NANNÜ: AN EXIT FROM DUALISM’S VICIOUS CYCLE?

Abstract

The following article analyses some aspects of the Chinese anarcho-feminist He-Yin Zhen’s thought while positioning her ideas inside a comprehensive philosophical debate that surpasses reductionist and culturalist categories such as “Chinese Thought”, “Asian Thought” or “Western Thought”. On the one hand, the study aims to contribute to the questioning of those discourses that add to, and disseminate, a rather restrictive history of feminist movements and their actors. On the other hand, it intends to critically question those narratives that claim the almost non-existent progress of feminisms in China. The analysis is focused on the concept nannü 男女, a word formed with the characters for “man” and “woman” that defines the base on which the normative distinction and the inequality between sexes have been constructed and naturalized. The article offers a reflection on the philosopher’s critique of the creation, dissemination and normalization of patriarchal and misogynist thought, traditions and rituals.