The world always falls faster than everything else

China's "feminism" did not make much noise when many feminist activists were suppressed and arrested, and their voices were minimal. However, it was suddenly ignited when the three women of Peking University interviewed Chizuko Ueno, and everyone began to discuss "feminist rights" overnight, especially those speculators who had never cared about the plight of women, scrambling to be the first.

To be honest, I’ve had enough. What’s the point of continuing to roast these three women on the fire, and in the end I can only get a sneer from the patriarchal society: How about it, you feminism is “not authentic”, even yourselves All think so.

Male intellectuals beat around the bush and criticized the three Peking University girls for being uneducated and unworthy of the prestigious Peking University. They want to tear up not only these three people, but any Chinese woman who dares to call themselves a feminist. They can only give "three good women's rights" places, and the space for future discussions will be further tightened. Always get the speaker they want, or do whatever it takes to get it included.

However, as the party involved in this "turmoil", Ueno Chizuko mentioned in a later conversation with Dai Jinhua: "I accepted sharp interviews from Chinese media, and I think Chinese interviewers can hit the point better than Japanese interviewers. . " I'd like to believe that it wasn't meant as a compliment, that she really listened to the questions. At that time, I learned that my female classmate was also suffering from marriage and childbearing coercion and self-struggle, and I was even more convinced that it was an unavoidable problem.

Ye Haiyan, a feminist activist, also wrote in her article: "Their questions are very real and very representative. They just use the dialogue with Ueno to introduce the problems of the Chinese women's group, and these problems are important to a real feminist For feminists, it is very meaningful. In the eyes of feminists, there is no hierarchy when it comes to women's issues. There is no issue of superiority or inferiority. As long as it is an issue involving women, there is no hierarchy. It's worth discussing."

This was very enlightening to me, I was also one of the angry people, and after seeing the operation behind the whole event, I was even more angry, even sad. Why don't I want to talk about this, it makes me feel that in this place where there is no "feminism" left, some kind of despicable clearing is finally implemented, and everyone's voice will be turned into the shock of its fall ring.

But today, I still look back at it, hoping that it will not end as easily as I thought, but go on indefinitely: what do we want to add, what do we want to see, what do we still want to ask - the questions we have to ask is endless. Instead of posting headlines like some media pretending: "Ueno Chizuru, don't answer." We have had enough of the long silence and aphasia, we should continue to speak, even if it is wrong, there is still room for change room for.

Today is March 8, 2023. I always think of the time similar to this last year and the year before so frequently and specifically in the days before this. It seems that because of this day, it is always easy for women to return to the starting point. I don’t know whether this starting point is good or bad. If it is a realistic and historical starting point, does it mean that we have never left this circle? If it is a starting point that must be looked back, maybe it can guide us in the right direction and give us more courage. . Regardless, this day is important as a reminder that the times that have passed are as important and worth fighting for as the times that are yet to come.

But there is no "good news" this year, the world always falls faster than everything else. What's worse is that the "Girl in Chains" incident that I was paying attention to last year has not been followed up so far. At the end of the epidemic prevention, all people who went to Feng County were stopped. The old crimes are like iron walls and cannot be shaken. Wu Yi, who was arrested for speaking out for her, has never been heard from; there is still no news of the release of many women who were liquidated for opposing the blockade and participating in the protest; the "March 8" Women's Day parade in Hong Kong was finally cancelled; A female employee who was sexually assaulted, because it was "risky and would affect the company's image"; a female anchor who had been abused by patriarchs decided to commit suicide because she was deprived of a chance to make a living, but was humiliated by a flood of sluts on the Internet; a woman Was raped in public, but the police report shamelessly wrote: The two are husband and wife, and she took off her clothes...

As for other places in the world, Iranian women continue to protest and continue to be suppressed. The Taliban announced that they have banned Afghan women from receiving education for more than 500 days. The latest news is that women will be prohibited from divorcing their husbands even if they suffer domestic violence. NGOs that provide emotional and financial support to women have been ordered to close. Toshimitsu Motegi, a relevant official of the Japanese government, showed a group photo of all male congressmen on Twitter. Japanese feminist activists retweeted "A country without women, Japan", and then the Japanese Foundation released "World Women Congressman" on the eve of "International Women's Day" "Proportion" statistics, the data show that from 1946 to 2021, the proportion of female parliamentarians increased by only 1.3%. Netizens commented: Time has stopped in Japan.

As Heidi Hartmann lamented in the 1970s: "Our sport is no longer in that heady, high-energy period when whatever we do is useful: raising awareness, putting more women (even more than can be accommodated) into the movement, increasing the visibility of women’s issues in society, often in a way that fundamentally challenges capitalism and patriarchal relations.” Know where you are in history. But maybe the role of "starting point" is just this, it reminds us to re-evaluate and analyze in order to aim at the ultimate goal of women's liberation.

