The Impact of the Me Too Movement on China Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Jul 26 2018

Location: 

China

The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual assault survivor and activist Tarana Burke.

Me Too movement, awareness movement around the issue of sexual harassment and sexual abuse of women in the workplace that grew to prominence in 2017 in response to news reports of sexual abuse by American film producer Harvey Weinstein. While the phrase had been in the lexicon for more than a decade, a tweet by American actress Alyssa Milano sparked a social media phenomenon that raised awareness, gave voice to survivors, and led to sweeping cultural and workplace changes - The hashtag #MeToo was used starting in 2017 as a way to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem.

(By Britannica and Wikipedia)

As #MeToo gained momentum in China in 2018, Xian Zi (whose real name is Xiaoxuan Zhou ) was one of the many women who began sharing about sexual harassment. In a widely circulated 3,000-word essay, Xian Zi accused CCTV host Zhu Jun of sexually harassing her in 2014 when she came to his dressing room hoping to interview him. But last year, the court dismissed her case for lack of evidence. Her appeal in August was also rejected by the court.

In the small hours on Wednesday, Zhou posted a statement on Chinese social media app WeChat pledging to continue her fight to her supporters online.

“There is no shame in failure. I’m honored to have stood with everyone in the past three years…It wasn’t an easy matter, but an extremely arduous and glorious journey,” she wrote. “Thanks everyone, I will definitely appeal.”

(By CNN)

External sources: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MeToo_movement
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Me-Too-movement
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/15/china/xianzi-zhu-jun-sexual-harassment-case-mic-i…
Posted by nhiiiian on Jan 28 2024

Staff rating: 

0

Effectiveness

How does this project help?

Activates (people)Energizes and organizes people into action. Can include emotion work
Amplifies (issue or campaign)Brings public and political attention to an issue or campaign.  Can include prefigurative action, making the invisible visible.
Strengthens (community)Strengthens, builds and celebrates community through ritual and/or symbol.

Timeframe For change

This project seems to be part of a campaign with a clear short-term goal. Short-term goals tend to be things like: create or repeal a law; get a President impeached; make the city administration repair a sidewalk. A campaign with a short-term goal needs a clear theory of change, complete with targets that can be cajoled or pressured into effecting the goal.
get Zhu Jun punished and put him in jail, calling on women to defend rights and share their experiences, a wake-up call to abusers of power and the gender disparities
This project seems to be part of a campaign with a clear long-term goal. Long-term goals tend to be things like: end racism; end homophobia; make the sun stand still in the sky. A campaign with a long-term goal also needs to have some kind of theory of change.
end sexual harassment, stop the human rights violations that come with gender and class differences.

Notes

Zhou’s case sparked public discussions and significantly raised social awareness about sexual harassment. It also contributed to the growth of China’s feminist community and exposed the many flaws in the country’s legal system (Sexual harassment lawsuits were rarely seen in China at the time, and Zhou’s case was widely regarded a barometer for the country’s progress on addressing entrenched gender inequality.).