Yesterday I was locking up my bike when a policeman barked at me. He was fifty metres away. He started walking towards me, and yelled again. No words, just sounds. Then he whistled. A high piercing tone designed to scare me off. He clapped his hands three times, loudly, and shouted again, a sound equivalent [...]
Tag: World
Identity, Breast Implants, and Wanting More from Life: Lijia Zhang on her Debut Novel Lotus (interview: part I)
Inspired by her grandmother’s deathbed confession of being sold to a brothel, Lijia Zhang injects her cutting social criticism into her first novel, Lotus. The book delves deep into the sex industry in contemporary Shenzhen, following a young migrant woman, Lotus, who is eager to escape her life as a prostitute. A strong believer in [...]
Words and Women: Adrienne Rich
The connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet. Adrienne Rich was an American poet, essayist and radical feminist. She was credited with bringing "the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse" (Flood). Responsibility to yourself means refusing to [...]
Pyone Thet Thet Kyaw on Leading the Ethical Fashion Trend in Burma (Interview: Part 1)
Pyone Thet Thet Kyaw is a Rakhine Burmese woman who works for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Yangon, and runs her own dressmaking start-up in her spare time. As the founder and head designer at Virya Couture, she teaches vocational skills to underprivileged women, helping them overcome poverty.
How did gender, culture and politics balance out in 2016?
2016 was characterized by sexism across the board, from President-elect Trump and Duterte to the Olympics and the music industry. But the world has made some serious strides towards equality and liberation in 2016, with female heads of state taking power worldwide, and women standing strong together in the face of adversity.
The Legacy of Qinghuayuan
The trains running through this historic railway station honoured my neighbourhood with 27 traffic jams a day.
Words and Women: Gloria Steinem
What would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not? Downloadable copy of Steinem's 1978 essay If Men Could Menstruate.
校园贷: China’s campus loan sharks
There is a phenomenon quietly sweeping through China, aptly named ‘xiàoyuán dài' or 'campus loans’, through which university students are falling rapidly into debt with little way out. Young people on university campuses are being targeted by online finance companies who give out loans or brand new iPhones, with no down payment required. Most of [...]
To all Feminists impacted by Trump’s Triumph: open letter from Chinese Feminists
Don't wait for the system to correct itself for you. Ask for what you want, what your people want, and fight for it.
Beijing from the sky
Aerial view of Beijing taken moments before my plane landed at Beijing International Airport (PEK), Sept 2016 © ZhendeGender
Zhēn de Gender 