Women and the Discourse of Desire in Postrevolutionary China: The Awkward Postmodernism of Chen Ran

Abstract

Since the death of Mao in 1976, feminism in China has worked in four ways. The first way is in the practice of advocacy, engagement, and change characterized by the socialist approach to gender problems under Mao. This continuing legacy, which is aimed toward eliminating inequalities in social life, focuses on assuring girls' and women's educational opportunities, providing economic security, eradicating prostitution, and modifying other forms of sexual oppression. Under Deng Xiaoping's capitalist reforms, gains made in these areas from the 1950s through the late 1970s are under attack, and commentators have called attention to the reappearance of prostitution, the increasing sale of women and infant girls through organized gangs, and female infanticide, which is changing the gender balance of the population. Problems in job security and education have also appeared. Culturally, the gender similarities in dress styles and social roles promoted by Maoism are being eroded by a discourse of difference in fashion, speech, and behavior that highlights femininity and forms the basis