A queer feminist anthropologist exploring the realities of culture, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Asia
I remember my mother sewed a lot of pockets into my coat. I’d put on the coat with a lot of inside-out pockets and go to the fields and take some food in the pockets and run back quickly so that they had food.
“Culture does not make people. People make culture. If it is true that the full humanity of women is not our culture, then we can and must make it our culture.” Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; from her essay We Should All Be Feminists Words and Women is a regular feature that spotlights short quotations from influential women activists, [...]
Learning that your ex is married. Walking away from a Tinder date. Getting set up by your boyfriend. These women tell true stories of their dating experiences in China.
āyí mobile © ZhendeGender This type of vehicle is common on Beijing's streets: a fully upholstered armchair on the back of a mobility scooter is not an unusual sight, but their speed may surprise passers-by. Image captured on Beijing's second ringroad in September 2016.
Want to avoid the lunchtime rush? Eat on the street.
How are we to believe Mao Zedong's statement that "women hold up half the sky", if China’s women are being downtrodden by the very language they speak?
Four months ago, I made the courageous decision to cut my 12 inch hair off entirely. Here's a video of the day, the event, and the aftermath: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZpAY8zrkEg A huge thank you to my good friends Maxi Battaglia and Ponita Reasmy for making this video possible. It is a wonderful record of a major moment in [...]
There is no reason a western feminist ‘we’ must set the agenda for a developing world feminist ‘them’. Chinese activists are navigating the way toward gender equality using a contemporary Chinese feminism, on their own terms.
During two trips to Burma (Myanmar) in the past year, I initially felt surprised to experience widespread enthusiasm to speak openly to me, outsider as I am. The openness I was so frequently greeted with amazed me. Locals felt completely at ease about discussing the politics of their threatened totalitarian regime in my presence. The [...]
Just because they don’t get to vote for their government, or don’t have the economic stability you do, or don’t have access to the resources you take for granted, doesn’t mean those women don’t fight for their rights just like you. In fact, you might be surprised at how far they have gone to get rights women around the world deserve.
Zhēn de Gender 