From Cruel Optimism to Comforting Pessimism: Sex, Gender, Feminism and Hong Kong Protest Culture, October 1–December 31, 2019

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In order to grasp the complexity of the events in Hong Kong leading up to the imposition of the National Security Law in 2020, a feminist critique inspired by Lauren Berlant’s notion of “cruel optimism” provides a productive place to expand the conversations about the role gender plays in the territory’s political culture. Concentrating on the period between October 1 and December 31, 2019, this analysis examines this more violent but also more optimistic period encompassing the lead up to the District Council elections and subsequent events before COVID-19 upended the city in early 2020. A feminist lens magnifies the discourses circulating through mass and social media. Attention turns to forms of political expression in films, cartoons, literature, and the other arts, which highlight the ways in which gender and sexuality play their parts in the cruel optimism of Hong Kong’s protest culture.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Sarah Wu, "‘Why Is the Road Broken?’ Sightless Hong Kongers Live City of Protest by Sound"

2 Laignee Barron, "‘This Is a Global Fight.’ Cantonese Pop Diva Denise Ho Wants the World to Stand Up With Hong Kong"

3 "‘She Eats Foreign Sausage’: Junius Ho Kicked Out of LegCo Meeting over Sexist Insult"

4 Zhang Rui, "‘My People, My Country’: a Unique Patriotic Film"

5 Chermaine Lee, "‘I Will Die with the City’: a Young Woman’s Chilling Message from Hong Kong’s Front Lines"

6 Selina Cheng, "‘I Fear Coming Home,’ Says Hong Kong Activist Glacier Kwong after Pro-Democracy Lobbying Effort in Germany"

7 Sonia Ng, "‘Hong Kong is My Home’: I am Protesting on the Front Line and Refuse to Back Down"

8 Jennifer Creery, "‘Grossly Unprofessional’: Lawyers Slam Hong Kong Police for ‘Privacy Breach’ after Woman Accuses Officers of Gang Rape"

9 "https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.html"

10 "https://csgchku.wordpress.com/gender-diversity-democracy"

11 Jessie Yeung, "Young People across Asia Pushed for Change in 2019. Meet Five of Them"

12 Barbara Miller, "Young Mother Dislodges Three-Decade-Old Pro-Establishment Dynasty in Hong Kong Elections"

13 Petula Sik Ying Ho, "Where Is Feminism in the Hong Kong Protests? Issues in the Context of the Anti-Extradition Movement"

14 Yan Zhao, "Wedding Bells on Hold for Hong Kong Protester and Policeman"

15 Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, "Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink" Columbia Global Reports 2020

16 Tom Grundy, "Video: HKUST Graduates Star in Stunning ‘Danzmocrazy’ Tribute to the Hong Kong Protest Movement"

17 Jane Cheung, "UN Rights Council to Hear the ‘Other Side’"

18 "UN Rights Chief ‘Troubled and Alarmed’ by Hong Kong Violence"

19 "UN Rebukes Hong Kong Lawmaker Tanya Chan after Human Rights Council Address"

20 Zeynep Tufekci, "Twitter and Tear Gas: the Power and Fragility of Networked Protest" Yale University Press 2017

21 Joreen, "Trashing: the Dark Side of Sisterhood"

22 Adelyn Lim, "Transnational Feminism and Women’s Movements in Post-1997 Hong Kong" Hong Kong University Press 37-, 2015

23 "Time Hails Jailed Activist Leung Tin-kei, Author of ‘Liberate HK, Revolution of Our Times’ Clarion Call"

24 "This pregnant lady was being treated by #HKpolice without respect. Hong Kong is now a police state…"

25 "This Blind Lawyer Counsels Hong Kong’s Front Lines"

26 Billy Anania, "The Viral Artwork Emerging from Hong Kong’s Protests"

27 Lily Kuo, "The Umbrella Movement Marks a Coming of Age for Hong Kong’s ‘Princess’ Generation"

28 Jo Freeman, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness"

29 Vivienne Chow, "The Powerful Images of Hong Kong Protests"

30 Staci Ford, "The Power of Culture: Encounters Between China and the United States" Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2016

31 Mary Hui, "The Cantonese Words at the Heart of Hong Kong’s 2019 Protest Vocabulary"

32 Symin Chan, "The Broken Dreams of Hong Kong’s Young: an Interview with Nora Lam, Director of Lost In The Fumes"

33 Laikwan Pang, "The Appearing Demos: Hong Kong During and After the Umbrella Movement" University of Michigan Press 2020

34 "Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets, Petrol Bombs Fly at CUHK"

35 Yangyang Cheng, "Talking to My Mother about Hong Kong"

36 "TWF Reaction to Recent Sexual Violence in Hong Kong" The Women’s Foundation

37 "TWF Further Statement on Ongoing Allegations of Sexual Violence in Hong Kong" The Women’s Foundation

38 Rui Guo, "Support for Hong Kong Protests in China has Consequences for some Mainlanders"

39 "Statement by the Chinese University of Hong Kong" The Chinese University of Hong Kong

40 Jericho Li, "Snake Eaters" Margin Films

41 "Sexual Violence against Hong Kong Protesters—What’s Going On?"

