"Reading the Sun" Season 2 Issue 3: Jia Baoyu and Feminism

"Jia Baoyu and Feminism" will be released on August 9. At that time, you can read the full text, subscribe to emails and communicate with the author team on the "Reading Day" website ( www.readependenceday.com ). Thank you all for your continued support!

On Friday, June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. At this point, the abortion rights of American women, which have been protected since 1973, have been returned to the decision of the state governments. Some older women held up placards to demonstrate "I can't believe I'm still fighting this shit!" Because this is the right they fought to protect their bodies and their destiny when they took to the streets as a girl. Although this power has been used to target from time to time for fifty years, it is undoubtedly infuriating and frustrating to watch the law and society go backwards for fifty years in one go.

What is even more magical is that many legal authorities and academic elites—reasons and consciences of our time—not only failed to criticize such a “regression,” but actually contributed to it. Fundamentally, there are two simple reasons why women lose their right to abortion: First, the Roe v. Wade case is untenable in jurisprudence. As Justice Alito said, it was "extremely wrong" and the argument was "not ordinary. The land is weak”, so the judgment has brought “great damage” to the society and is simply “abuse of judicial authority”, so it is inevitable that it will be overturned, sooner or later; secondly, since the next pregnant woman can still go from a state that does not allow abortion To get an abortion in another legal state, why can't we allow administrative reform to precede legal reform so we can focus on the more important and urgent democratic process? The implication is that since abortion is only a problem that can be solved by adding a trip, there is clearly a higher priority, "more difficult and urgent" social problem than it in law. And who decides which issues have higher priority? For whom are these problems addressed? They all have one thing in common: they relate only to the other gender in society. It fits right in with the rationality and conscience of our time—mostly men with steady voices and dashing demeanor.

A male-dominated world, the world is one.

However, why in Western European and American countries where the feminist movement has been raging for decades and rights and interests in all aspects are gradually improving, why can male rights advocate so easily and without any scruples, and actually accomplish the great retrogression of history?

Let's imagine the following scenarios:

A group of well-dressed white men divided into two groups, arguing with serious faces: should we consider black slaves human beings, and if so, to what extent should we do so.

At the World Environmental Protection Conference, a group of people from the earth, sitting with their respective national logos, seriously and seriously discussed into their microphones: Is this an animal worthy of protection? If so, it is a world-class and national-level animal. ? In what month is their fur banned? Should we keep them in their habitat, or move them all elsewhere...

A group of men in suits and ties gathered in the magnificent and dignified conference hall, divided into two groups, and discussed with serious faces: should we give women the right to abortion, whether abortion is murder, and if so, abortion in a few months. Can it be considered murder? ...

Why do these seemingly absurd things always happen again and again, and without exception, they are staged in the most high-profile, most authoritative, and most serious ways in the human world?

Obviously, the male-dominated world that has been passed down for thousands of years is not so easy to die, and the feminist movement that has risen for less than a hundred years is not so easy to win. Women are never legislators and interpreters, but legislators and interpreters. From what is a woman, to how a woman should be a woman from birth to death, and how a woman should treat a man... All these questions strictly follow the rules established by men. When all that women strive for is within the framework of a completely male-dominated world, the struggle for political rights alone, and the seizure of power from men bit by bit, is not necessary, but insufficient. In other words, as long as all political systems, legal texts, economic structures, social division of labor, cultural theories, family systems, and even the way they are expressed and used are defined, interpreted, and written by men without exception, feminism There can be no final, essential victory.

How many changes have taken place in human history over thousands of years, and how many changes have various countries, regions and cultures experienced! But this, and only this, of men as legislators and interpreters of the world, the world as a male-dominated world for and only for men, has not changed for thousands of years. There is no difference between us today and the ancient Greek era, the medieval church era, and the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. It seems that gender equality has been going on for a long time. Except for a few "terrorist areas" ruled by extreme theocracy in the world, women seem to be getting more and more rights. The same freedom as men. But unfortunately, this is just an illusion of "modern equality" in our real world "not far behind". Isn't the whole story of the US Supreme Court abortion case the best proof of this?

