HOW TO USE ARTS TO SPREAD MODERN FEMINISM

Research question

How can I use arts to spread modern feminism to Chinese society.

Introduction

The term “feminism” originated from the French word “feminisme,” coined by the utopian socialist Charles Fourier, and was first used in English in the 1890s, in association with the movement for equal political and legal rights for women.And it was introduced to China during the May Forth Movement and had a brief climax in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.Mao Zedong once had a famous saying: “Women hold up half the sky”.That is a powerful statement on gender equality.

 However, the feminist movement did not continue to development as expected .Today ,“Feminism” has become a derogatory term in China and was suppressed unprecedentedly by the government.

On one hand, China has made impressive progress in women’s rights over the past century, but the Communist Party’s ruling model is still deeply rooted in patriarchal thinking(Louise ,2021.).One the other hand ,some Chinese feminists have been accused of feminize and pastoral feminism (asking for the right and does not undertaking any obligations is called pastoral feminism as known as feminism buffetism).Some people think it is a freak of Chinese-style feudal remnants mixed with a western sense of entitlement.

There are many feminist schools around the world, but all feminist theories have a premise, that is:  feminism is a class of exploitation and discrimination in this world,which is what Beauvoir said second sex.Wang Zheng, Professor of Women and Gender Studies and History, University of Michigan said,“Feminism is not about competing for the rights of men and then being like them, but that we want to transform the culture of men and create a new culture. feminism is to pursue the basic rights of human beings as man. but also be ready to give up some of the privileges enjoyed by women.”

In China today, for political and historical reasons,Woman’s movements like demonstrations are almost impossible,The status and influence of feminist artists is very limited.So this research aims to finding a soft and artistic way to spread the modern feminism and make it more popular in Chinese society.  

Stakeholders

My audience includes a range of young Chinese men and women, LGBT members, international students, as well as experts and scholars working in feminism-related fields, such as female lawyers, female artists, teachers of girls’ schools, members of woman’s federations and so on. Based on the different political, economic, ethical, historical and cultural background between China and the West. Chinese feminism is bound to have many unique characteristics. Especially for Chinese international students, they have two very different experience living or studying in different countries. Therefore, it is more able to detect the similarities and opposites. For some female artists, they are already trying to express their opinions and attitudes in an artistic way, and I can also get inspiration from them and  spread feminism through their works.Collecting feedback from different groups of people is conducive to obtaining a more objective and diverse reflection of contemporary feminism.

Methodology

The research methodology for this project consisted of the critical interrogation of a range of primary and secondary sources, including but not limited to:

1.Collecting data through online questionnaire about Chinese young generation’s views on feminism.105 people participated in the online survey.Participants are between the ages of 18 and 35.When asked about their attitudes towards feminism，64.8% expressed their support and 27.6% are neutral. And nearly 70% expressed interest in using art to spread feminist ideas.

2. Interviews with relevant experts in the fields of Chinese Feminism and external stakeholders .I found that men and women have completely different attitudes towards feminism，especially when I interact with Chinese male, I find that their resistance to feminism is quite strong.

3. Collaborating with other feminist artists to explore how to develop and disseminate feminism on the basis of predecessors.

More ever,I did a lots of secondary research about the history of feminism and the development status of feminism in China,as well as a large number of Chinese female artists,I investigate what Chinese feminist artists have done, what kind of impact they have had and what else can i do . On the eve of Women’s Day in 2015, five feminist activists planned to hold public rights protection activities against sexual harassment on buses but they were arrested and detained for 37 days for“picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. which shows how highly politicized feminism is in China and how violent movements simply don’t work in this country.

I also read a lot of books ,articles ,report, Magazine and so on , such as The second sex ,A room of one’s own ，A Vindication of the Rights of Woman ,which  gave me a holistic view of feminism and allowed me to think more deeply.

additionally ,I went to many museums or art galleries to see different artworks related to feminism and observed peoples reaction, for example ,Feminine power-the divine to the demonic in the British Museum. This exhibition features feminist works from many countries at different times and offers a different perspective .

Interventions

In evaluating the primary and secondary knowledge framework through action research,  the first thing I did was to set up a Feminist Art Club, The purpose of this organization is to gather a group of artists and thinker in the field of feminism or interested in this area.   Their duty is to exploring the spirit of contemporary feminism and spread positive feminism through the artworks of Chinese artists.In addition, 3 intervention was conducted.

The first one is a small experiment with one of the group member.

