Greetings to our new subscribers! Though I am still unable to maintain the biweekly update frequency for the time being, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for the support and readership from all of you.
First, news of the reading club: we hold a monthly reading club that mainly focuses on Taiwan literature. Anyone interested is welcome to join us. The next meeting will be held online at 9:00 am (Taipei Time) on July 9 for Ghost Town by Kevin Chen. If you are interested, feel free to leave a comment, reply to this e-mail message or write to me at transcreation@substack.com to register by July 1.
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這篇文章的中文版在這裡。
Perhaps you are more or less aware of the recent #MeToo wave in Taiwan? I have always known that sexual harassment is common (among people I know directly, at least 10 have mentioned their personal experiences, including myself), but it was not easy to see so many cases broke out at one time; it seemed the society became more dangerous in an instant. Nevertheless, thanks to the support of my friends, family and especially Kuang-wei, after getting over the initial depression, I am actually optimistic about the entire #MeToo wave, and hope that it will bring about a positive impact in the end.
After hesitating for a while, I decided to take this opportunity to share my own story as well. Compared with the harm suffered by many, mine was actually nothing at all. The reason why I decided to write is to point out the everyday-ness of sexual harassment. It often happens unexpectedly, it is often difficult for victims to react, and it almost always leaves no evidence. This unlikeliness of conviction is precisely one of the reasons why some behave recklessly, or even walk a fine line in legality. The everyday-ness of sexual harassment is also precisely why everyone (especially when one holds power) should engage in more self-reflection and self-control. With more cultural and institutional safeguards, our society may be a better place.
I was in high school when I encountered this kind of incident for the first time. Walking home from the bus stop, I noticed someone following me. It was a man in his 20s or 30s. I quickened my pace, walked into a convenience store that I usually passed by, and told the clerk in a panic that someone was following me (the clerk thought it was just my imagination). But the guy following me also entered the store, and he even came up to talk to me. I didn’t quite remember what he said — do you live nearby? I said no — and then he left. I lingered in the store for a longer while before hurrying home. After this incident, I got off at a further stop and took a detour home for some time. Fortunately, this never happened again.
This was probably the only incident that left me horrified; other incidents caused my anger, confusion, or self-doubt.
The following two incidents seemed ambiguous. From a certain point of view, they seemed just “well-intentioned warnings,” but these words again burdened all the responsibility on potential victims, who should protect themselves better and who should not make a scene. In a way, they seemed to rationalize violence.1
When the Sunflower Movement broke out, a professor said in class, “those who climbed into the wall in short skirts, don’t they know what is likely to happen?”
What he said was perhaps true, but what was the morality here? Women should wear “properly” when they go to demonstrations (while we are all aware that the occurrence of sexual violence has nothing to do with one’s choice of clothing), or probably women should not go to demonstrations at all so as to protect themselves – thus sexual violence has once again successfully become a deterrent to women’s public participation.
Another incident happened in my workplace. I used to work as a sales representative, and often had to dine with customers. The supervisor one day hinted or reminded me that if I encountered sexual harassment, I had to “handle it very skillfully.”
Isn’t the harasser the one who makes a scene? Yet it is the responsibility of the harassed to be skillful and considerate. Some of my friends thought that it was just “a kind reminder,” but some agreed with me and said that “the important thing was to protect oneself, making a scene or not.”
As a girl, I have heard enough of such “kind reminders” from childhood to adulthood. I don’t think there is any kind and reasonable way to express what they said. (Not to say such things is probably the kindest way.)
Later, the supervisor resigned, and I also transferred to another department (it of course had nothing to do with the above-mentioned incident). Unfortunately, as expected by the supervisor, I encountered sexual harassment during my last business trip to Tokyo. At the end of the business trip, our client invited us to dinner, and another department happened to be entertaining a guest too, so all of us shared two adjacent tables. This other guest was a white man (a client of our client). He came to our table to chat with us, and before I knew it, his hands were on the thighs of me and my male colleague.
(As I wrote, I felt it all very ridiculous) But maybe I let him know that I was “just an interpreter,” and he couldn’t quite figure out whether I was an employer of the company, so he did not do more than putting his hand there. I thought it tolerable, and just waited the dinner to end.
Writing this took more time than I expected. Though I thought these were just trivial unpleasant incidents, it still took some time and strength to write them down. It is hard to imagine how much effort it took for other MeToo victims to speak out.
Fortunately, in my case, most of the unpleasant experiences happened at least after my teenage years. In theory, I should be capable of dealing with them (but in fact, I almost always failed to react on the spot, probably except for the stalking incident). I was also lucky to live to this age more or less uneventfully — I remembered one of the thing I celebrated on my 30th birthday was that after 30, (according to statistics) the chances of encountering these harassments were significantly reduced. And now our responsibility is to try to keep others from being harmed as much as possible.
My old classmate Tsai Meng-Ru launched a petition to request National Taiwan Normal University to actively investigate Prof. Chen Yong-long’s case. Maybe what each of us can do as an individual is limited, but with everyone’s awareness, we may finally figure out a more effective and reasonable system.
Though I did not dwell on this, we all know that #MeToo is not just for women. Power is at the heart of the issue, and the powerless, women and men, young and all, are all potential victims.