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© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.As China censors homegrown feminism, a feminist scholar from Japan is on its bestseller lists
By KANIS LEUNG HONG KONG©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
62 Comments
starpunk
This is so un-Marxian. If Communism, esp. Maoist CCP Communism lived up to its principals then it would not surpress feminism or sexual equality one iota. But then again, Communist Poland suppressed the Solidarnosc labor union conglomerate in the 80s and Marx always championed labor unions.
Hypocrisy and brainwashing. A total lie and a bastardization of a positive social science theory. That's Communism for you.
Strangerland
China isn't actually practicing communism, so it's not even communism. It's just China.
Paustovsky
What in God's name are feminist glasses ? Having reading glasses makes you a feminist ? Some men are beyond help.
theFu
Conservatives aren't afraid. I'm conservative, fiscally. Religious wackos are afraid and they have a "holy book" which they claim explains why. The GOP has been shifted by religious wackos, not conservatives. There are a few ideals that overlap, but fiscal conservatives just want the US to live below their means, pay as we go, and reduce the public debt.
Some conservatives are also law-n-order people. If you see things as black and white, that just shows foolish thinking and the US system was setup to allow exceptions. Sadly, binary thinkers find shades of grey difficult. That's on them.
virusrex
That is the whole point, the author can speak about something she knows about and that affect the society where she lives deeply. What role models can you name about other things like peace, discrimination, etc?
theFu
From the Constitution of the CCP/China:
Feminism is an interest for women, last time I checked, therefore it is a "protected right" by the Chinese Constitution. ... er ... but women also don't like being raped by CCP officials, yet whenever allegations are raised, it is the woman penalized, not the male official. So, I won't hold my breath waiting for the Chinese govt to protect and de-censor women.
deanzaZZR
Mao famously said that women hold up half the sky (婦女能頂半邊天). China still has a long way to go to make this true.
PTownsend
@the Fu:
theFuToday 07:45 am JST
Conservatives aren't afraid.
I agree, having been raised in what was considered at the time to be a 'conservative' family, I abhor that the extreme right led by religious fanatics are now claiming they represent 'conservatism and 'populism, when I think they just espouse oppressive totalitarianism bigotry.
Yubaru
This sounds more like an advertisement for the author, under the guise of taking pot shots at the Chinese system and regime.
Jimizo
Oversized glasses are fashionable these days.
Oversized glasses are much more attractive than undersized men.
Paustovsky
Had you considered that a man’s idea of traditional family values is a real turn off to most women ?
Sounds like a real backfire.
Desert Tortoise
I guess that explains the high numbers of female engineers including some very senior ones working on things that go boom where I work. My immediate supervisor, a woman, is a Chemist with over a dozen patents to her name, stuff in the field of energetic materials (things that go boom or propel rockets). My wife is an Electrical Engineer who specializes in control systems analysis. Maybe you should discard all those preconceptions of yours and open your eyes to the world around you.
CuteUsagi
There appears to be a girl on this thread in Tokyo very angry at opposite opinions from her own if she is a girl.
I love the women in Japan. They know who they are and are quite equal in many respects but quite above the male in most important things.
kurisupisu
Surely his job is to educate the children for which he is paid, no?
Of course
I would propose that ‘agenda’ is everybody’s agenda
Meiyouwenti
Chinese women will be disappointed once they know the truth. Professor Ueno had been seeing a man for more than twenty years and secretly got married to him before he died two years ago. She’s been writing books advocating single life and simple existence and yet she lives in a fancy condo and drives a BMW. Some people might call her a hypocrite.
Paustovsky
Clarity of vision perhaps. What woman would want to demean themselves by having a partner / husband who genuinely wonders why feminist are usually single ?
Abe234
I think women can express there femininity and be a feminist. It’s not like they are juxtaposed. Also being single has nothing to do with being a feminist. Just as being masculine has nothing to do with men being married.
conservatives aren’t afraid of women they may have a certain beliefs or value that maybe men should be the bread winners and women should focus on the kids and family. But again these don’t have to be exclusive to a specific gender, and man can look after the kids just as much as the women can be the main bread winner.
and yet it is the conservatives who are pushing women to go out to work, go to college, skill up. So not really conservative. It might have more to do with economic necessity. However, I think some conservatives want to have their cake and eat it. Men go to work and women raise kids but then want women to work, become highly educated, work pay more tax AND HAVE MORE KIDS. It’s rather incompatible if the time poor mums financial riches don’t quite add up. And I do think the feminist view that women can have it all is disingenuous. Have everything, the carreer the high salary and the high job and have kids.( average women can’t) unless they are a CEO. Who lectures other women that they too can have it all. (But just not in a great salary)
anyway the CCP aren’t happy with different political views, or religious view and now it seems gender views. Soon they’ll find angst with everyone.
