Why China’s women are talking back like never before

One night, Caicai suddenly had her period. It was late and all the shops near her home had closed, so she had to order sanitary pads through a courier service. When the courier, a man, called her from a shop, he sounded embarrassed as he whispered, “Hello beautiful, did you want … that thing?” Caicai whispered back, “Yes, I want that thing.” They went on to discuss the different brands and functions of sanitary products in the same hush-hush manner, as if they were buying narcotics on the black market. After the courier made the purchase on her behalf, he called again, reporting a mini crisis: the shop had run out of black plastic bags for him to discreetly carry the feminine hygiene products in. Comedian Caicai recently performed this skit during an online stand-up comedy show in China, as the studio audience roared with laughter. After her set went viral, she drew praise from hundreds of women, who said they resonated with her experience. Chinese women are fed up with period shaming, with having to call it another name, hide sanitary pads from men, or feel bad if menstrual blood stains their clothes. “Menstruation is not our fault, nor should it make anyone feel ashamed,” read one Weibo comment on Caicai’s performance. “It’s one of the most normal physiological phenomena of human beings. Why should we be as silent as thieves about menstruation, and use code words for menstruation and sanitary towels? Girls have to silently endure menstrual pain every month and bear the extra expenses of menstruation, including sanitary towels and painkillers. If we are really striving for equality, please seriously consider menstruation.” Caicai isn’t the only one speaking up about life in a patriarchal society. In recent weeks, on shows such as a new spin-off from the Rock & Roast web series, female comedians have riffed on subjects close to women’s hearts, in a sign that Chinese women are becoming more conscious of these issues. Besides menstruation, the topics tackled include China’s preference for sons, dating, and being too bossy for a woman. Some of the sets are quite sharp, skewering sex discrimination. Sister duo Yan Yi and Yan Yue recently joked about a key difference between how Chinese parents name sons and daughters. They noted that male names, like Zhang Fei, Liu Bei and Cao Cao, tend to involve active verbs (fei, bei and cao mean “fly”, “prepare” and “exercise” respectively), whereas female names focus on passive qualities such as yi (“pleasantness”) and yue (“happiness”). The one exception they could think of is Zhaodi, a girl’s name which literally means “beckon a younger brother”. The Chinese comedy scene wasn’t like this a few years ago. When Rock & Roast first premiered online in 2017, even though it featured many female comics, the topics were more general, including how to deal with anxiety, whether to stay on in first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, and how to be your real self. In 2021, comedian Yang Li faced a heavy backlash over her biting jokes about men. After she famously cracked, “Why are men so mediocre but still so confident?”, online attacks came hard and fast. She was called “ugly” and a “female hooligan”. An advertisement featuring her was pulled, and a shopping live stream she appeared in was flooded with negative comments. But other women have not stopped speaking out, because public opinion battles are won by repeatedly pushing back. On social media, it’s quite common to see women commenting on social issues that relate to their rights, such as a rule requiring a cooling-off period before a divorce, domestic violence, and the impact of motherhood on career development. In the past couple of years, Japanese feminist writer Chizuko Ueno has become something of a rock star in China, or at least among the country’s feminist underground. Her most popular book, Misogyny, has tens of thousands of reviews on Douban, with people saying they suddenly understood themselves better after reading it. These days, we not only have more female comedians airing their views on female topics, but also female writers and directors stepping forward. This month, the film Like a Rolling Stone dominated discussions on social media. It is based on the true story of Su Min, a retiree who went on a solo road trip to get away from an abusive husband and find freedom. The film was directed by Yin Lichuan, who is also a writer, a poet and a mother. In an interview, she said she had drawn inspiration from her own pain as a mother. “Motherhood is my biggest predicament, it will completely overwhelm you for at least a period of time, it will replace your individual identity and this is really painful.” Even though these feminist works are few and far between, and female writer-directors remain outnumbered by men, there is value in being seen by society and making people more comfortable with certain ideas. In the words of comedian Qiqi, “My seniors fought for the right to eat at the table, and I will fight for the right to eat my fill at the table.”

Why China’s women are talking back like never before

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A resurgence of content by women for women is a sign that more Chinese females are ready to engage with issues related to their rights

A resurgence of content by women for women is a sign that more Chinese females are ready to engage with issues related to their rights