Li Tingting

Li Tingting (Chinese: 李婷婷) is a Chinese campaigner and activist for gender equality and sexuality. She was detained by police on the eve of International Women's Day, along with five other activists, for protesting sexual harassment on public transport.^[1][2]

Early life

Li's parents were pressured into marriage after they became pregnant with her. Her family lived in the rural outskirts of Beijing, where her father worked delivering fertiliser. After her father was dismissed from his work, Li's mother took a factory job in Beijing, but continued to be responsible for all domestic matters.^[3] According to Li, her father was the undisputed head of the household and any affront to him resulted in physical violence towards both her mother and herself.^[3]

Activism

During her second year of university, Li set-up a Lesbian Community Training Group, offering counselling services and support for university students.^[2]

Li has been involved with several public demonstrations in China. In 2012, she walked down a shopping street in Beijing wearing a bridal gown spattered with blood stains with two other volunteers to draw attention to domestic violence in China. Although the crowds were mainly receptive, many observers were reportedly awkward at personal matters being aired in public.^[3] During the event, urban management officials followed the three women, reprimanding them for not registering their demonstration.^[3] Li also participated in the Occupy Men's Room (Chinese: 占领男厕所) demonstration with Zheng Churan. The event protested the huge queues for women's toilets by encouraging female demonstrators to use men's toilets in turn with; allowing the few men that wanted to use the toilets to do so. This demonstration drew much attention from national and international media, as well as online discussion, particularly for the way it encouraged male solidarity with a gendered cause.^[4]

In a 2016 video release, Li stated that her current campaign work focusses on preventing forced marriage.^[5]

Detention

On 6 March 2015, police officers arrived at Li's apartment where she was living with her partner. Li initially did not open the door and overheard conversation between the officers that they had monitored her phonecalls. She eventually opened the door when the officers called a locksmith to break through the door. Li reports that the police presented her with a blank detention warrant, searched her apartment and confiscated both her and her partner's electronics.^[2] The police then took Li and her partner away in separate vehicles. Li was first taken to the local police station, where police went through her private phone calls. When requested to unlock her phone, Li took the opportunity to delete her WeChat history.^[2]

On the evening of 7 March, Li was led to a basement carpark and driven away in a van. Her partner had already been released, but the van held fellow activists Wei Tingting and Wang Man.^[2]

The activists were then subjected to repetitive questioning by authorities about the planned anti-sexual harassment activity. The questions then moved on to the involvement of foreign forces, which Li reports seemed to make the authorities extremely nervous. Li was also asked about her other public protests. The authorities even printed images of a topless protest, censoring the activists' nipples with black crosses. The office of the NGO Li worked for was also raided, as it was through this work that she had been most involved with gender equality advocacy and LGBT work. Although the authorities wanted information about this company, Li was not in a management position. Since her release, Li has stated that the authorities would suddenly burst into the room and shout: “Li Tingting, you haven’t been honest with us, you’re lying again!” Then attempt to intimidate with non-specificed new evidence.^[2]

On 13 April 2015, Li was released, along with the other five activists. According to her lawyer, the release was conditional, allowing charges to brought against Li later.^[6]

Aftermath

Li has reportedly been put on the Chinese media blacklist, which means no national media will report on or converse with her. The NGO Li worked for was also shut down as an example.^[2]

References