I'm so good that the "patriotic media" is attacking me

My name is Liang Xiaomen, my real name is Liang Xiaowen, and I am a Chinese feminist. On April 1st, the WeChat public account "Fix a knife" published an article about me, claiming that I was being used by forces outside the United States to engage in feminist movements in the United States. The article has nearly 100,000+ views within 24 hours.

It is the international current commentary team under the World Wide Web that "makes up a knife". Much of this politically framed article is not true. For example, the article claims that I received a scholarship for "Women and Law" at the American Law School to study "Gender and Law". In fact, I studied public international law, and I didn't get this scholarship. My major has almost every year. Thirty or forty Chinese students; they said that I got US funding through a man named Peter Darling, but I had never heard of Peter Darling, much less knew him.

Their rhetoric describes me as the "behind the scenes" of the feminist events that have become hot spots in recent years, disrupting the stability of Chinese society. It doesn't matter what I did specifically. This article used some specious associations to cast me on a "anti-China" and "traitorous" filter. They believed that my attention to Chinese feminism was smearing China. Legal aid lawyers in New York described it as "using Western NGOs to create a halo" to be anti-China. Because I follow many "unidentified" people on Twitter, I don't know what I am. Some netizens left a message after reading the article: "The traitor must die."

1. Why did "Fix a knife" publish articles to attack me?

In many recent social hot feminist events, such as the "Chained Girl" incident in Fengxian, all I did was to forward articles in the circle of friends to express my concern for "Chained Girl". I don't do more than others, as another netizen commented: "I haven't heard of these people at all."

So the question is, why is "Making Up" publishing an article attacking me?

First, they need to establish an external "hostile force" to explain the domestic feminist movement and provide anti-feminists with a rhetorical weapon to attack feminists. On the one hand, they don't want to face up to women's calls for legal, economic and cultural protection of women's rights, so they can't wait to cast "I" as a behind-the-scenes manipulator to shift the focus. The fundamental reason for the endless feminist movement in China is that women hope that the government can further promote gender equality, but we are frustrated and angry because our demands are not taken seriously. A recent example - the "Chained Women" incident in Fengxian County has made many people spontaneously publicize The venue uses art and body to call for continuous public attention, and the feminist "Wu Yi" has been detained for going to the scene in Feng County to appeal, without any news. They cannot understand human nature's sincere pursuit of freedom, justice and equality, and can only use "China-US confrontation" and "war of interests" to understand the pure heart of feminists.

On the other hand, "Fixing the Sword" provides anti-feminists with a rhetorical weapon to attack feminists. When feminism is directly labeled as "smearing China", anti-feminism is patriotism. Patriarchs will feel a heightened desire for power while fighting against feminists: they stand with the powerful state machine and beat me, a Chinese woman who is not yet 30 years old, who is powerless to resist. Another of their words is to distinguish between good and bad feminism. Those who are controlled by the system are good feminists, and the idea of "feminism abroad" is bad feminism because it is not controlled by the system.

Second, they are creating a "spiral of silence" against feminists, creating isolation among feminists and breaking connections between people. They are succeeding. Spiral of Silence - "People will be reluctant to spread their opinions if they feel they are in the minority of the public; and if they feel they agree with the majority, they will speak up" (Wikipedia ).

Since 2021, many Weibo Feminist accounts have been permanently banned, regardless of the number of followers. For example, after the trial of the Xianzi v. Zhu Jun case, many Weibo accounts supporting Xianzi have been permanently banned, while the accounts supporting Zhu Jun have been kept on top. Swipe the screen, become the mainstream and the only sound that can be seen.

However, even if I have been bombarded by Weibo and there is no platform where I can speak out, "Making Up" will continue to smear me. Because physical silence is not enough, I need to be completely destroyed in spirit, public opinion legitimacy, and legitimacy. At the macro level, the Chinese government has raised the civil feminist movement to the level of "national security", so that women who care about women's rights but do not want to be opposed to the system keep a distance from the "feminist movement". On a more personal level, the three became tigers, and because of the political stigma again and again, there must be feminists who gradually distanced themselves from me.

