Month: March 2021

What I did & How I feel…

WHY I choose this topic?

Gender inequality is not a new topic in China, due to some historical reasons, men and women are not equal. And these inequalities can be found in every aspect of life. In my childhood, the teachers always said: “Although you are doing well in your studies now, once the boys start studying they will immediately overtake you. “; and I was hurt at that time, but for now I know this is just the self-congratulation of a loser. And this is just a tip of the iceberg of discrimination experienced by an ordinary female during her grown up.

I believe that confidence is so important for people, we should all learn to love ourselves first before love others. I didn’t get hurt by my teachers’ words since I love myself and I know what she said is not the truth. However, some girls they don’t know that.

So, for me, as long as you are a female, as long as you suffered the gender inequality, you’re entitled to talk about feminist. No matter what your job is, what your education level is… it really doesn’t matter.

And the photo below is a poster from the last century, the characters below said: New things are coming up, and women can hold up half the sky. I believe this must be the first feminist slogan in China.

And I got my inspiration from lady 张桂梅 (Zhang Guimei).

She built the first free high school for girls, and this school is located in Huaping (which is belonged to Yunnan province, China). It’s a relatively poor area, and the people there that day didn’t realize the importance of education. Some parents didn’t allow their daughters to go to school, Zhang had to visit each of them and convince them to send their daughters to school to get an education. With her effort, 1,600 girls went to university and changed their life.

I was touched by her story, and I began to interested in the current situation of Chinese feminist. Feminist is a hot topic in China right now, but not every single person understand what it really is. And this made me feel that I can do something to change this situation.

Small Survey

So, in order to better understand the current situation of feminists in China, I decided to do a small survey with people living in the same community. During these days, I was a community volunteer who is helping collect people’s contact data for the COVID-19 test. And I used this opportunity to chat with people and convince them to take part in my small survey.

I designed a questionnaire that can be easily answer by “yes” or “no”, and posted it in a WeChat mini program.

From this chart we can see most people are from the age below 50, perhaps it’s a little bit difficult for elder people to take part in this WeChat survey.

Actions

Speak out loud on social media: create an online communication group, and till today it has 4,000 members.

Set up a weibo (Twitter in China) account: I named it girls_help_girls_bot

But this account was banned😹, and the guest service said this is because I post offending ads… I have no idea what it is tho.

This post reached the highest data I’ve ever had, it is about the brands whose customers are mainly female supporting the videosites that insult famale, and this post is to encouraging people stopping using this website.

Next Step: the VOICE

I found it’s really important to let your voice be heard. So, I decided to collect feminist voices online and offline, from artistic creation to real life.

• Girls help girls stories; collected and post in my account
• The attitude male group towards female group: online comments and from a news program, TV drama, also from interviews.
• The attitude of the female group towards the female group

If we don’t take actions, the future will never change.

I can remember clearly, these days I was quarantined in my apartment with my parents, since there is a COVID-19 wave in my city, and all the people suffered.

And since I was forced to stay at home for almost a month (actually even longer), lots of stress built up in my body… And the quarantine life made me start wondering about the relationship between humans and nature.

Since I was so boring these days, I began to take a walk downstairs every morning, it was not surprising that many people feel the same and decide to walk downstairs, we all tried to release the pressure. And this actually worked. Each time when people saying hello to me, I did feel better. By the conversation that took place between us I can feel that I’m not the only person in the world, there were still people around me! This is very important to me, cause it makes me feel that I still got connections to the real world, and this is a feeling that online communication can not provide me.

And this is the day I met 笨笨 (BenBen), a three-year old Giant Poodle.

BenBen is such a friendly lady, when we first met, I saw her owner took her in the elevator, and I was shocked caused BenBen is too big in size (also I’m a little afraid of dogs), I guess I’m not very kind and might be a little rude in my voice, but BenBen just sniffed my ankle and gently walked away. After that, I feel she is so different and unique.

Actually, during these days, I’m not always in a good mood. First, I don’t know how long do I need to stay home and how many COVID-19 tests do I have to take; also, I’m worried about my parents cause they have to go out for work and this is quite dangerous at that time. So, I decide to spend more time with animals and plants rather than people ( cause some time people around your can deliver their anxiety to you).

Due to all the reasons above, I choose BenBen, I decided to make friend with her, and I was planning to learn how to see the world from her point of view. Also, see how different can it be.

So, I got the idea of recording BenBen’s bark. I believe that understanding her language can help me know her better.

It took me a long time for recording her voice, cause BenBen is a quiet lady and almost never bark at people. So, when I talking to her and try to collect her voices, she always looking at me with a puzzled face. (Just like the photo below:) )

And during my observation, I was touched by BenBen. Because there are a lot of naughty children in our community, and some times they would play a trick on her… I would say if I was BenBen I will be really mad at those children, but BenBen never does. She’s always very kind and never angry. What a lovely dog!

By analyzing BenBen’s voices above, I can tell that BenBen must be grown up in love and care, cause the environment can’t affect her too much, and she’s always nice to people, kind and very polite. The funny part is the one she reacting to herself, it seems like she’ not that satisfy with her voice lol.

And it’s very interesting for me to have a chance to learn her barks, it’s totally different from people, much more innocent and lovely, with a pure heart.