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NEW FROM VERSO BETRAYING BIG BROTHER The Feminist Awakening in China by Leta Hong Fincher --------------- A feminist movement clashing with China’s authoritarian government On the eve of International Women’s Day in 2015, the Chinese government arrested five feminist activists and jailed them for thirty-seven days. The Feminist Five became a global cause célèbre, with Hillary Clinton speaking out on their behalf and activists inundating social media with #FreetheFive messages. But the Five are only symbols of a much larger feminist movement of civil rights lawyers, labor activists, performance artists, and online warriors prompting an unprecedented awakening among China’s educated, urban women. In Betraying Big Brother, journalist and scholar Leta Hong Fincher argues that the popular, broad-based movement poses the greatest challenge to China’s authoritarian regime today. Through interviews with the Feminist Five and other leading Chinese activists, Hong Fincher illuminates both the difficulties they face and their “joy of betraying Big Brother,” as one of the Feminist Five wrote of the defiance she felt during her detention. Tracing the rise of a new feminist consciousness now finding expression through the #MeToo movement, and describing how the Communist regime has suppressed the history of its own feminist struggles, Betraying Big Brother is a story of how the movement against patriarchy could reconfigure China and the world. --------------- Reviews “A vital and necessary book in a world hostile to women and girls. Leta Hong Fincher’s account of a powerful network of activists is a foundational text on feminism in contemporary China, rich with scholarship and a grasp of history. It is a book to inspire and to guide all of us who insist on fighting the patriarchy globally.” – Mona Eltahawy, author of Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution “A provocative, sharp-edged account of Beijing’s push to cajole women to marry and fix the country’s sagging birth rates. A must-read for students of feminism.” – Mei Fong, author of One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment “Writing with rigor, passion, and indignation, Hong Fincher introduces a group of Chinese feminist activists who refuse to be intimidated by China’s powerful patriarchal state. Offering a detailed account of the women’s critiques of increasing gender inequality in China, Betraying Big Brother is a singular account of a Chinese—and now global—movement that will not be silenced” – Rebecca E. Karl, author of Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth Century “In Betraying Big Brother, Leta Hong Fincher unlocks a fundamental truth: the subjugation of women is a key feature of authoritarian power. But in telling the harrowing story of the detention of China’s Feminist Five, she may also have discovered the strongman’s Achilles’ Heel: a broad-based feminist movement poses an existential threat to a patriarchal state.” – Rebecca MacKinnon, author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom “In her vivid and comprehensive work on China’s emerging feminist movement, Leta Hong Fincher explores the coming of age of a generation of young activists in an authoritarian state increasingly hostile to social protest. A must-read for all seeking to understand China’s feminist activists, hear their voices, and experience the day-to-day reality of their lives.” – Carl Minzner, author of End of an Era: How China’s Authoritarian Revival Is Undermining Its Rise “In Hong Fincher’s estimation, the official hostility toward feminists in China as part of a global rise of authoritarianism and backsliding of democracy will affect not only China’s women but its economic future and will have worldwide repercussions. This is a fascinating and earnest book.” – Publisher’s Weekly “In clear, concise chapters, Fincher, whose previous books include Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China, lays out the origins of the movement and its exponential growth, as well as the Chinese government’s violent attempts to extinguish it. The US president may be walloping China via trade war, but Leta Hong Fincher argues that the most existential threat to Xi Jinping’s regime comes from within.” – Claire Landsbaum, Vanity Fair “Betraying Big Brother shows how the [feminist] movement has risen on social media and taken root abroad and in cities like Guangzhou. Hong Fincher argues that the Chinese Communist Party relies on patriarchal crackdowns for its post-Soviet survival—and, further, that ‘anyone concerned about rising authoritarianism globally needs to pay attention to what is happening in China.’” – Harvard Magazine “Hong Fincher explains that far from a small movement on the fringes of Chinese society, feminism is on the rise, from the burgeoning and ongoing #MeToo movement, to increasing calls for protections for survivors of domestic violence … to protests against workplace discrimination.” – Esther Wang, Jezebel “In Betraying Big Brother, journalist Leta Hong Fincher examines the feminist movement that’s rising in mainland China, and explores how the Feminist Five continue to covertly educate other women to confront and resist the country’s sexist policies.” – Evette Dionne, Bitch Media “Brings the clash between China’s grassroots women’s movement and the state’s manipulation of women to life. Hong Fincher explores the struggles of young feminist activists who are detained and vilified for seemingly innocuous campaigns—handing out stickers warning against sexual harassment on public transport, or parading through the streets in soiled wedding dresses to protest domestic violence … A pertinent primer for anyone who wants to understand the aftermath of China’s one-child policy, and the country’s fledgling feminist movement.” – Katrina Hamlin, Reuters --------------- Hardback : September 2018 / 9781786633644 / £16.99 / $26.95 / $35.99 (CAN) BETRAYING BIG BROTHER is available to buy on the Verso website at 20% off: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2863-betraying-big-brother --------------- Visit Verso's website for information on our upcoming events, new reviews and publications and special offers: http://www.versobooks.com Sign up for the Verso mailing list: https://www.versobooks.com/users/sign_up Follow us online: Facebook https://facebook.com/VersoBks Twitter: http://twitter.com/VersoBooks Instagram: http://instagram.com/versobooks Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/18970808-verso-books ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CAPITAL-AND-CLASS list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CAPITAL-AND-CLASS&A=1