MeToo in Taiwan

#MeToo in Taiwan’s Music Industry: After Making Waves, Can We Forge a Better Workplace?

Chen-yu Lin
In 2023, a watershed moment emerged in Taiwan’s #MeToo movement with the resounding success of the Netflix series “Wave Makers.” The show’s resonance was profound, shedding light on sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace. This spotlight inspired survivors from politics, education, arts, and entertainment to break their silence...
August 2023EnglishGender/SexualitySocial Movements6 min read

The #MeToo Movement in Taiwan: Reconfiguring the Intimate Life

Mei-Hua Chen
The #MeToo movement has been claimed as a global movement that connects women in the global North and the global South. Nonetheless, the MeToo movement must always confront various local social, economic, and cultural relations when it spreads across the globe. It also demands social, legal, and even material infrastructures to materialise. Global South countries that fail to deliver the MeToo movement might relate to the lack of efficient internet infrastructure and the taboo of talking about sex in public (e.g. Bangladesh), freedom of speech (e.g. China), or severe social stratification such as India in which the MeToo movement only circulated among the rich and well-educated elite women...
August 2023EnglishGender/SexualityPoliticsSocial Movements7 min read

Has the #MeToo Wave Passed in Taiwan?

Brian Hioe
A short three months after a wave of #MeToo cases swept across the Taiwanese political landscape, it proves a question as to whether there have been genuine changes in social attitudes in the aftermath of these cases. Certainly, there has been no shortage of commentary on the matter, and the legislature responded by passing amendments to Taiwan’s “Three Gender Equality laws.” But whether there are lasting changes remains to be seen...
August 2023EnglishGender/SexualityPoliticsSocial Movements10 min read

After #MeToo, Where Does Taiwan Go?

Shan-Jan Sarah Liu
Five years after the global #MeToo movement began, Taiwan has finally started its own. It began with a wave of sexual assault claims against several members of Taiwan’s ruling DPP. While those alleged in the DPP have resigned, these claims led to allegations against others beyond the political sphere. Since May, more than 100 politicians, activists, intellectuals, and celebrities have been called out for their misconduct. The #MeToo movement has garnered much media attention and has been discussed widely...
August 2023EnglishGender/SexualitySocial Movements7 min read

The Green Party Taiwan’s Achievements and Challenges in Promoting Gender Equality

Wang Yan-han
There is a common misconception that Green Parties are solely concerned with environmental issues. However, the Charter of the Global Greens, which sets out the core guiding values for Green Parties, shows that these parties have a very diverse and comprehensive set of transformative goals. One distinguishing feature of Green Parties is their promotion of gender equality. A recent study on European political parties found that Green Parties tend to be more feminist than their party system competitors. But do such findings hold when we examine Green Parties in newer democracies and beyond Europe? Are Asian Greens more feminist in their policy advocacy, leadership and candidate selection and in the way they deal with cases of sexual harassment?...
August 2023EnglishGender/SexualitySocial Movements9 min read

Legal Coalition for #MeToo Victims Announced

Darice D. Chang
Taiwan is home to draconian libel and slander laws, which those with the resources to afford can use liberally and which have in the past been utilized against journalists, contributing to the lowest confidence in the press in a democratic country. As the #MeToo movement in Taiwan plays out, many well-known figures with high social status that have been accused choose to sue their accusers publicly and demand substantial compensation in an attempt to suppress controversy through litigation...
August 2023EnglishGender/SexualityPoliticsSocial Movements10 min read

Amendments of “Three Gender Equality Laws” Passed in Wake of #MeToo Cases

Yo-Ling Chen
Two months after the wave of #MeToo cases that began in late May, amendments were proposed and passed during the month of July to Taiwan’s “Three Gender Equality Laws”: more specifically, amendments to the Gender Equity Education Act were passed on July 28th, and amendments to the Act of Gender Equality in Employment and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act were passed on July 31st...
August 2023EnglishGender/SexualityPoliticsSocial Movements4 min read

Lin Fei-fan Announces His Withdrawal from Elections

Brian Hioe
DPP legislative candidate Lin Fei-fan, best known as one of the student leaders of the 2014 Sunflower Movement, announced his withdrawal from the 2024 legislative elections yesterday in a surprise move. This was to take responsibility for the current wave of controversies faced by the DPP regarding issues of sexual harassment within the party, seeing as Lin was seen as responsible through overseeing the DPP’s Gender Equality Committee during his period as a deputy secretary-general of the party–even if he did not commit any acts of wrongdoing...
EnglishJune 2023Politics6 min read