42 Zillah Eisenstein, "Sexual Decoys: Gender, Race and War in Imperial Democracy" The University of Chicago Press 11-12, 2006

43 Yik-tung Ng, "Rights Groups Call for Release of Chinese Journalist Who Reported from Hong Kong"

44 Edmund Lee, "Ranking Every Hong Kong Film Released in 2019, from Worst to Best—Was This the Year the Industry Hit Rock Bottom?"

45 "RTHK Reporter Wounded, English Team Pull Out"

46 "Protester Reported Shot as Hong Kong Marks China’s National Day with Widespread Unrest"

47 "PowerPoint slides"

48 "Police say They Couldn’t Reach Chinese Uni Student"

49 Mimi Lau, "Police Detain Chinese #MeToo Activist Sophia Huang Xueqin on Public Order Charge"

50 Joyce Lau, "People of the Year: Who Mattered in Higher Education in 2019"

51 Alvin Lum, "Overseas Experts Advising Police Watchdog on Hong Kong Protests Quit Their Jobs as Disagreement Over Powers Remains Unresolved"

52 "Open Letter from Prof Rocky S. Tuan, CUHK Vice-Chancellor and President" The Chinese University of Hong Kong

53 Petula Sik Ying Ho, "On the Frontline: the Hong Kong Protests—On Being in and against the Crowd"

54 Kris Cheng, "Officially Withdraws Controversial Extradition Bill from Legislature"

55 "Occupy and Women on the Internet—Part 3/3"

56 Kris Cheng, "New Pro-Democracy District Councilor Says Kwun Tong’s ‘White Elephant’ Musical Fountain Could Play Protest Anthem"

57 "New District Councilor Faces Assault Charges"

58 "NWSA Statement on Hong Kong" National Women’s Studies Association

59 Kris Cheng, "Mother Urges Hong Kong Public to Stop Speculating over Cause of Daughter’s Death as Rumours Swirl"

60 Wuliff, "More Hong Kongers Must Speak Out for Migrants’ Rights"

61 "Meet a Woman on the Front Lines of Hong Kong’s Protests"

62 "Marathon Talks Turn Tears to Cheers at Chinese U"

63 Kanis Leung, "Knife Attack on Hong Kong Lawmaker Junius Ho Sparks Security Concerns ahead of District Council Elections"

64 "Introduction in Engendering a Buzz"

65 Magnus Ag, "Inside Hong Kong’s Leaderless Uprising"

66 "Indonesian Domestic Workers Report on the Anti-Extradition Movement: ‘What’s Happening in HK is Very Important’"

67 "Independent Inquiry into Recent Clashes and Procedural Reform on Evidence Collection Urgently Required as Sexual Crime Victims’ Confidence in Reporting Plummets" Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women

68 Tom Grundy, "In Pictures: Woman Who Tore Down Posters Assaulted by Protesters during Rally against Police Abuse"

69 Blake Schmidt, "In Hong Kong’s Leaderless Movement, Officials Don’t Know Who to Negotiate With"

70 "IPCC Names Foreign Experts to Aid Study"

71 Rachel Yeo, "How the Protests Are Changing Hong Kong Couples’ Relationships"

72 Isabella Steger, "How Hong Kong’s Female Protesters Are Reclaiming the ‘Basic Bitch’ Stereotype"

73 "Hooligan Sparrow"

74 "Hongkongers Light Up City’s Mountaintops with Protest Demands During Lantern Festival"

75 Jiayang Fan, "Hong Kong’s Protest Movement and the Fight for the City’s Soul"

76 Natalie Wong, "Hong Kong’s New Pro-Democracy Winners in District Council Polls Struggling to Set Up Ward Offices amid High Rents, As Some Consider Table at MTR Exit or Cargo Containers"

77 Jasmine Leung, "Hong Kong’s Mid-Autumn Festival Mooncakes Get a Protest Makeover"

78 Michelle Bachelet, "Hong Kong’s Leaders Have Only One Way Out of the Protest Crisis—A Broad, Open and Inclusive Dialogue with the Whole Community"

79 Tom Grundy, "Hong Kong’s Lady Liberty Statue Vandalised After Being Installed atop Lion Rock"

80 J. Daniel Elam, "Hong Kong: ‘When We Burn You Will Burn with Us’"

81 Audrey Wilson, "Hong Kong Rallies in Solidarity With Uighurs"

82 Ho-him Chan, "Hong Kong Protests: Student Reporter Alleges Police Officer Made Reference to Sexual Assault in Threats During Arrest"

83 Kimmy Chung, "Hong Kong Protests: Man with Brain Bleed and Pregnant Woman Held in Hospital after Weekend of Violence Triggered by Anti-mask Law"

