Women’s Day in Pictures

on March 12, 2017March 1, 2020 By ZhendeGender

A quick rundown of how International Women's Day looked from the perspective of women in China - in pictures. Chinese news outlet Global Times provided a timely reminder of International Men's Day | image from: twitter Global Times, a daily newspaper owned and published by the state-affiliated People's Daily, decided International Women's Day (known as [...]