I chose a very famous Chinese modern love poem by an excellent feminist poet ,who was inspired to write this poem after chatting with a male writer with typical traditional chauvinist and expressing her independent view of love as a woman. I read this poem to her,She was also inspired to create a feminist painting to express her own idea.In her works, she established the idea of gender equality between men and women in romantic relationships by strengthening the image of women.“In the process of creation, for the very first time, I began to think about feminism and gender relations in modern society seriously”, she said.

The second one is a online event.

9 Chinese participants were involved in this event, including 4 female, 2 male and 2 LGBT members. and most of them don’t familiar with both feminism and art. This intervention was designed to test the feasibility of using arts to spread feminism in China.During this test process, I prepared three artworks in advance and ask everyone choose one, and then guided the audience into a very released state through yoga meditation, tried to open their perception system ,and re-examined the artworks in front of them and then exchange their thought.I acted as a proper facilitator rather than a teacher telling them what feminism is.

After the event, it can be seen from their feedback that they are very happy to participate in this event,One of the male participant told me that he had never cared about feminism before and was even a little resistant, this form make it more easier for him to accept feminism and it is benefit to Improve art appreciation.But because it is online, the experience of yoga meditation is not very useful.

So I design the third one,an offline event.

Participants include two club members and four Chinese friends from the Wembley community .This time, more works of different Chinese female artists were printed in a box.At the beginning, I asked everyone what is feminism？Participants will give their original answers,Then open the box and choose their favorite works of art for open communication and discussion，Finally, they will write their new views on feminism next to their choosing works,Through this test, I can find that after in-depth discussion, everyone will have a more unbiased opinion of feminism.

Conclusion

In the MAAI project of exploring where my passion ,interest, and values lies, I changed my research question twice and took many detours ,In Unit 1, my project was related to male aesthetic bullying ,and changed to gender-based violence after a very personal experience during the summer independent study time .Until Unit 3，I have finally found a research direction that I am truly excited and satisfied with,although I have experienced a lot of confusion and doubts during this period，but it is obviously that the key point is always  feminism .

I would like to thank this extremely arduous research journey, which made me learn a lot.

Firstly, I gained a lot of knowledge about feminism and history trough reading ;Secondly, In the process of doing primary research and intervention, i contacted many related people and initially established a network of relationships, their experience and feedback are helpful to my research. Thirdly ,reading literature and communicating with different stakeholders can always give me new perspectives and inspirations. Sometimes when I face some Chinese men with traditional patriarchal thinking, there will inevitably be a heated debate.last but not least ,The most important is that I am the first person affected by my project,As a girl who grew up under the traditional Chinese patriarchal system, I have never been aware of woman’s social issues before. This research journey gave me an opportunity to know myself, and recognize my position and value in this world.

This is not just a MA project, but a life project. I also hope that through my current and future efforts, Feminism could be no longer demonized in Chinese society.

Blog link: https://blog520.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

Reference:

1.Woolf, V. (1929). A Room Of One’s Own. Hogarth Press.

2.De Beauvoir, S. (1949). The Second Sex. Vintage Classics.

3.Hannam, J. (2016). Feminism. Taylor & Francis.

4.Tong, R. and Fernandes, T. (2017). Feminist thought : a more comprehensive introduction. New York, Ny: Westview Press.

5.上野千鶴子, 1948- Author. Chizuko Ueno, Zou, Y. and Xue, M. (2020b). Patriarchy and Capitalism / Fu quan zhi yu zi ben zhu yi. Zhejiang University Press, Hang Zhou: Zhe Jiang Da Xue Chu Ban She.

6.Caroline Criado Perez (2019). Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. S.L.: Vintage.

7.Wollstonecraft, M. (1792). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. S.L.: Verso.

8.Li, Y. (2018). Feminism. Shanghai Culture Publishing House.

9.Frith, H. (2001). Young Women, Feminism and the Future: Dialogues and Discoveries. Feminism & Psychology, 11(2), pp.147–151.

10.Andrews, M. (2006). I. Breaking Down Barriers: Feminism, Politics and Psychology. Feminism & Psychology, 16(1), pp.13–17. doi:10.1177/0959-353506060814.

11.Feminisms and Social Media A Special Issue of Feminism & Psychology. (2016). Feminism & Psychology, 26(1), pp.128–129. doi:10.1177/0959353516631672.

12.www.namoc.org. (n.d.). Chinese Contemporary Feminist Art – National Art Museum of China. [online] Available at: http://www.namoc.org/cbjy/cbw/qks/qk2011_2492/qk201111/201303/t20130319_177574.htm [Accessed 7 Nov. 2022].

13.wenku.baidu.com. (n.d.). The Development of Feminism in China – Baidu Library. [online] Available at: https://wenku.baidu.com/view/74d2c170bd23482fb4daa58da0116c175f0e1e65.html [Accessed 25 Oct. 2022].

