Democracy, Feminism, and Netflix: Taiwan’s #MeToo

Content Warning: Non-Descriptive Mentions of Sexual Assault

The Netflix-Taiwan series “Wave Makers” was an instant hit when it was released in April 2023. It covers a wide range of hot-button political topics for the Taiwanese people through the lens of a thinly veiled depiction of the then and now-in-power Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) amid intra-party intrigue. Yet one scene sparked righteous social upheaval.

In the context of the show, a young aide had been sexually harassed by a member of the Party. When she chooses to confide in the company of the show’s protagonist, Wen-Fang Weng—played by Hsieh Ying-Xuan, the public relations director of the fictional Party, Weng responds with, “Let’s not let this go, ok.… We can’t let this go easily.”

Those words were repeated in the first post that sparked the 2023 #MeToo. Chen Chien-Jou—a former DPP staffer—no doubt was moved by the scene and quoted that dialogue in her Facebook post recounting her own experience as a victim of sexual assault at the hands of a powerful politician. Her words opened the door for hundreds of other women to share their stories and, most important of all, put names to the victimizers. Since the wave began last year, high-profile accusations alone have been in the hundreds, which calls into question Taiwan’s reputation for gender equality.

On paper, Taiwan is a remarkably advanced country when it comes to equality between the sexes. It ranks high on gender equality rankings (for example, the nation is number 34 on the World Economic Forum’s list), and this award is ostensibly earned. Taiwan’s Congress, called the Legislative Yuan, regularly holds upwards of 35% women’s membership—the current session comprises 42.5% women. Furthermore, the government has mandated that local and national party organizations must be comprised of at least 50% women. These reforms have yet to get the entire government up to an equal split, nor has the government caught up with the gradual social acceptance of gender non-conforming or transgender individuals. Even though the targets for gender representation have not been met, the general uplifting of gender equality on a social level has borne fruit.

Secondary and tertiary institutions must host gender equality courses in Taiwan, which has spurred further action inside the classroom. Speaking from my personal experiences with those who have been educated in Taiwan, I can confirm that they are more than well-read on gender studies, even if they are not specialists in the field. These strides did not come from nowhere; the labor of women who strode for change manifested into advancement. The 1990s transition from one-party rule into parliamentary democracy was intertwined with a wave of Feminist sentiment within the country. I encourage all to read more on this topic, as I can only give the broad strokes of an enthralling series of events.

Nonetheless, the story starts in 1976. The Pioneer Press opened that year under the tutelage of educated women who began to organize while attempting to avoid the wrathful ire of the KMT autocracy. When freedom of speech restrictions were lifted in 1987, membership in women’s organizations exploded alongside periodicals dedicated to the cause of organization and agitation for gender equality.

Yun Fan and Wei-Ting Wu write that the inter-organizational decision to focus on lobbying in the ’90s led directly to how gender advocacy is orchestrated, as was the case in 2003, with the passage of the “Gender Equality Act.” Its passage outright granted workplace protection for Women, but over time, it was used to expand marital protections, property rights, and more. In the background of these events, the—at the time—main oppositional party was building a feminist element. Ironically, the party in question was the DPP from the opening of this piece. During those early days of democracy, the DPP embraced progressive women’s associations, creating the “Executive Yuan Women’s Rights Promotion Committee” in 1997 as a mediator between women and the national government.

Yet, even with this seemingly inspirational story, gender inequality persists. If Taiwan had walked into a genderless paradise in the 2000’s, then a #MeToo movement would not have happened. Instead, the front lines of what an equal society means has moved. One place where Taiwan is notably lacking is in believing women. In the West, the phrase “believe (all) women” caught on during our wave of #MeToo. To be clear, the United States is far from perfect about believing women, but our independent media structure handles the topic better than that of Taiwan. I will say that my understanding of this issue’s nuances is not perfect after my research, but the 2021 article “MeToo in East Asia: The Politics of Speaking Out” by Chang-Ling Huang describes the issue concisely. Huang believes that the media plays a prominent role in providing public legitimacy for women’s experiences with sexual assault, in particular against the powerful. Unfortunately, Taiwan has quite open liable laws, making it a hazard for media organizations to publish stories dealing with this topic. As a result, women in Taiwan, more often than not, received a response that is as old as it is utterly dumb and malicious, that these women were “just looking to steal money from successful men.”

Observant readers will note that this article is from 2021, predating the 2023 events that spawned this article. Huang, among other materials consulted for this article, pins the failure of the original #MeToo movement on that lack of journalistic integrity when it comes to reporting on the truth of women’s experiences. #MeToo was massive in other nations during the 2010s, Mainland China and South Korea being notable examples. In tandem with the failure of the media was the failure of the state. Many argue that, since the 2000s, feminism was coopted by the Taiwanese state, leaving progress stunted in bureaucracy rather than a more contentious popular movement of time’s past.

What makes 2023 different, then? Well, reader, I cannot say anything with confidence. Perhaps it took the first wave of #MeToo to set up the frame for this most recent movement. Perhaps it was the biting nature of Wave Makers and the eerie similarity to the original Facebook post by Chen Chien-Jou. Maybe it is the proliferation of social media in a post-Covid world, where we are more glued to our devices than we thought possible before the pandemic. In all likelihood, it’s all these things and more. However, there is one thing I can say for certain about this topic.

We are living in an increasingly complex world concerning the societal relation to gender. The queer rights and women’s liberation movements have always been tied at the hip, even as they have progressed at different rates at different times. Transgender people, such as myself, now share the table with cis women when demanding equality in popular discourse. Yet, we cannot advance queer rights—or any rights—without advancing women’s rights. At the same time that #MeToo fell on deaf ears in 2019, gay marriage was legalized in Taiwan. In 2023, however, pro-LGBTQIA+ advocates came out just as strong for women in support of their efforts as women had for them in years prior. After all, the current Vice President of Taiwan is Hsiao Bi-Khim, a woman who is a noted long-time advocate for queer rights and has also shown strong support for the #MeToo movement.