The State vs. Woman
Male-run totalitarian governments copy paste each other’s oppressive tactics; one aspiring dictator looks at what another tyrant is up to and adopts similar methods - and all seem to be different variations on the same theme - mainly to keep women vulnerable and under men’s control, and away from self-determination and any political power.
Guest on this episode, Li Wen, started out as a journalist and policy analyst in China and now lives in Germany where she hosts a wildly popular Chinese podcast called Seahorse Planet. Banned in China but globally popular, Seahorse Planet features critical and inspirational feminism, the type of women’s rights talk male-run totalitarian governments despise and forbid.
In this episode we talk about China’s u-turn on gender equality, the many social pressures women are subjected to now, including beauty duty, the marriage trap, discrimination in education and jobs market, and what its latest MeToo movement is accomplishing.
We talk about the huge ripple effects of China’s 35-year-long one child policy and compare notes between the US and China on the birth rate panic and each of our government’s desperate attempts to promote marriage and so-called family values.
We talk about what is considered a good and acceptable kind of feminism in China and the kind of feminism that can ruin your life - and how we, in this ultra-patriarchal world, build a more just social order and what that looks like.
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Journalist & Podcaster
Li Wen is the host and producer of the Seahorse Planet podcast, a Chinese feminist podcast founded in 2018. She is also the founder and CEO of the Seahorse Convention, a Chinese feminists’ global convention. As a former journalist and writer, Li Wen worked for various Chinese media and international think tanks as reporter, news director and senior policy analyst.