Shanghai –
In bars tucked away in alleys and in salons and bookstores in Shanghai, women debate their place in a country where men make the laws.
Some wore wedding dresses to publicly take a vow of devotion to themselves. Others gathered to watch films about women made by women. Book lovers flocked to women’s bookstores to read titles like “The Woman Destroyed” and “Living a Feminist Life.”
Women in Shanghai and some of China’s other largest cities are negotiating the fragile terms of public expression at a politically precarious moment. China’s ruling Communist Party has identified feminism as a threat to its authority. Women rights activists have been jailed. Concerns about harassment and violence against women are ignored or outright silenced.