Therefore, the real equality that feminism strives for can only be achieved in the end by changing the paradigm of the whole human society . Without changing it, true equality and freedom will never be attained. It is like a slave who lives entirely on the mercy of the slave owner, even after being released from her slave status, she still has to live in other forms of attachment to the master. Because what we have never questioned is the slavery behind it; it is the slavery, not the slave owners, that determines this dependency.

So what exactly is a paradigm? Why is it so important? The so-called paradigm refers to the highest system that controls the operation of human society. It controls the operation of all rules and systems, from the level of economy, politics, language, gender, ethnicity, family, to interpersonal relationship, scientific knowledge, art and culture, etc. , are included. In general, paradigms are the legislators and ultimate interpreters of the human world, setting the standards for everything that is right and wrong, good and bad, normal and abnormal . . .

A paradigm change is not a change in a certain system or rule, nor a change in rulers, but a fundamental change in the mode of human social relations, a fundamental change in people’s understanding and expression of interpersonal relationships and the relationship between people and the world. . For example, China entered modern society from the imperial system of the late Qing Dynasty, the world entered an industrial society from an agricultural society through the industrial revolution, and then became an industrial and technological society today, etc. These are all paradigm changes. It has brought about changes in all aspects: for example, the path of personal entry, the fundamental value of life, the structure of the family, the structure of the political system, the status of the law, the relationship between people, the relationship between countries and countries. Relationships, contrasts and influences of cultural forces, etc.

So what exactly does it include when it comes to gender-specific paradigms? The main aspects are listed below. All of them are very familiar things that we have experienced every day. It is only a matter of whether we have made reflections on them from this perspective.

1. Basic definitions: what is a person, what is an individual, what is a man, and what is a woman.
2. Gender and Power Relations: Body relations between the sexes, representational relations between the powers of the sexes. Such as chastity and stigma, love power, bride price, marriage, infidelity, rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, etc. all fall into this category.
3. Resource allocation and evaluation system under power structure. Production and consumption for women and production and consumption for men. Such as the distribution, structure and rules of the fashion industry, in fact, almost any industry.
4. Evaluation criteria, that is, the definition system of right and wrong, various aspects, such as the organization of the government, the formulation of laws, the taboos in customs, the design of the education system, the judgment criteria of intelligence and ability, the judgment criteria of leadership... Definition of success and failure.
5. The unit and way of social operation: from marriage, family, ethnic group, company, church, society, country to nation, etc.
6. Coding system: (prescribed) differences between the sexes in verbal and body language, choice of words, expressions, gestures, eyesight, grooming, ideographic systems, etc.
7. Imagination and creation of the present and future of the development of human society: such as the direction of technology and space exploration, the imagination of the future of the relationship between the sexes, etc.

From the brief introduction above, it is enough to see that the paradigm is almost a religious existence. Not only that, but it is also a world religion when it comes to gender issues. Because human society (at least since the existence of written language) has always been male-centered, the so-called paradigm of human society is actually the paradigm of male domination of society. It is like the largest monotheistic religion in human society. As long as this religion is not disintegrated one day, the cause of opposing male domination and oppression cannot be fundamentally successful.

In everyone's impression, China is undoubtedly a depression of feminism. That's certainly true, both from the theoretical origins of feminism and from what's happening in the real world, it's 100% true. Feminism is a dead end in this country, often even life-threatening, and it takes generations of hard work and sacrifice to get even a little fruitful.

However, the articles in this issue of "Reading Li Ri" are precisely one exception. It is almost unique, yet powerful and immense. It not only shows by himself that "feminist" ideas have arisen in this "barren" land of China, but also shows us almost the first male feminist in the world - Jia Baoyu . Of course, we can also say that it is Cao Xueqin, the author of "A Dream of Red Mansions" who gave Jia Baoyu life. The reason this matter is important is not to argue whether "feminism" is another Chinese "ancient" thing.

The really important question is that this is a very unique and rare perspective inside Chinese culture, which allows us to deeply understand what is the real dilemma of feminism, especially Chinese feminism, and why, as mentioned above, feminist The only way out is to completely subvert and change the paradigm of the male-dominated world.

"Jia Baoyu and Feminism" will be released on August 9. At that time, you can read the full text, subscribe to emails and communicate with the author team on the "Reading Day" website ( www.readependenceday.com ). Thank you all for your continued support!