Lord Dartmouth
Paustovsky, I wrote 'Choosing not to marry or have children does not make you a role model.' Leonardo and Newton are not role models because they chose not to get married have children. They are revered for entirely different reasons.
PTownsend
Why are 'conservatives' so afraid of women? When the CCP enact measures intended to further control people they use terminology to justify their totalitarianism like 'hurt the feelings of Chinese people' are they suggesting that Chinese can only be male, and that females cannot be Chinese?
The Taliban, Russia, Saudi Arabia and US Republicans have a lot in common, including 'freedom' is for males.
GBR48
Her very impressive output must have annoyed the hell out of the Showa-forever Japanese patriarchy. Books about Japanese sexism would be OK in China, but she may be vanishing from the shelves now courtesy of articles like this, as the penny finally drops at MiniTrue, Beijing. She is a bit less popular in South Korea, where colonial issues burn brighter. Still, Asia could certainly use a (very much delayed) dose of feminism. Good for her. That's what the academic world is for - kicking society along when it gets stuck in a rut.
Heroes and heroines are always tricky things. Feminism was the cutting edge of socio-cultural activism until LGBTQ+ activists appeared and pulled the rug from under them. Things are more complex now: Feminists, LGBTQ+, BLM, Eco warriors and Post-colonialists. Maybe the political left being split over what matters the most, and kids so focussed on their identity (that is to say, on themselves), has diluted and weakened it, allowing the right to surge back on the bigger stage with their MAGA hats on, banning abortion, deglobalising and preparing for war. Left wing activists (globally) are starting to look like the Japanese political opposition. Too many factions to ever win. That's concerning.
opheliajadefeldt
This is the year 2023 and yet the majority of men will still not recognize we women as their equals. My dog, why are so many men still wrapped up in their misogyny, is it a lack of education, or just a stubborn thought that they are superior?....lol!! In many cases religious movements are at fault, and women are looked down upon as mere reproductive vessels and nothing more.
CrashTestDummy
I don't think that is true. My views are that men and women are just totally different in thinking, actions, and of course physiology.
I worked in construction industry and real estate industry at a male dominated company and female dominated company. In general, men/women just work and think differently. Women are much more collaborative in decision making. leading, and take the group's views more into account. However, men are much more independent thinking and not as collaborative in decision making and leading.
Also, men/women just levitate to different industries. Women tend to levitate more toward liberal arts based industries and men levitate more to science based industries. Some industries are male dominated because very few women go into those industries. And vice versa, some industries are women dominated because very few men go into those industries.
Keepyer Internetpoints
I have been here maybe a couple months now. I don't see what you see.
I have zero issues with masculine type women taking or refusing leadership roles. I have zero issues with them standing up for themselves and rejecting tradtional roles. I grew watching Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman. Some of my heroes (heroism if you want to be genderist) are Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Taylor, JK Rowling, and Christian Hoff Sommers who are and were certainly more outspoken than your average tradcon woman.
But saying tradcon women are subjugated is really willful blindness. Tradcons seek defined roles that simply divide work and responsibility. Its not about dominance.
Clearly its you seeking dominance.
Your switching to getting insultingly and accusingly personal with me is some pretty good evidence of what I was saying about toxic feminity. I have read enough of your posts to declare that you embody toxic femininity.
One might make the mistake of thinking so. But I once again assert that modern (third and fourth wave feminism) want their cake and eat it too. They will never sign up for the draft for example, and opposition to men being eligible will always be flaccid. Modern feminists are not asking for equality. They are asking for more....period. Just like you, seeking and trying to assert dominance through brow beating.
I have asked very many Japanese woman if they would like have those positions. Most of them say no very quickly.
You can make up whatever reasons you like for that, but fact is, that is who they are right now. And if you can't welcome their position, then you are not representative of them but merely some sort of pretender.
Abe234
Women can enjoy their life, go out with friends and have a career. But I do think it can come at an economic cost to the country (demographicly) . By having smaller families. women cot have the vote, got the right to loans, own a credit card, all to be applauded.. but one of thegreatest freedoms women ( and men) have had was the creation of the contraceptive pill etc. so women and men can choose, how and when to have a family. It’s certainly not feminist, but more of an empowerment to men and women.
wallace
The traditional family is always promoted. The declining birth rate has nothing to do with the LGBT community. More to do with economic factors and the cost of child-rearing.
