![\"14021-litingting_0\"](\"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/files\/2015\/03\/14021-litingting_0.jpg\")
<\/a>An Excerpt from \u201cChina\u2019s Millennials: The Want Generation\u201d<\/p>\nEric Fish March 16, 2015<\/p>\n
Provided
\nLi Tingting is interviewed by members of the media\u00a0during the Occupy Men\u2019s Room demonstration in 2012.<\/p>\n
On March 6, Chinese police detained a group of feminist activists ahead of International Women\u2019s Day. Five of them, remain in criminal detention on suspicion of \u201cpicking quarrels and causing a disturbance,\u201d a crime frequently invoked to silence dissent in China that can carry heavy prison sentences. The activists planned to distribute stickers on public transportation calling on police to do more to fight sexual harrassment. One of the women who remains in custody, Li Tingting, is the subject of the following chapter excerpted from Eric Fish\u2019s forthcoming book, China\u2019s Millennials: The Want Generation. \u2014The Editors<\/p>\n
It is probably fair to say no woman has ever taken more flak for walking into a men\u2019s room than Li Tingting.<\/p>\n
In the run-up to Women\u2019s Day in 2012, the feminist college student was distressed by the one-to-one ratio of public restroom facilities for males and females. She believed that women\u2019s longer wait times necessitated legislation to enforce giving women twice as many toilets. Determined to correct the oversight, she organized demonstrations for true \u201ctoilet parity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cOccupy Men\u2019s Room\u201d movement involved some 20 women who took over male public restrooms periodically over the course of an hour in Guangzhou and Beijing. Outside they distributed fliers and held signs with slogans like \u201cCare for women, starting with toilets.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two events were small and cheeky, causing no more trouble than a little embarrassment for a few men. Most onlookers just laughed it off and expressed support for the cause. Li Tingting did not figure that her action could draw the wrath of authorities. She could not have been more wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t think it was sensitive,\u201d she laughed. \u201cBut I guess we can\u2019t gauge the risk since the government is so strange.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I met Li a year after her \u201cOccupy\u201d movement, I could not help but find it amusing that she had been considered a threat by China\u2019s vast \u201cstability maintenance\u201d apparatus. Whether the petite 24-year-old was recounting one of her quirky demonstrations or the childhood beatings she had endured, she ended nearly every thought with a mischievous giggle.<\/p>\n
Li was born in the rural outskirts of Beijing. She described her mother as a sweet and caring woman who had endured pain her entire life. Her father, on the other hand, she labeled a stubborn chauvinist.<\/p>\n
An Excerpt from \u201cChina\u2019s Millenni … Continue reading
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