Leta Hong Fincher

Radicals & Revolutionaries Lab

This week’s revolutionary is Leta Hong Fincher. Leta is a journalist and scholar, focused on studying and reporting on the feminist movements inside China. She recently wrote Betraying Big Brother, which is about China’s resilient feminist movement.

Throughout our conversation, Leta explains how China has emerged as the most powerful and influential authoritarian regime in the world. She explains the population control policy, which aims to “sculpt” the general population—or, in other words, a law that incites a slow, insidious ethnic cleansing. Leta also shares about how feminism is intertwined with all revolutions throughout Chinese history.

Some Questions I Ask:

• Do you consider yourself more like a journalist or academic? (1:11)
• What do you think about the evolution of how mass media treats sexual harassment pieces? (13:35)
• What can we learn from the feminist movements in China? (44:14)
• How can people find your work? (1:07:23)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• About Leta’s background. (4:14)
• How Leta became disillusioned with how American mass media covers women’s issues. (7:22)
• How far China’s influence reaches around the globe. (24:20)
• How China’s population planning policy aims to increase the “population quality.” (33:17)
• How the Chinese government changed its policy to limit births by ethnic minorities. (42:18)
• How male communists throughout Chinese history welcomed feminists into revolutions. (1:02:38)

Resources:

Leta Hong Fincher’s Website

Betraying Big Brother by Leta Hong Fincher

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow

The Catch and Kill Podcast with Ronan Farrow

Leftover Women by Leta Hong Fincher

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