'Vagina Monologues' sparks off ugly debate - Zhang Lijia

+Lijia Zhang 

The Vagina Monologues have sparked off a lot of debate, but nowhere as ugly as in China, writes author Zhang Lijia on her website. "The online assault on the students was a brutal reminder that beyond this circle of enlightened women, many do not favour gender equality."

Zhang Lijia:

Vagina Monologues has provoked debate and controversy around the world, yet nothing as ugly as in China. To advertise for a Chinese version of the show on their campus, 17 women students from the Beijing Foreign Studies University recently posed for the cameras, each holding up a sign "quoting" her vagina. "My vagina says: I want freedom," read one; "My vagina says: I decide who to let in," said another. 

They cannot have expected the savage criticism unleashed online after they posted the photos on the internet. Thousands of web users, mostly men, commented unkindly on their looks, accused them of being immoral and compared them with prostitutes... 

Yet amid such a harsh environment for women, I have witnessed with delight the blossoming of feminist activism: several women hit Beijing's streets on Valentine's Day, dressed in wedding gowns spattered with fake blood, to protest against domestic violence; students rallied in front of the Wuhan city government offices to voice their opposition to an intrusive gynaecological examination imposed on prospective women civil servants; a friend is currently marching from Beijing to Guangzhou to protest against child sexual abuse. 

This summer, I and two dozen other women graduated from China's first Feminist School, organised by several feminist non-governmental organisations. One of our teachers was Li Jinzhao from the Beijing Foreign Studies University, who assigned the Ying Dao Zhi Dao homework. Li and other professors hope to introduce the eight-session course to more universities.\ 

The online assault on the students was a brutal reminder that beyond this circle of enlightened women, many do not favour gender equality. Yet to look on the bright side, I hope the event will raise awareness of gender issues. The history of the feminist movement shows that every step of progress has to be fought for.

More at Zhang Lijia's website.
The piece was earlier published at the South China Morning Post (but behind a firewall)

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.  

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Vagina Monologues made it into Beijing - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

The Vagina Monologues made it after a long time onto the stage at the China Media University, it would not be a piece for a mainstream Chinese theater. Author Zhang Lijia visited the first performance, and had a great time, she writes on her weblog. 

Zhang Lijia:

The funniest part was the traditional xiangsheng – comic dialogue in style about the different ways of moaning when reaching climax. You can only imagine how the more than hundred-strong audience all laughed their teeth out. 

What made the show so entertaining and engaging was its interactive style. In the act about masturbation, the actress, dressed as a teacher, asked the audience to talk about their experiences. Some did speak frankly how they started it because of failed love, or driven by curiosity; other confessed they didn’t know. 

Again, the play, the product of a feminist group called Bcome, shows the changing attitude towards sexuality in China. I also see it as the sign of the increasing feminist activism in China and perhaps the feminist movement is starting to happen in this most populous nation on earth. 

Thanks to its sensitive nature, it has been shown in small theatres and universities. 

The first The Vagina Monologue was launched by a feminist professor Ai Xiaoming from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou back in 2003. There was a fairly successful show by another group in Shanghai in 2009. But it was called V Monologue – otherwise, it couldn’t get the venue. 

I greatly enjoyed this show and felt encouraged by the increasing gender and rights awareness in China. 

There’ll be two more shows on June 5 and 6. Don’t miss it.

More at Zhang Lijia's weblog.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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