CrashTestDummy
What you are bringing up is the exception not the norm. For example, in the US engineering industry, 86% are men and 14% are women. In the US, STEM industries (science, technology, engineering, math) 68% are men and 32% are women. Japan is even worse. Only 7% of Japanese women are in science and engineering majors. In Japan’s computer tech industry, under 20% of engineers are women and I am sure that in mechanical, electrical, aeronautical engineering the percentage of Japanese women in those fields is much lower.
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20220920-59292/
https://asianews.network/japan-gets-serious-about-supporting-careers-with-only-7%EF%BC%85-women-in-the-sciences/
You should re-read my comment because I said in general which is the industries at large. Not saying women aren't or can't be high level engineers or in high level scientific industries. Just saying that very few women go into those industries. I personally have many female family members that are in engineering and STEM industries.
Paustovsky
That's the second time you've said that now without explaining what they are or how one does that in 2023.
Would that involve 1950's style commercials with the nuclear family and greeting pop with freshly-baked apple pie ? The mind boggles.
Yrral
The Fu,why has the ERA not been ratified
deanzaZZR
@William_Blake Agreed. Yet both societies waste so much untapped talent. The legacy of Confucianism weights them down.
Jonathan Prin
Looks like toxic feminism described.
I am all for equality in rights but not egalitarism.
Promoting what leads to decay of society (remaining single, enjoying egotistical life, gender quota) is detrimental in the long term to human society.
If women are the future of society, agree that men are not something of the past.
It is stil very nice to share and read all points of view, and that above all, whether man or woman, opinions are after all all different.
CrashTestDummy
Perhaps not as much in Japan, but in the US and other countries they are the gay/transgender groups are pushing gay/transgender grooming to kids and adults. I live in the US and the gay/transgender grooming is a major issue over here.
Japan population is in steep decline, so they should be promoting traditional family values. Just my opinion.
albaleo
Perhaps they worry that if women achieve equal status, there won't be a great need for men except as sperm donors. We could adopt the general cow-to-bull ratio of about 25 to 1. (I can see my wife nodding as I write this.)
Lord Dartmouth
Choosing not to marry or have children does not make you a role model.
Paustovsky
Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci.
girl_in_tokyo
Jonathan PrinToday 02:25 pm JST
From the article:
staged protests like occupying a men’s restroom to demand more toilets for women, or marching in wedding dresses spattered with fake blood to draw attention to domestic violence. helped assuage her anxieties about being single and inspired her to start booking holidays alone to build confidence.
You think demanding more restrooms, protesting domestic violence, and giving women the confidence to feel good about their choices is toxic?
You say this, then:
You can't be for equality and then accuse women of being at fault for the decay of society for not wanting to get married and have kids.
Also, I kind of find it funny that you think single women have the power to decay society. LOL ...
Why can't men and women together be the future of society? Are you afraid that if women are treated equally, men will lose something?
theFu
There are thousands of years in history for how men and women behave. The changes in the last 500 and even the last 50 yrs have been fairly steep in parts of the world.
As usual, China has all the laws to make women equal, then ignores them, since men are "more equal".
girl_in_tokyo
Keepyer InternetpointsToday 11:31 am JST
One look at the comments and you should plainly see that some men just don't like it when women see themselves as equals. Insults towards feminists, insults towards women who don't want to be moms, insults towards women who want careers. Funny how much it stings some men when, as they put it, women "act like a man".
Goddess forbid women be "masculine," which in your eyes seems to mean they take leadership roles and stand up for themselves and reject traditional gender roles that mean subjugating themselves to men.
Not having women see you as their lord must really burn you. That warms my cold little feminist heart.
That is the opposite of feminism.
Yeah, right. This is why most corporate positions are held by men, and men keep saying women LIKE it that way.
Keepyer Internetpoints
You have not one shred of proof of that. A key reason is because its simply not true.
Its just that tradcon women are not all over the internet posting their rage about not being able to have their cake and eat it too.
Instead, tradcon women are out there enjoying their lives, their femininity, their marriages, their social lives, and raising children.
You have mistaken their silence for them not existing.....which is exactly what feminists say the partriachy does to women. Curious that.
girl_in_tokyo
Keepyer InternetpointsToday 01:07 pm JST
Of course you don't. You agree with what they are saying, so to you, it's perfectly normal.
Then why call them that, when they are really just women?
I didn't say that, though, did I. I said that some men like women to be subjugated to men. And yes, it is about dominance, otherwise why would men want that, instead of an equal partner?
I really like how you guys turn it around like that. .
Nope. Again, I like how you turn it around like that. Fun times.