84 Mandy Zheng, "Hong Kong Protests Have Changed City’s Dating Rules with Many Finding Yellow and Blue Do Not Match"

85 Sebastian Skov Andersen, "Hong Kong Protesters Are Declaring ‘I Won’t Kill Myself’ Just in Case They Disappear"

86 Ho-him Chan, "Hong Kong Police to Investigate Female Student’s Claim of Sexual Assault by Officers after Chinese University Head Grilled by Hundreds of Her Angry Peers"

87 "Hong Kong Police Sued by Journalist Who Lost Eye after Being Hit with a Rubber Bullet"

88 Kris Cheng, "Hong Kong Police Send Vessel to Help Chinese Students Leave CUHK"

89 Clifford Lo, "Hong Kong Police Provide Personal Alarms to Children of Officers in Response to Cyberbullying and Threats of Attack amid Worsening Protest Violence"

90 Kris Cheng, "Hong Kong Police Groups Slam University Head for Publishing Arrested Students’ ‘Unverified Accusations’ of Mistreatment"

91 Bai Yunyi, "Hong Kong Police Dismiss Abuse Rumors"

92 "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act: a Critical Analysis"

93 Nickolas Tang, "Hong Kong Deports Writer and Migrant Worker Yuli Riswati"

94 Christina Ko, "Hong Kong Building That’s a Hotbed of Political Thought amid the Protests, and How Cheap Rents Allowed Artistic Community to Flourish There"

95 Patrick Frater, "Hong Kong Annual Box Office Dips Slightly on Protests"

96 Andrew Guthrie, "Hong Kong 2019: Creative Resistance and the Graphic Arts"

97 "HK District Councilors May be Disqualified for Illegal Actions, Law Says"

98 Jeff Pao, "Friends Not Convinced Girl’s Death Was Suicide"

99 "Five Hong Kong Teenagers Arrested over Death of Man During Protests"

100 Judith Pernin, "Filming the Individual and the Collective: The 2019 Pro-Democracy Movement in Hong Kong Independent Documentaries" MCLC Resource Center

101 Xinqi Su, "Female Frontliners Upend Hong Kong Gender Stereotypes"

102 Jodi Scheider, "FCC President Jodi Schneider’s Op-ed on Press Freedom is Published in the LA Times" The Foreign Correspondents’ Club

103 Gina Marchetti, "Extradition as a ‘Women’s Issue’: Notes Towards a Feminist Critique of the 2019 Hong Kong Anti-ELAB Protests Written after 100 Days of Protest (with Some Updates from October 2019)"

104 Gina Marchetti, "Extradition as a ‘Women’s Issue’"

105 Cannix Yau, "Explainer: Why RTHK Journalist Was Arrested, and What That Could Mean for the Future of Investigative Reporting in Hong Kong"

106 Dario Thuburn, "Expat Hong Kongers Rally on ‘Keyboard Frontline’"

107 James Pomfret, "Exclusive: Hong Kongers Support Protester Demands; Minority Wants Independence from China—Reuters Poll"

108 "Escaping Hong Kong’s Catch 22"

109 Hillary Leung, "Edward Leung"

110 Kathleen Magramo, "Deported Indonesian Domestic Worker Claims Hong Kong Authorities Made Her Strip in Front of Male Doctor"

111 Lauren Berlant, "Cruel Optimism" Duke University Press 228-, 2011

112 "Controversial Lawmaker Junius Ho Bites the Dust in DC Election"

113 Megan Boler, "Connective Labor and Social Media: Women’s Roles in the ‘Leaderless’ Occupy Movement" 20 (20): 438-460, 2014

114 Antony Dapiran, "City on Fire" Scribe Publications 2020

115 Mo Jingxi, "China Slams Signing of HK Bill"

116 Cannix Yau, "China Hits Back at Michelle Bachelet, UN Human Rights Chief Who Called for Probe into Hong Kong Police’s Response to Anti-Government Protests"

117 Patrick Brzeski, "China Box Office: ‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’ Crashing, Beaten by Local Blockbusters"

118 "Chat with You at HKU’s Twitter"

119 "CUHK Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Rocky S. Tuan’s Open Letter" The Chinese University of Hong Kong

120 Kowloon Daily, "CUHK Student Accuse Hong Kong Police of Sexual Abuse"

121 Leta Hong Fincher, "Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China" Verso 88-89, 2018

122 Holmes Chan, "Battle-Scarred: the Lasting Impact of the PolyU Campus Siege on Hong Kong’s Protest Movement"

123 "Association Concerning Sexual Violence against Women Statement on Police Action To Publicly Discredit Victim Of Rape" Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women

124 Barbara L. Tischler, "Antiwar Activism and Emerging Feminism in the Late 1960s: the Times They Were A’Changing"

125 "Alleged Sexual Abuse Victim Asked to Provide Info"

126 Anne-Marie O’Connor, "A Woman’s place…"

127 Martin Purbrick, "A Report of The 2019 Hong Kong Protests" 50 (50): 465-487, 2019

128 "A Love Letter from a Female Front-line Student Protestor"