Feminist Voices
| Former editors | Lü Pin, Xiong Jing, Xu Zaozao |
|---|---|
| Categories | Feminism |
| Circulation | 181,019 Followers |
| Founder | Lü Pin (吕频） |
| First issue | September 2009 |
| Final issue | March 8, 2018 |
| Company | Media Monitor For Women Network |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Based in | Beijing, China |
| Language | Chinese |
Feminist Voices (officially known as "女权之声" in Chinese) was a feminist media in China. It was founded in 2009 by Chinese feminist activist Lü Pin (Chinese: 吕频).[1] It was permanently banned by censors in 2018.[2] It played a role in China's grassroots feminist movement and the #MeToo Movement in China.
History
[edit]In March 1996, the Beijing Women Journalists Association founded the Media Monitor For Women Network (The "Network").[3]
In 2010, the Network started to use social media to reach a larger audience. In April 2011, they officially changed their name from Women's Voices to Feminist Voices.[4]
In 2012, Feminist Voices began supporting campaigns on women's rights. Feminist Voices formed a close partnership with young feminist activists across China, providing support in communication, training and feminist discourse analysis.[4]
Misogynistic TV Gala ("女权大战春晚")
[edit]Feminist Voices started an online campaign[5] protesting discrimination in China Central Television's ("CCTV") Annual Chinese New Year Gala show,[6][7] and quickly garnered 1,300 signatures before it was blocked by censors.[8]
Suspension
[edit]On February 22, Feminist Voices's Weibo account was suspended by Sina.com for 30 days. Feminist Voices posted on another social media account the notice they received from Weibo. The notice said "Hello, because the content you recently posted violates national laws and regulations, your account will be banned for 30 days."[9]
Xiong Jing, an editor from Feminist Voices said Weibo had not been "very specific" about its motivations but "we are guessing that it's because we sent out some tweets calling for a women's strike action against Trump".[10][11] This coordinated strike, which was in conjunction with the 2017 Women's March on Washington, is called "A Day Without a Woman".[12]
Permanent Ban
[edit]On March 8, 2018 International Women's Day, Feminist Voices was permanently banned on both Weibo and WeChat, China's top two most influential social media platforms.[13]
Its Weibo public account administrator received a notice on the evening of March 8, 2018 that the account had been suspended "over irregularities", and that "the account needs to be reactivated to resume its normal function". Followers found they could not access Feminist Voices WeChat public account. The public account was replaced by a WeChat notice saying that after complaints, WeChat decided to remove the account because it "had violated temporary regulations on the development and management of accounts offering public information service on instant messaging programs".[2]
References
[edit]- ^ "与"直男癌统治"对抗：中国女权在纽约". 纽约时报中文网 (in Chinese). 2017-02-08. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ a b "Chinese social media censors Feminist Voices | Society News | SupChina". supchina.com. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ 冯媛 (1998). "中国新闻界成立妇女传媒监测网络". 当代劳模 (3).
- ^ a b "【女权之声／妇女传媒监测网络 招聘全职工作人员1名】-全职-NGO招募全职-NGO招聘-社会组织招聘-公益组织招聘-NGO中心-中国发展简报网站". www.chinadevelopmentbrief.org.cn. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "春晚有毒，万人联署要求停播——反对歧视 为自由与多元生活权利代言-问智道 askform.cn/survey/ 专业的问卷调查平台". app.askform.cn. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ 曲江汜 (2015-02-26). "女权之声春晚"查毒"被网络噤声". 泡泡 (in Simplified Chinese). Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "央视春晚涉多项歧视引争议 民间发起停播联署遭屏蔽". Radio Free Asia (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "China's feminists stand up against 'misogynistic' TV gala". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "他们想埋葬我们，却不知道我们其实是种子". www.sohu.com. 2017-03-02. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ Phillips, Tom (2017-02-22). "Trump's feminist critics gagged by Chinese internet giant Weibo". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "Mainland Women Voice". theinitium.com (in Traditional Chinese). Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "Chinese Feminist Group's Social Media Account Suspended". Retrieved 2018-11-08.
- ^ "Prominent Chinese feminist social media account censored on International Women's Day | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 2018-03-09. Retrieved 2018-11-08.