Written by Darice D. Chang, Caritta Lin, and Rita Jhang.
Image credit: ????? The Garden of Hope Foundation/ Facebook.
The #MeToo movement blossomed in Taiwan in May 2023 partly due to a successful TV show, Wave Makers, which features sexual harassment in the political world and partly due to several high-profile sexual harassment cases brought to light in Taiwanese politics around the same time. While increased social awareness and scandal brought swift legislative action and increased support for victims in the form of both social support and legal aid, which we will delve into more detail, amendments to laws that have failed victims previously and increasing support are not a definitive solution to an entrenched social issue — instead, we should consider the various factors that have contributed to a society where power based gender violence could be an open secret.
Since its most recent inception, the #MeToo movement quickly expanded to other fields, including academia, entertainment, business, and art. Regardless of the profession, many victims who spoke out were met with similar pushbacks — ridicule, disbelief, and, more severely, legal action from those they accused. One notorious case is the celebrity Blackie suing his accuser Tina Chou in a civil defamation case, asking for a staggering 10 million NTD (approximately 315,000 USD) in damages. Though he later dropped the civil case, he immediately brought a criminal libel case against her. This case is still ongoing, with the whole country watching.
In fact, Taiwan is home to draconian libel and slander laws that have been deemed “a human rights issue that Taiwan should address” by the US Department of State in its 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Those with the resources to afford lawsuits can use them liberally, which have previously been utilised against journalists, contributing to the lowest confidence in the press in a democratic country. The same is now happening to #MeToo victims.
To combat this, shortly after the #MeToo movement broke out, legislator Lai Pin-Yu, Taipei city councillors Sabrina Lim, Miao Poya, Wu Pei-Yi, Miaoli city councillor Tseng Wen-Hsueh, Kaohsiung city councillor Huang Jie, and New Taipei City legislative candidate Wu Cheng, established a free legal council on June 2nd 2023, to provide aid for the #MeToo accusers facing legal threats.
One month later, on July 7th, another legal support team to assist #MeToo victims facing legal threats was established by the National Alliance of Taiwan Women’s Associations, the Awakening Foundation, the Kaohsiung Women Awakening Association, Garden of Hope, and the Taiwan Bar Association’s Committee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Complaint Handling. Over 40 lawyers joined the team and set up hotlines for complainants and employers to provide gender equality consultations needed by victims and various sectors of society.
However, organisations have reasons to work together to provide legal support. In a press conference, Peng Yen-Wen from the National Alliance of Taiwan Women’s Associations and National Sun Yat-Sen University highlighted the immense pressure on victims to speak out. Survivors often face disbelief and offensive backlash, even legal action. Wang Yueh-Hao of the Garden of Hope noted hotline calls surged tenfold since June 5th, reflecting the failure of the current support system. Qin Yu-Jung, the Secretary-General of the Awakening Foundation, cited a survey indicating 78.79% of female harassment victims didn’t report due to mistrust in laws. The foundation receives requests for prevention resources, urging government investment to rebuild trust and prevent harassment. Lawyer Pan Tian-Qing cautioned against using litigation to suppress #MeToo, stressing its careful use to avoid victim exhaustion and fear of speaking out.
Other than legal aid from lawmakers, city councillors, and women’s groups, grassroots organisations such as Women’s March Taiwan have long advocated for community-based bystander intervention training, such as that provided by Caritta Lin, the only Green Dot certified trainer in Taiwan. The Green Dot programme was founded in 2006 by Dr Dorothy Edwards, and the goal of Green Dot is to use bystander intervention to prevent power-based violence, such as sexual violence, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. Considering that the majority of #MeToo incidents publicly shared in Taiwan are instances of power-based violence, where the perpetrator occupies a much more senior, fiscally empowered, or otherwise higher socio-economic stratum than the victim, this kind of training is particularly applicable to Taiwanese society.
In terms of government actions, on July 13th, the government expedited the amendment of the “Three Gender Equality Laws,” which includes the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act, Gender Equality Education Act, and Act of Gender Equality in Employment. The amendment aims to strengthen penalties for harassment involving abuse of power, with the most severe punishment being a fine of up to one million NT dollars and a maximum of three years imprisonment, along with punitive damages ranging from 1 to 5 times the amount. The amendment is scheduled to pass its third reading by the end of July.
While this is a step in the right direction, experts caution against mistaking strict laws as an ultimate solution. Society needs to acknowledge the misogynistic patriarchy and other problematic power imbalances that currently permeate the Taiwanese psyche and take steps to educate, reform, and correct the social environment that has allowed sexual violence to run unchecked for so many years. One factor that contributes to such an unhealthy social environment is the media landscape.
