2023-06-10 21:30:27
It’s one of the standout scenes from the Taiwanese drama series that arrived on Netflix in June, Wave Makers. And quickly, reality overtook fiction. The series has inspired an unprecedented wave of reports of sexual harassment in Taiwan.
I too thought I could drop the case but recently when I watched the TV show I was overwhelmed with emotions and cried until I almost died
can we read in the touching denunciation which launched the wave.
This denunciation, published on Facebook on May 31, made direct reference to this scene of the series. A former employee of the ruling party in Taiwan, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), accused a party director of sexual harassment.
Since then, nearly thirty known and highly placed figures in political spheres have been denounced. Several have resigned, including Yan Chih-fa, who until Tuesday was the national policy adviser to President Tsai Ing-wen. He is accused of harassing an employee of a support group for the president in 2018.
The party’s deputy general secretary, Hsu Chia-tien, also resigned. The former head of the party’s women’s affairs department was accused of covering up a case of harassment in the party.
I feel like the recent allegations really speak to the importance of popular media representations of female empowerment and how to deal positively with an incident of sexual harassment in the workplace
says Darice Chang of the Taiwan Women’s March.
Wave Makers“,”text”:”There’s no doubt in my mind that the recent wave of allegations wouldn’t have happened without the Netflix drama Wave Makers””>There’s no doubt in my mind that the recent spate of allegations wouldn’t have happened without the Netflix drama. Wave Makers
she continues. Most of the time, people need to see it to believe it; that’s why, for example, in Hollywood, we’ve seen such a push for Asian American representation lately. It’s a matter of representation.
The main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), is also targeted by denunciations, but the movement is of such magnitude within the PDP President Tsai Ing-wen has apologized to the people twice already. The movement goes against everything she tried to build. The island’s first female president has touted Taiwan as an oasis of equality and social justice in Asia since her election in 2016.
As a society, we need to re-educate ourselves that those who are sexually harassed are the victims, not the wrongdoers. These are the people we want to protect, not the people we want to treat with prejudice
President Tsai Ing-wen wrote on her Facebook account on Tuesday.
Taiwan’s #MeToo movement comes just months before crucial presidential elections next January, a referendum-flavored election about how to behave in the face of mounting Chinese pressures and threats. THE PDP in power has a slight head start on the opposition parties and the wave of denunciations could become an important factor in the campaign which will really get under way in the fall.
Beyond politics, other prominent personalities in Taiwan are the subject of denunciations. The director of the Institute of Films and Audiovisual and even Wang Dan, one of the leaders of the student movement of the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989, are targeted. He is accused of attempted rape in 2014.
Towards a modification of the laws
In her apology last Tuesday on Facebook, the Taiwanese president announced that she had asked the chairman of the Executive Yuan (the executive branch) to revise the current laws, taking inspiration from, among other things, practices in the United States and in New Zealand.
In the current system, the complaint mechanism does not work as it should
, MP Cheng Yun-peng explained this week when he detailed the project. The chair wishes to reinforce the intervention of a third party independent of the establishment where the victim works, which can be an organization dedicated to gender equality or a foundation offering legal support.
The intervention of these organizations will allow victims to lodge a complaint without going through an office in their own establishment, and therefore avoid fear of the looks of their colleagues, which could constitute a deterrent pressure.
After the current wave of denunciations will follow several trials. However, according to the current laws, the chances of victories for the victims seem slim, according to Taiwanese experts.
Official figures show 2,100 cases of sexual harassment reported last year in Taiwan. Many victims still feel intimidated today and the prospect of seeing justice side with the accused does not encourage denunciations.
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