Are we still talking about feminism?

Are we still talking about feminism in Malaysia these days? This question can be imagined in several different time and space: first, we used to talk about feminism, and now we are considering whether to continue to talk about it; second, we were planning to talk about feminism, but we didn’t; third, others have talked about it for a long time, and we Malaysian talents It seems too late to start talking, uh.

I will perform such a small inner theater because I have been thinking about the sky during this period of time: I am afraid that some creators think that "feminists" are just like "literary youth", they are swear words, and they are eager to distance themselves from them. After all, feminist literary theory is a method of criticism that can be formulated and used—conversely, feminist literary works can be produced by formulas. To others, "feminism" sounds too radical for Malaysia.

A friend who studied law at a private college told me that there was a class in "Philosophy of Law" to report in groups, and their group got the title "Feminism." I just ignore his complaints ("No one's going to take this topic, we have no choice..."), and I'm just relieved that someone is willing to talk about feminism. He went on to say that feminism is messy, complicated, and doesn't have a unified direction, so his question is: "What exactly is feminism looking for?"

What exactly is "chaotic" feminism after? I can respond like this: Feminism is actually a lot of genres, and feminism is about accepting differences, having multiple voices, and so on. But wait, isn't this question similar to "What do the Chinese want?" How do those who sit in the center of power know what the powerless and oppressed want? I'm afraid the question is not whether to talk about feminism, the problem is more fundamental: not even gender awareness. It's like what we're used to seeing: a group of (heterosexual) men get together to talk, they can immediately correct racist remarks, but are often insensitive to sexist remarks.

We are used to the inconsistent pace in Malaysian society. Two recent group exhibitions of female artists in Klang Valley, we can see some interesting phenomena. "The Good Malaysian Woman" exhibited in Publika has an obvious theme. Women stare at themselves and have a dialogue with themselves, reflecting the artist's reflection on the female subject, and thinking about the identity and position of women in Malaysia. Yes, location. Position determines perspective. The exhibition site is located in a high-end area, a place to show the taste of middle-class life, and it is difficult to reach by public transportation. Whether it is the external environment or the abstract meaning, it alludes to a certain limitation and danger: female artists only see themselves in a specific identity.

"1 Cares: Social•Humanity•Environment" exhibited at the Longxue Huatang is another scene. The exhibition copy is too subtle, I don’t know if it’s intentional, or it’s not powerful enough. From the flyer to the exhibition site explanation, it doesn’t highlight the artist’s gender identity. Instead, it reflects the literal meaning of “Malaysian Good Woman”: humility, kindness, and virtuousness. The English theme of the exhibition "Social• Humanity• Environment" is the abbreviation of "she" (she), which can be regarded as an indication of gender identity; the Chinese theme does not see female identity, and women are invisible.

Perhaps, the artists did not intend to reflect on the issue of gender identity, they just wanted the female subject to be invisible, and only focused on how women cared about external affairs. Liu Suru's installation "Relying on You and Me" is an exception. Long Xue Huatang, a stage that has long belonged to middle-aged and elderly Chinese men-in an abstract sense, a stage to show power or voice, was occupied by women's bras for a few days. Liu Suru hung colorful bras under the arches on both sides of the lobby, full of two pieces. People entering the Long Xue Hua Tang from the side door must pass through the bra arches. We can imagine the various reactions of the people: shock, avoidance, amazement, curiosity, confusion. As stated in the description of the work, this work challenges the superstition of the Chinese patriarchal society: that a man will have bad luck walking under a woman's underwear. The most intimate object of a woman's body, and the object that binds the woman's body, climbs the solemn mask of patriarchal architecture. I think this is the most symbolic work, and it is an important breakthrough in the history of women's literature and art in Malaysia.

Comparing the two art exhibitions, some harsh realities can be found. For example, as far as the layout of the exhibition is concerned, "Malaysian Good Women" is exquisite and professional, and "Care: Society, Humanities and Environment" overcomes difficulties and will face difficulties, which seems to imply the class differences in Malaysian society and the differences between women of different classes. In addition, like many local art exhibitions, the number of visitors to the two art exhibitions is definitely not more than that of Fengyi and Fuwa, and there is not much discussion and response. We can only practice hard and develop our own feminist literary criticism.

It is generally believed that feminist literary criticism was inspired by the feminist movement and emerged in Europe and the United States in the late 1960s. Mary. Mary Ellmann (1968) "Thinking about Women" ( Thinking about Women ) and Kate. Kate Millet's 1969 doctoral dissertation " Sexual Politics " was recognized as a new symbol of Western feminist literary criticism. The Western Feminist Literary Criticism, divided into three stages according to the development stage, the British and American Feminist Literary Criticism and the French Feminist Theory divided according to the research tradition, have a great influence on literary and cultural studies.

Feminist literary criticism has been in the ascendant since the mid-1980s in China. I did a search on CNKI and found that in 2013 alone, there were more than 1,600 single papers or master's and doctoral theses with the keyword "feminism". From 2010 to 2012, there were more than 1,000 articles each. Of course, I am afraid that some of them still directly apply Western feminist theories, while ignoring the local life and texture of literary and artistic works themselves. In any case, postcolonial feminism should be the current research trend of feminist literary criticism. As for the development of MCA literary criticism, I personally think that if feminist literary criticism is added, it will definitely have a different appearance. If we work harder.

If we work a little harder, the question won't be "are we still talking about feminism" or "what exactly is feminism after?" but, let me use Raymond Carver's title: we're talking about When Feminism, What Are We Talking About?

*This article originally appeared in Fire Review , June 11, 2014.