Every time the subject comes up, it's always men saying women like it that way, while women stand off to the side rolling our eyes.
girl_in_tokyo
CrashTestDummyToday 02:39 pm JST
You should know that "grooming" is nothing more than a conspiracy theory made up by people who are homophobic. It started with conservatives who got their panties in a bunch because LGBTQIA weren't hiding the closet anymore, and started to get married and come more into the public eye, including television shows that showed us living normal everyday lives. Then the public realized that we all are just normal human beings doing normal things that every other human does, which cut down on prejudice by a good healthy percent. So the homophobes had to reach for something to try and bring that percentage back up and try to force us back in the closet. And "grooming" is what they came up with.
Of course this "grooming" narrative makes no sense at all if you look at the facts: stats on crime show that the group most responsible for rape and pedophilia are cisgender men.
And what you have done for children lately? My brother, who is gay, teaches at an inner-city school, educating kids. His agenda is to give them hope, help them get to college, allowing them to break the cycle of poverty - now THAT is a gay agenda.
But since there are lot of very prejudiced people out there willing to believe in some really stupid things, the "grooming" narrative has taken off and has been repeated so often that now homophobic people would rather believe in a complete fabrication than look around at what actual gay people are actually doing and use their common sense to reject the notion that being gay and out is equal to "grooming" children. What utter and complete nonsense.
Your opinion is wrong, because LGBTQIA have traditional family values, too, and that includes having kids.
girl_in_tokyo
kurisupisuToday 06:49 pm JST
Did you feel the WHOOSH of air as my point sailed over your head?
elephant200
I don't think the Chinese government has done something wrong over this.The China of today is not the one 70 years ago. The massive aging population of fewer young people but huge population of elderly people. To make the nation more energetic, women should step back to born children and raising children. Now China has no restriction of how many children, instead more children is good for the country. So the feminism and feminist must be controlled in order to bring a balanced country.
elephant200
75-year-old Japanese feminist scholar who's not married and does not have children.
This lady Chizuko Ueno. I think this is her tragedy. Being a feminist does not mean you should stay single, no children throughout your whole life.
Yrral
Lots mens and womens should not be involved in any relationship, because they already have others issues and problems,a relationship, should not be a therapist session,were people dump their problem on others,but where two people can grow spiritually, personally and emotionally as one
CrashTestDummy
Japan's population is in major decline. Perhaps promoting traditional family values is better than the gay/transgender values. Just food for thought.
Leo T
The ONE thing I agree with China on
CaptDingleheimer
The young woman in the photo is certainly wearing feminist glasses... probably blows her cover over there.
Keepyer Internetpoints
Equals in what?
What man is holding you back from being equal in that?
deanzaZZR
I'm getting strong LDP vibes here.
girl_in_tokyo
Larr FlintToday 06:40 am JST
We aren't. I actually have not one, but two male partners.
One can be both sex-positive and polyamorus as a feminist. Betcha never thought of that.
Keepyer Internetpoints
Followed by:
This gets upvotes? An attack on someone for asking a question? An attack on men too, since it suggests there just aren't enough men who blindly accept to be loved! I think traditional feminism is okay, but THIS is one of the many things wrong with modern feminism.....which seems to embrace toxic femininity (as opposed to virtuous femininity) more than any other aspect.
I think one thing going on with modern femininity is that it is suffering a rather convoluted dilemma. Organized feminism needs leaders. But the more feminine a woman is, the less likely she will desire a leadership position. Therefore, feminist leaders tend to be masculine women. And those masculine women promote ideas that are good for themselves rather than the majority of women. Feminism would probably be better off with more feminine men at the helm. Or to just dispense with leaders and work in groups more.
Another issue is that the lable of "feminism" is much too broad. Protesting for more women's toilets and against domestic violence is one thing, but demanding the end of due process and the promotion of cancel culture for men accused of sexual assault is on a completely different level.
And I will also add that those who forever whine about the "patriarchy" never seem to undertand what it is. And they also fail to realize there is a matriarchy, and that it often weilds more general power that patriarchies. So what is a patriarchy? It is a MINORITY of rich men with political and corporate power, which increasingly includes masculine women. It is by FAR, not a system run by or for ordinary men. It is ABUSIVE to us ordinary men! And what is a matriarchy? Its women in traditional roles who ensure that women are provided for, pampered in fact, and protected, through institutions such as marriage and being primary care care givers and educators of children. The matriarchy is why, when a woman hits a man on the street, people laugh. But when a man hits a woman people rush to her aid.
Japan has a strong matriarchy. We all know women rule the roosts here. That is precisely what feminine women want. If masculine women want something else for themselves, that's fine. But stop pretending they represent most women because they don't.
kurisupisu
Its such a pleasure to be in Japan where women express their femininity.
sakurasuki
Japan where patriarchy rule, Japan feminist become role model for another country?