You have to admit that "feminist" is not a respectable title in our world anymore, it's not a shiny medal that nobody gets honored by wearing it. Most of the time, the world will look at you with a flirtatious eye, find the source of the confusion, and then turn away with peace of mind, and no longer trust anything you say, because you are a "feminist". Especially when you return to the field of literature, all the fields you love, there is an impregnable order there, as long as you show a little dissatisfaction, you will be regarded as a weapon, spying on the solemn and sacred palace with evil intentions. Even if forced to admit you, they will first remove you from that position, making sure there is no place for you again - that's how "feminism" is absorbed and used against women.

According to what the book says and people's reactions, I have grown into a "radical feminist" without knowing it. This kind of belated self-awareness and constant anger made me feel inexplicable sadness and bitterness at first, as if I didn't intend to come here at first, but finally came here. The population is starting to become scarce, which means that there will be fewer and fewer people who understand you, and you will be attacked more and more, and most importantly, does "radical" mean that it is really harmful? Dead end, there is a dark side that eventually consumes itself.

But suppose that, according to Heidi Hartmann - "The main purpose of radical feminist writing is to record the slogan that 'the personal is political'. Women's dissatisfaction, they argue, is not a neurotic lament of a maladaptive, but a reaction to a social structure in which women are systematically dominated, exploited, and oppressed. "What's so radical about that? Is there a fear of the individual being swallowed up by politics? Is the identity of the individual being erased in a vast collective movement? I can't give an opinion, but I think this is precisely what is wrong with "feminism" and "movements." Supplement, rather than being used as a basis for "anti-feminism", it is best to reach a consensus in the middle - to let everyone live a better life. This is also the meaning of "politics" as I understand it, so sometimes I don't Not disgusted with it.

I used the phrase "the daughter of socialism" last year without exploring the "necessary tragedy" that lies in it: the relationship between Marxism and feminism has been unequal in every form so far of. It was none other than Heidi Hartmann, the “socialist feminist” who made this point in her famous essay in the 1970s titled “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive The Combination of 2009, reflecting on the issue of women's liberation in socialist countries. She argues that while both Marxist methods and feminist analysis are necessary to understand capitalist societies and women's place in these societies, in fact feminism has always been in a subordinate position. Because they subsume feminist struggles into the “bigger” struggle against capital.

This is probably an important reason why the "daughters of socialism" naturally feel pain. The doctrine as a platform will not give in easily. When you are needed, the feminist movement is a "socialist cause", and when you are not needed, You are "picking quarrels and provoking troubles", "provoking gender antagonism", and "undermining social stability".

Marxism is as gender-blind as the capitalism it fights. In the multitude of issues and movements that fight for workers’ rights and prioritize “class,” a woman is horrified to discover that her “allies” don’t see her as an “ally” but as a woman—many Men have been exposed to sexual harassment and even bad behavior of sexual assault. I think their slogan about "emancipating the proletariat" may not be fake, but "Many Marxists generally believe that "feminism" is at best less important than "class conflict"."

Or today they no longer talk about "class conflict", but "women's rights without human rights". The idea that focusing on women's rights diminishes the importance of human rights, and that instead one must join their broad coalition because emancipating all men will emancipate women—is this not familiar? Now that we can understand that the real dilemma is not composed of a single issue, how can we expect to solve it all at once?

If I were an intelligent feminist, I would say that in women's liberation the real enemy is the oppressor common to all—the will of history. But what must be asked is what is the huge historical will on, and it is impossible for us to fight against something that cannot be identified. Or take a step back into nothingness, admit that all "isms" and "movements" are invalid, it is human's wishful thinking, and the development of history depends on countless coincidences and mistakes. But I still want to be this jerk, and I still want to keep doing something—if I do nothing, the TV shows will always be full of weight loss, beauty and sex tips, like I experienced as a child. All products are related to housework, as if this is the only life situation women face, and this is the only knowledge that the socialist core values tell us to master.

On Women's Day in 2023, even if we learn to get rid of underwear and cosmetics advertisements and "try to read government work reports as a pastime", we have not yet felt truly happy on this day. So I have no greater wishes, but just start with happiness and reconcile with my identity first—even if I become a feminist out of "private anger", even if what I really want is not the innocent truth, but It is the power in the world... Others have already demanded you so much, you might as well give yourself more tolerance, admit your desires and be responsible for them. Morality cannot be a personal thing, nor can it be a female thing.

On this day, may we be able to preserve our liberties—while maintaining the resistibility, openness, creativity, and incompleteness that make feminism so alive.

The world always falls faster than anything else, but we have fires that can't be extinguished—"There's something pyrophoric that burns itself without being lit—when the long night is just past—you can't wrap the flood— —in a drawer—for the wind will find it—and tell your pine floors.”

March 8, 2023