A few select articles on empowerment and activism
How to check your privilege: some thoughts on allyship, intersectionality and privilege
I’d like to call you in to this conversation by inviting you to check your privilege (or, analyse the injustices you’ve been spared). Educate yourself: don’t expect marginalised people to explain their oppression to you. Downloadable quiz: check your privilege
Sell-by Date: Fertility and F**kability
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…
Words and Women: bell hooks
If feminism is a movement to end sexist oppression, and depriving females of reproductive rights is a form of sexist oppression, then one cannot be anti-choice and be feminist. A woman can insist she would never choose to have an abortion while affirming her support of the right of women to choose and still be an…
Stop Telling Women To Smile: Visual Artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
Visual artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh spoke recently with Jessica Valenti about public art, the pressure to produce political pieces and how artists will survive. Listen to their interview on the latest episode of Guardian podcast, What Would A Feminist Do? You can see more of Fazlalizadeh’s work on her website and more about Stop Telling Women To Smile…
Closer Look: Jin Xing, China’s first transgender woman
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…
LGBTQ+ in China: a quick introduction
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
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…
Embracing Labels: Small Steps Toward a Big Goal
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
A quick rundown of how International Women’s Day looked from the perspective of women in China – in pictures. Global Times, a daily newspaper owned and published by the state-affiliated People’s Daily, decided International Women’s Day (known as Women’s Day in China), was an appropriate time to remind readers of International Men’s Day. Apparently, Global Times…
I say ‘gender equality’; you say ‘women in power!’
There are a bunch of ways to measure gender equality. While some believe that giving women the right to vote solved that problem long ago, women are still a long way from equal representation in politics. Why’s equal representation important? Women politicians are far more likely to hold women’s best interests at heart. Without women’s participation in…
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Zhēn de Gender 