In fact, my real crime, the first sentence of the article "Fix a knife" has been clearly pointed out - I am trying to change the minds of others. The presence of me and other young women like me must have made many people uneasy. We are altruistic, brave, loud and uncontrolled, and the dark forces depicted by "Mix a knife" are nothing more than our friendship based on feminism. and beliefs. Thousands of young women have found their strength by participating in the feminist movement through social media - it is a process of empowerment after participating in the feminist movement, and I dare not take credit.

The process of politically stigmatizing me with "Fix a knife" as a gunman is "killing chickens and warning monkeys"—feminists saw a bloody warning in the face of many dangers: feminism is not patriotism, and patriots cannot have feminism. "Fix a knife" in the article repeatedly reiterates that this is a "cognitive war". In their view, this is a war. There is only zero sum, only life and death and the interests of great powers. There is no fresh and complicated life, no middle ground, no middle ground. Those caught in the cracks cannot survive, they can only choose a position, otherwise they will end up being paraded on the streets like me.

2. This is not the price anyone who speaks up should bear

I wonder if everyone will have the same understanding as me when they read this article: I may no longer be able to travel freely between China and the United States. Realizing this, I have a great sadness. I can no longer enjoy drinking, chatting, gorging on barbecues, pressing the road with my friends by the Pearl River without fear in the summer heat wave. I also found that I suddenly started to miss the desks of the elementary school, the playground of the junior high school, and the high school. The cafeteria, and classmates and friends who have not been in touch for a long time. I realized that my roots were cut off and that I would live a more alternative life from now on.

There may be people who see what happened to me and rejoice in their "little luck" and see my experience as a cautionary tale - but please don't, please don't see what happened to me and be glad that they are at least still alive There are people who can continue to maintain and operate their immediate life, because it justifies the violence that others endure in pursuit of freedom and justice. Seeing the misfortunes and losses of others, I will be grateful for what I still have, and therefore focus more on the small blessings in front of me. The connection and mutual support of human nature will be dissolved by the small blessings in front of me. Don't pretend that this happened for granted and that I should pay the price because it wasn't. This injustice and violence is not a price that anyone should bear.

Also please don't sympathize with me and feel that I am miserable. I have lost something, but I have deepened my understanding of the value of freedom because of it, so I don't want sympathy from others. However, I want you to be angry with me.

Of course, it is impossible to talk to those who believe that I am a "traitor bitch" and "eat dog food"-their world is only left with patriotism as the core of "those who go against me die", either friend or enemy, black and white. So this article is for you in the middle, for you in the middle.

I have never overestimated my own achievements in the feminist movement, but I also know very well that it is precisely because I have not given up on letting feminists find each other and strength in the past few years, let me once Once set up as a target to attack. I have always been proud of my sincerity and my feminism. After graduating from Fordham University Law School in New York City, I became a lawyer and provided tenant protection legal assistance to low-income people at one of the largest civil legal aid organizations in New York City, many of my clients are Chinese and victims of domestic violence. By. Outside of work, I pay attention to current affairs of feminism at home and abroad, and never give up finding connections with other feminists in this age of isolation, atomization and "political depression".

I don't think I deserve what happened to me today, I think it's injustice, it's violence. So I don't want to swallow my anger, and I won't "stand at attention and be beaten".

At the same time, I implore you who are reading to break out of the safe zone and show your support for me publicly. This may be easy for you, or it may make you feel risky. But in any case, in the midst of the wave after wave of attacks on feminists, this kind of public support for each other is a little training to break the safe zone, an attempt to reconnect, and use our small but unstoppable strength to hold on. A space for voice and contemplation.

You are welcome to forward it to various media, platforms and groups. Rewards are welcome to show support.