MANAGING EDITOR ZHI JIAO DANIELLE GOH WRITES – With the recent international headlines about a Beijing divorce case ruling in which a man was ordered to pay his ex-wife for years of housework, now is perhaps a good time to reflect on the recent rise of feminism in China. 2020…
MANAGING EDITOR ZHI JIAO DANIELLE GOH WRITES — Clubhouse has recently gained media and investment attention, having secured roughly a billion valuation-10 times higher than its actual app valuation. But what, exactly, is Clubhouse? It’s an audio chat-based social media app created during the pandemic. Users can hop in and out of…
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES (in the second of three reviews of new Japanese books) – As you read this thoroughly entertaining yet gruesome tale, you will wonder, is this narrator mentally ill? Or does the problem lie in an evil society where humans are reduced to being baby-making, money-making cogs in…
ELLA KELLEHER WRITES (in the first of three reviews of new Japanese books) — The title of the novel itself poses a compelling question: does pregnancy and what comes with it (having both breasts and eggs) determine the destiny of the female body? Breasts and Eggs (2020) tells the story…
MONICA KELLY WRITES — On average, a woman spends eight years of her life menstruating – yet the topic of periods remains taboo and is stigmatized in China. This November, in a bid to end ‘period shame,’ women attending Chinese universities set up free sanitary pad dispensers in bathrooms. These…
SIANY GUNAWAN WRITES – In Indonesia, the debate on women’s rights has accelerated in response to political and social challenges. More and more women are being sexually abused and, according to women’s legal counselors, the alleged violence had continued for years. The National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) recorded…
(This is the eighth in a series on modern Korean literature newly published in superb English translations.) ANDREA PLATE WRITES – Who could possibly find humor in severed heads, natural disasters and mass graves? South Korean author Yun Ko Eun does, as will any reader of the English language version…
(This is the sixth in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea whose work has started to reach English language readers via superb translations.) ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Imagine this book as a movie: “Silence of the Lambs” meets “Thelma and Louise.” The Law of Lines (Arcade…
(This is the second in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea) ANDREA PLATE WRITES — Is this the face of modern-day feminism in Seoul? If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha’s debut novel (Ballantine Books), tells the story of four young women struggling to succeed in…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – (This is the first in an original series about new wave feminist writers in Korea). It was big news in 2016 when the novel Kim Ji-young, 1982, by author Cho Nam-Joo, awakened a semi-somnolent women’s movement in South Korea. The book sold one million copies—only the second novel in the…
ROSE RTEIMEH WRITES — A world in which it is possible to receive a naked picture of a well-known online model in exchange for a donation to charity is very 2020. Kaylen Ward, a 20-year-old influencer and online sex worker, started a fundraiser on Twitter for multiple Australian fire relief…
TALIN DEROHANESSIANS WRITES — It’s no surprise that women in Japan are held to strict beauty and dress standards. Now they have been banned from wearing glasses to work. Working women already must follow a strict dress code, including high heels, which sparked the #KuToo movement. According to the Vision Council…
LORI DEMIRJIAN WRITES- Make way for women’s empowerment in Lebanon. Since October 17 they have been on the frontline of the revolutionary movement, keeping the peace between the military and protesters. Such empowerment is a true feat, considering women’s usual underrepresentation in government and politics. What’s more, the female heroines…
ANDREA PLATE WRITES – Let us all breathe a sigh of relief. Tuesday’s U.S. Senate confirmation hearings (July 30) into the matter of Air Force General John Early Hyten’s fitness to serve as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was not a #MeToo mobbing – thanks to Martha…
YUXIN ZHOU WRITES — On April 2, the Chinese TV drama series “All is Well” ended. The show was about a typical Chinese family, in which, yes, (as the title suggests) all is well. Is it? While the show features an ordinary Chinese family, in one episode Mingyu (played by…
NAWAF Al-SABAH WRITES– Rahaf Al-Qunun captured international attention at the beginning of the year as she sought to escape her allegedly abusive family. Rahaf, who is Arabian, barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room to prevent Thai authorities from deporting her. She had been detained at the Bangkok airport…