14.Lai, K. (2000). Feminism and Chinese Philosophy. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 27(2), pp.127–130. doi:10.1163/15406253-02702001.

15.Zhu, S. (2020). Remaking ‘Women’ and Contemporary Chinese Feminism——Based on The Question of Women in Chinese Feminism. Review of Educational Theory, 3(3), p.73. doi:10.30564/ret.v3i3.2093.

After summarizing and reflecting on the first online intervention, I held an offline intervention at the Feminist Club on November 26th.

In order to ensure that effective feedback is collected and participants have enough time to think and express, I have limited the number of participants to seven. include two club members and four Chinese friends from the Wembley community ，They participated in this event as volunteers through the posters I posted in the community Wechat group.This time, more works of different Chinese female artists were printed in a box.

At the beginning, I asked everyone what is feminism？Participants will give their original answers,Then open the box and choose their favorite works of art for open communication and discussion，In the process of appreciating the works of these artists, I will appropriately add some social background and artists’ intentions to guide participants to think more deeply about Chinese feminism. in the end ,they will write their new views on feminism next to their choosing works, Renbo Tang, male，A finance student from UCL Said:The improvement of women’s rights lies not only in the improvement of social resources, but also in the cultural aspects.

Thought this test, I can find that after in-depth discussion, everyone will have a more unbiased opinion of feminism.all of them also have a more positive attitude towards feminism and say that they will keep support feminism in their future life.

1.What Would de Beauvoir Do? Tabi Jackson Gee , Freya Rose.

In the cognition of most people in this world , feminism is women’s own business, which is completely opposite to or has nothing to do with men.Just like when I held the first online intervention, I invited several men to participate, and one of them asked me, I am a man, why do I need to discuss feminism?

In this regard, in this book, Nigerian writer Chimamanda briefly summarizes：My own definition of a feminist is a man or a woman who says yes there is still a gender issue today and we have to fix it and we have to do better.

This is also my definition of feminism, so in my projects, I like the participants not only women, but everyone who supports gender equality and is willing to work together.

2. Misogyny, Chizuko Ueno

China ，as a typical patriarchal society in China, the low status of women is easy to find the answer from historical and culture,I have always wondered why homosexuality is so discriminated against in China. The most interesting thing is that women neither discriminate against lesbians nor gay men, and men do not discriminate against lesbians but discriminate against and exclude gay men. Therefore, the situation of gay men in China is very bad. They don’t even dare to disclose their identities, and they will marry wives and have children in order to satisfy the society and their families.

When I read this book by a famous Japanese feminist writer, the book explained this phenomenon from a feminist perspective.He said that men’s same-sex social desire bond is the bond between male subjects recognized by men. This is a man’s world, and women exist as objects, and if homosexual desire appears, the relationship between subject and object may be possible. There will be “class confusion” so this kind of sexual desire is very dangerous and must be ruled out.

Nic Zhang.Chinese artist graduated from Tsinghua University ，currently living and working in both Houston, USA and Beijing ,He is also an expert in the field of feminism. So I did a feminist interview with him via WeChat.

When I asked him what feminism is, Nic explained it to me from the perspective of a civilized society, thinking that women belong to the vulnerable groups, and one of the signs of social civilization is to protect the rights of the vulnerable groups, so patriarchy in the world Under the regime, the advancement of women is a sign of our progress towards a civilized society.

But I was wondering if seeing women as vulnerable groups who needs to be protected by the strong is not in itself contrary to feminism but a thoroughly patriarchal idea.

And when I asked him what his attitude toward feminism was，he said:”Patriarchy has a typical mindset，It is characterized by advocating a linear development model and insist on dichotomy,And thinking about feminism is also his re-examination of himself as a man.”

Recently, I have seriously read some books on feminism, and have some new thoughts and confusions.

1.Feminism , Li Yinhe、the earliest scholar who began to study Chinese female feminism, and is also a very well-known feminist.

When I read the author’s explanation of patriarchy, I mapped it to China’s current social form, and found that although Chinese men do not recognize or selectively ignore the facts but evidences of inequality between men and women are starkly presented to us.

Li Yinhe said that patriarchy mainly includes four points, male domination, male identity, objectification of women, and patriarchal thinking patterns.