Although Taiwan has taken the rare step of codifying the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) into law in 2011, rampant misogyny continues to reign in media and entertainment, where lewd and pseudo-pornographic depictions of women and young men are common, contributing to the sexual objectification and degradation of these populations, as noted in Women’s March Taiwan’s presentation to a major news outlet during Quarterly Self-Introspection, which is ordered by law to be undertaken to prevent precisely these scenarios.
The UN Report of the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 urged changing negative portrayals of women in media–electronic, print, visual, and audio. Media often lack balanced views of women’s lives and contributions, impacting gender equality. Violent or pornographic content harms women’s societal participation. The report also noted that global communication networks disseminate negative depictions of women for profit-driven motives. Without gender equality in communication and media, women’s misrepresentation persists, hindering understanding of their lives. The media’s power lies in showcasing diverse, unbiased images of both genders, fostering equality and dignity. To this end, governing bodies such as the National Communication Commission, whose purported mission includes ‘safeguarding the rights of citizens’ and ‘protecting the interests of consumers’ should be holding these media outlets accountable for the gross offences of human decency they commit on a daily basis, as well as ensuring gender-balanced representation in all levels of the media creation process.
A common argument one hears when attempting to address the abysmal media landscape in Taiwan is that companies must make money and sell sensationalist news. The Taiwanese public’s relationship to news media is unique – rapid decentralisation and democratisation in the 80s and 90’s were accompanied by neo-liberalisation, while freedom of speech is generally upheld lack of professionalism in the industry a focus on profit by the few companies at the top which control the media landscape result in a lurid stew of sensationalist click-bait content. The failure of the media results in a social environment that condones sexual violations and lacks preventative efforts. When such violence occurs, there is no timely investigation, prosecution, or punishment of perpetrators; neither is there adequate support for victims and their families nor consideration of the psychological and social harm this violence causes. Amended laws will not beget substantive changes if sexual objectification persists in mass media.
The law can only go so far regarding justice for victims. For many cases that surfaced in this #MeToo movement, the statute of limitation has run out, and no legal action can be taken. For others, even if they desire to sue, their cases could be dismissed or lost due to the high burden of proof or various forms of pressure on the plaintiff to drop the case, as can be seen in the sexual assault case brought against Former Deputy Director of the Polish Office in Taipei, Bartosz Rys. The prosecutor dismissed her case, citing that “at the time of this case, (the woman) was 27 years old, had a graduate school education… and had lived in Germany for four years and thus she should have known better and was an unlikely victim.” This case highlights the problematic beliefs held by legal professionals that must be corrected along with the laws and legal procedures.
Finally, for many who have spoken out, legal punishment is not what they seek. Instead, they long for reconciliation, restorative justice, and peace of mind; many just want the bad behaviours to stop, for their stories to be heard, and to let other victims know “you are not alone.” Our society needs to allow such demands and longing, transcend the binary framework of punitive justice, and collectively aspire to be better for positive change to be possible.
The Complainant Support Hotline is (02) 8911-5595, and the Employer Consultation Hotline is (02) 2388-3619.
Darice D. Chang is a writer, artist, translator/interpreter, filmmaker and activist residing in Taipei. In 2015, they volunteered with the Freddy Lim campaign and interpreted for stories appearing in the BBC, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Metal Hammer. They enjoy yoga, meditation, and amazing vegan food. They were featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary “Midnight Asia.” You can follow their adventures on Instagram at @darice.rice @artbydarice and @dandandemolition or on thevegandandan.wordpress.com.
Caritta Lin is the Project Director of Women’s March Taiwan. She is a survivor of stalking who went to the United States to obtain the Green Dot Bystander Intervention Certified Trainer qualification in 2016 and devoted herself to the legislative process of the “Stalking and Harassment Prevention Act.” In recent years, she further integrated yoga therapy, the concept of trauma-informed and gender awareness into a series of workshops for women. For more information on http://www.facebook.com/BystanderTrainingTaiwan
JhuCin Rita Jhang is an activist, podcast host, and teacher. She’s a project assistant professor at the Global Health Program at National Taiwan University and a long-time gender equity and tongzhi/LGBTQ+ rights activist. She ran (unsuccessfully) for the parliament in 2020, representing the Green Party Taiwan, and served as the party’s secretary general until May 2021. Her podcast show Z Green Party Z??? provides social commentaries on gender, sex, sexuality, and other social issues and was nominated for the Best New Show by the 2022 KKBOX Podcast Award. She talks, teaches, writes, and sings. Learn more about her at ritajhang.org.
This article was published as part of a special issue on #MeToo movement in Taiwan.
