Feminism and Twitter

I haven’t had access to Twitter in what seems like forever and I haven’t seen Facebook in like 6 months and I think the ban will never be lifted. Looking into VPNs to enter the free world again.

This article is brilliant, about a tweet on miscarriage that caused an uproar.

I believe that the history of women can be seen, in some ways, as a history of language. The more women talk about their experiences, the more power they have to shape those experiences. Words such as date rape and antenatal depression are empowering because they give us ways to talk about issues that were hidden when we did not have the language to express them. We have a word for miscarriage. We should use it to explore the complicated issues around it.

I didn’t think about any of this when I wrote my tweet. But all the media attention has made me think a lot more, and I’m glad I have. I’m smarter for it.

Such a great comment and reaction to the article.

Let men have babies, let men have periods, abortions, miscarriage, pregnancy, childbirth. Then let us condone them for their thoughts and actions on the subject (how often is the partner judged for his girlfriends unplanned pregnancy or abortion???), let us force them through unwanted pregnancies, let us criticize and blame them for their carelessness, let us make them loose their jobs and accept lower salaries, let them work night shifts at 8.5 months and lets not allow them to talk to anyone about it, for fear they might offend.

And here I am living in the country that made women equal in the 70s by sending them out in the fields to work labour intensive jobs like men. Very progressive thinking and funny how that indirectly translates into a favourable feminist way. Despite the legacy of chauvinistic Chinese men “taking care of their women”, I have met plenty of independent and strong Chinese women.