May 2017

What Can We Learn From The Emirates Airline Incident?

With Emirates cabin crew from Taiwan ordered by the company to remove their ROC pins from their uniforms and to replace them with PRC pins, as well as ordered to follow "One China Policy," it is not surprising that this has led to outrage in Taiwan. But what can we learn from this incident, in terms of how international companies handle cross-strait issues, and how Taiwan can leverage on such incidents to raise awareness of its international plight?...

Uncivilize The Civil Code

The Council of Grand Justices' Interpretation 748 as realizing marriage equality is supposed to be a milestone, if we are to do or say the appropriate thing. But in reality, if we read the interpretation a bit more carefully, we can raise several important issues which have been neglected to date. The importance of these issues lay in that this article cannot be seen as merely concerning marriage equality, but have broad effects on sexual freedoms, marriage and even the Civil Code itself in Taiwan...

The First Asian “Country,” “Place”, Or “Chinese Province” To Realize Marriage Equality?

International media outlets have sometimes referred to Taiwan as the first “country” in Asia to legalize gay marriage by court ruling. More commonly, Taiwan has been referred to as an “island,” “place”, or without any reference to what kind of polity Taiwan is altogether, but still stressing the historic nature of the event as a first in Asia. This is revealing of the hypocrisy of international media...

The Ball Is Back In The DPP’s Court Regarding Marriage Equality In Taiwan

After the ruling of the Council of Grand Justice’s yesterday, the legislature will need to amend Taiwan’s Civil Code to allow same-sex marriage within two years. But this opens the way for backsliding by a DPP legislature which has already proven recalcitrant on the issue. The DPP has already shown early signs of backsliding in its reactions and so means will need to be found of putting pressure on the DPP to live up to past promises...

關於林奕含自殺,許多討論都劃錯重點

令人遺憾的暢銷作家林奕含自殺事件,以及那些因此爆發的一連串醜聞,揭露了台灣社會根深蒂固的性別歧視與厭女心態。她由於九年前遭受補習班老師性侵所引起的憂鬱症而自殺,但大部分的討論都劃錯重點,某些台灣媒體仍一貫地以羶色腥報導手法來處理女性相關議題,或是只知鎖定性侵林奕含的「狼師」而不顧其他,錯失聚焦於更大更迫切的社會議題的可能。那麼,該如何把討論重新導回有益於今後處理這些更大課題的方向?...

Will The Tsai Administration’s War On Drugs Prove Invasive Of Personal Freedoms?

The Tsai administration has vowed to step up the war on drugs in recent times. But does the Tsai administration's war on drugs raise concerns for personal privacy in Taiwan, particularly for young people? Namely, social attitudes in Taiwan sometimes skew towards seeing young people as dangerous drug users, even when this is not backed up by statistics, and there is the possibility that the Tsai administration's war on drugs may disproportionately target young people. More broadly, as with elsewhere in the world, one suspects that the Tsai administration's war on drugs masks systemic inequalities in society...