201 | Jia Xuanning: Does Prefect Mei have the right not to give birth? Women's Reproductive Independence from "The Very Lawyer Yu Yingzhen"
Text/Jia Xuanning (Born in Beijing, raised in Hong Kong, now living in Taiwan. Media person, commentator, but his main job is to do academics, focusing on Hong Kong and Taiwan regional studies, comparative politics and cultural studies.) (Originally published on August 26, 2022)
Editor's note: The content may talk about the plot, please read it carefully.
After the finale of the popular Korean drama "The Very Lawyer Yu Yingzhen" was broadcast, it not only became the top viewer of Netflix in Taiwan, but also topped the "Recently Popular Korean Dramas List" on the mainland Douban website, with a score of 9.0.
The show has many angles to discuss. Although "Extraordinary Lawyer Yu Yingzhen" is essentially a "big heroine drama" with a legal background, the character of the autistic genius lawyer is clever and lovable, and the interpretation of "autism spectrum disorder" is not conventional. There are also many cases that focus on social issues. The mother-daughter line in the play, although only a side branch, unexpectedly extended some discussions about women's reproductive rights.
Yu Yingzhen is the illegitimate daughter of her father and Taishou Mei, the daughter of Taishan Law Firm, but because of the disparity between the two families, they could not get together, so Yingzhen was raised by her father alone. Although Taishan Law Firm in the play is the competitor of Wang Yang Law Firm, which Yingzhen serves, many viewers think the role of Taishou Mei is impressive.
Especially in the last episode, the prefect's son violated the public interest, and she could only publicly apologize for giving up her candidacy for the Minister of Justice. This finale also caused a lot of controversy on the Douban website. In the Douban public opinion atmosphere that emphasizes more on women's rights, many people think that the prefect should not give birth to Yu Yingzhen. This son and daughter perfectly ruined her career as Minister of Justice.
Someone said, "What did the prefecture-shoumei do wrong? The birth of a genius, a son and a daughter dragged down her career."
Some people also said that the greatest misfortune of the prefectural governor was that she met Yu Yingzhen's father when she was young. "Prefect is too miserable. She gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock, and promised not to contact her again, but decades later, she came to accuse her of being irresponsible. She could have been the Minister of Justice, but was written as a vicious mother by the screenwriter."
In the Douban group of "The Very Lawyer Yu Yingzhen", many people said that the emotional line between Yu Yingzhen's father and the prefect is the biggest failure of the whole drama. The prefect in the play is a standard career woman, not a good mother, but many female viewers are full of sympathy for her, believing that "the reproductive rights should always be in the hands of women, and women can also have their own career ambitions."
Chinese women's fertility anxiety on Douban
In the discussion of the Taiwanese audience, most of them praised the role of Taishoumei for her good performance, but there were few accusations against Yingzhen's father. On the other hand, mainland audiences will point out the selfishness of Yingzhen's father and that the screenwriter should not portray Taishoumei as a "dereliction of duty mother".
Why does Taishoumei's choice have completely different perceptions in the eyes of audiences in different regions?
The reason why many mainland audiences feel injustice for Taishoumei is that on the one hand, women are bound to sacrifice in childbirth, and on the other hand, because of the current situation of China's population falling off a cliff, the rhetoric of advocating women's return to the family is so loud that many people are disgusted, especially There are also rumors that the state will "intervene in abortion".
Just after the Spring Festival this year, an item in the " Main Points of Work of the China Family Planning Association in 2022 ", "Implementing a Special Action for Abortion Intervention for Unmarried People", caused a great uproar on mainland social media. From 2014 to 2019, the number of induced abortions in China averaged 9.5 million per year, while in 2019, the new population was only 4.67 million. Although the three-child policy will be opened in 2021, it will not help the sluggish fertility rate.
Although China has not enacted a ban on abortion, the unhappy birth figures, coupled with the vague definition of "intervention", still make women anxious. Some experts came out to refute the rumors and believed that at the level of law and policy formulation, China has no realistic possibility of restricting abortion, but whether local governments will impose restrictions on their own is another question. After all, everyone is well aware that in the past, "Planned Parenthood" could pull you into forcing an abortion , and of course it could technically force you not to have an abortion.
Since China enacted the three-child policy in May last year, Chinese men and women have begun to find it increasingly difficult for them to find medical institutions willing to perform sterilizations . In addition, public hospitals can set up barriers for women in abortion surgery, and localities can also limit the purchase of contraceptives. There are countless ways to intervene.
Therefore, mainland women who do not want to have children will panic and care more about "reproductive autonomy". They didn't want to be kidnapped by the country's policies, nor by the male discourse system, so they were filled with righteous indignation when they saw the prefecture's soft heart: "The womb doesn't grow on a man. If you want to give birth to him, you can give birth yourself."
From the past to today, the high threshold for abortion has not disappeared
Abortion is also not easy in South Korea. According to reports , since 1953, South Korea has implemented a ban on abortion for 66 years: According to the criminal law, women can be sentenced to up to two years in prison and a fine of 2 million won for abortion.
[This article is not finished, see "Walking the World" for the full text: Jia Xuanning: Does Prefect Mei have the right not to give birth? Seeing women's reproductive autonomy from "The Very Lawyer Yu Yingzhen" ]
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201. Jia Xuanning: Does Prefect Mei have the right not to give birth? Women's Reproductive Independence from "The Very Lawyer Yu Yingzhen"
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