• Male Domination：It means that in a society, no matter in politics, economy, law, education, military field and family field, all positions of authority are reserved for men.In year’s list of 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party,no female Committee members.
• Male Identity：Core cultural notions about what is good, desirable and pursued.In Chinese society, it is generally believed that it is good to go out to work and earn money to support the family, while being a housewife at home is useless.
• Female Objectification：Simply put, it is to deny women’s sexuality and impose male sexuality on women.Even in the economically developed China in the 21st century, many backward areas still believe that girls should not receive education.
• Patriarchal Mindset：It’s an either-or mindset.For example, homosexuality is still not recognized by the mainstream society in China. For example, homosexuality is still not recognized by mainstream society in China. On July 6, 2021, the WeChat accounts of LGBTQ organizations in many Chinese universities were blocked almost overnight.

https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-57763594

2.A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,Mary wollstonecraft

When I reading this book, the author mentioned a very interesting thing，Generally speaking, for the entire human society, the beauty of women is linked to age, that is, the younger the more beautiful.And compare women to flowers, saying that a woman’s flowering period is 18 years old, and then withers.But the French believe that a 30-year-old woman is the most perfect, because at this time the childlike innocence of women is replaced by mature rationality, and they reach a state of feminine beauty.

If you open any Chinese social media at random, you will find that many Chinese women dress themselves as young and immature as possible.If you ask 10 Chinese men, at least 8 of them like innocent girls who are younger than themselves. Does this mean that our education has produced some gender misleading.

3.The Second Sex, an essay on existentialism and feminism by Simon de Beauvoir, remains the bible of feminine philosophy.

Beauvoir not only accuses men of discrimination against women, despicable and sometimes cruel actions, but also points out that women are also responsible for their own weak status. Beauvoir believes that they are passive, submissive and lack of ambition. The author therefore believes that the success of women’s emancipation can only be achieved by the firm will of both men and women. In Beauvoir’s view, women’s emancipation must rely on the following two channels: the right to self-determination of whether to bear children and the right to work.

On 19,Nov，I invited some stakeholder to get involved in feminism online club.which is one of my intervention.

The 9 participants were all young Chinese, including 4 women, 2 men and 2 LGBT members. and most of them don’t understand both feminism and art.This online exchange last about one and a half hours.

The process is as follows：

• Step 1: I sent three artworks of Chinese female artists that expressed female themes prepared in advance to the group, and asked everyone to choose one they like.
• The second step: I led everyone to do a yoga meditation to ensure that the participants were in a very relaxed state.
• Step 3: I guide everyone to open their perceptual systems as much as possible to understand and explore the work they selected in Step 1.
• Step 4: Everyone began to freely express their views and confusion on the selected works.
• Step 5: Everyone gives feedback on the activities they participated in

Feedback from participants.

Conclusion：Everyone was very interested in this event. For all of them, it was a very interesting and novel experience to understand feminism through artworks. And it can make it easier for men and some women to accept this kind of thought.But because it is an online event, there are some details that are not well controlled, resulting in a bad experience in the yoga meditation .

As a woman, I encountered many troubles during my growing up, such as sexual harassment, gender-based violence, and my inferiority complex as a woman. I have endured them silently, and I have never seriously reflected on the social reasons behind them. ,Later, because I watched some feminist films and books, and saw many works of female artists, I gradually became interested in feminism and studied it in depth. This is not only a postgraduate topic, but also a life topic of self-exploration.I am very lucky to be able to receive a different education in a country where art and feminism are more developed, so that I can learn more knowledge and start to think differently.

But I believe that in my country, there are still many women who are not aware of this gender issue, and men also have a lot of prejudice against feminism, so I conducted a survey questionnaire, hoping to have a more comprehensive understanding of domestic audiences’ attitudes towards feminism.

The total number of participants in the questionnaire is 105.68.6% of them are women，21.9% are male.Participants are between the ages of 18 and 35.and mostly students and company employees.

69.5% of them said they had a little understanding of feminism, 21.9% had a basic understanding, and only one person had a deep understanding.When asked about attitudes towards feminism，64.8% expressed their support，27.6% are neutral.

As for the final open question，What is feminism?

The answer for most stakeholder is that gender equality.and Some of them think it is independent .And two people who say feminism is no feminism.one person said that the essence of feminism is the pursuit of rights as a human being.

I also found a very interesting thing in their answers.Many people don’t even know what the word feminism means,Because feminism is translated in Chinese as “女权主义” as well as “女性主义“.The former is more derogatory，while the latter is a neutral word. It means the same thing but they think misunderstand it’s different .

Since the May 4th Movement was introduced to China from the West, feminism had a brief climax in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.Mao Zedong once had a famous saying: “Women hold up half the sky”. That’s a powerful statement on gender equality.Today, Chinese women still face many problems in the workplace, politics and family. However, the feminist movement did not continue the early development trend, and was suppressed unprecedentedly.

Louise Edwards, Emeritus Professor at the University of New South Wales, has spent the past forty years researching Chinese history and the women’s movement.She said China has made impressive progress in women’s rights over the past century, but the Communist Party’s ruling model is still deeply rooted in patriarchal thinking.”They still think that men should be the ‘real’ holders of power and women should only be assistants or deputies,” she said.

“After 1949, the achievements of women’s rights were guaranteed through work in the party bureaucracy, especially the work of the All-China Women’s Federation, rather than through the broader civil society.”

However, since the introduction of reform and opening up in the late 1970s, China’s early gains in women’s rights have gradually begun to unravel.

Prof Edwards said after the political quotas for women were abolished, sexism in the workplace and in advertising became widespread.

The Chinese government has also stepped up efforts to silence feminist voices. On popular social media platforms such as Weibo and Douban, dozens of feminist accounts were abruptly shut down.

The space for the feminist movement has been compressed. Both “feminist” and “MeToo” are considered sensitive words and have been censored online.

On the eve of Women’s Day in 2015, five feminist activists, Wang Man, Wei Tingting, Zheng Churan, Li Tingting (Li Maizi), and Wu Rongrong planned to hold public rights protection activities against sexual harassment on buses before March 8th Women’s Day, but they were respectively arrested. Police in Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Beijing arrested and detained for 37 days for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.In China today, the term “feminism” has become highly politicized and has come under attack from nationalists online as a result, Li Maizi said.

Before that, she also organized activities such as the bloody bride and the occupation of the men’s bathroom.

Her Weibo account was canceled After that.

In June, a five-minute surveillance video of a woman being attacked in Tangshanwent viral on Chinese social media, prompting a rethinking of the state of women’s rights in the country.

After US #MeToo movement, Chinese women speak out against harassment and assault despite widespread censorship.But feminist voices are increasingly being marginalized. “The Tangshan incident indirectly reflects the difficulty of MeToo.

Last summer, at least a dozen college queer and sex education groups across the country found their WeChat accounts deleted. Overnight, they became “anonymous official account”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-censorship-machine-erasing-chinas-feminist-movement

All of these things reflect the current difficulties faced by the development of feminism in China. It is almost impossible to launch a fierce movement, and it can only be infiltrated in a gentle way. Therefore, it may be an easier way to spread feminism through art.

Ref:

1.www.abc.net.au. (2020). ‘向历史要答案’——从弦子诉朱军案看中国MeToo运动. [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/chinese/2020-12-22/china-metoo-movement-after-two-years-zhu-jun-xiaoxuan/13004848 [Accessed 24 Nov. 2022].

2.www.abc.net.au. (2021). 从‘半边天’到删帖销号：中国女权的崛起、消退和未来. [online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/chinese/2021-06-08/feminism-in-china-internet-crackdown-erase-womens-voices/100194910.

In order to collect more data, understand the current situation of Chinese women and the possibility of feminism development, I interviewed several audiences.

1.Renbo Tang is a international students, male,25 years old.

When I first found him through WeChat and wanted to discuss feminism with him, he was very embarrassed at first, thinking that this topic is more sensitive and prone to debate.Then I told him I need to hear different voices, real feedback and only for academic research，He started to make a point.He admitted that China is still a patriarchal society with male privileges, and this is a serious problem in the whole world and it is not easy to change.When I asked him if he would support feminism, even though feminism sometimes threatens male interests.He cleverly avoided the question.

During my project research, find that whenever I discuss feminism with Chinese men, they are always very resistant. Because in their cognition, feminism seems to be rural feminism in China today.

2. Xirong Ren is a senior，Female ，21 years Old

I asked some of her views on feminism, and she said that she rarely heard this word, although she knew some women’s problems in society, she didn’t pay too much attention to it.At the same time, he believes that some social problems in Chinese society have always existed because the patriarchal society has been passed down from generation to generation, and women have not risen up to resist.

When I asked if she would be interested in using art to spread feminism, she said that for her and many of her classmates and friends, feminism and art are unfamiliar to them, and a more direct and simple way may be needed.

3.Juanjuan Zheng and Dandan Wang are both from more traditional areas of China, Minnan and Chaoshan.

When I ask them about their experiences growing up as women.Dandan Wang tell me that In her hometown, Chaoshan ,patriarchal thinking is still very serious. Generally, each family must have at least two boys. Parents think that it is useless for girls to study and they should get married when they reach the age. Even in the inheritance of family property. Daughters have no inheritance.

Juanjuan Zheng said that the older generation would be more traditional in their marriage customs, but now young people are gradually changing.