“Its (Taobao’s) current so-called impartial position is actually the opposition to gender equality”

Xiao Meili in the “This is what a feminist looks like” T-shirt that she designed. This T-shirt has been banned by Taobao. (Photo supplied)

Chinese feminist activist Xiao Meili published a blog on Weibo, a popular social media platform in China, on March 30 on an incident where she and her friends were subjected to having an unknown hot liquid poured on them for asking someone to not smoke while eating in a hot pot restaurant the day before.

Initially, the blog attracted media attention and won praises from the general public. However, she encountered attacks from some Netzens immediately afterwards. Some of their comments were misogynistic and some were critical of Xiao’s alleged unpatriotic political standing. On March 31, Xiao’s Weibo account that had been used for 10 years was banned by Weibo platform. Some of her feminist supporters’ Weibo accounts have also been banned by the platform.

On April 8, twenty-three feminist commodities of Dupin Shop, an online shop owned by Xiao Meili and her fellow feminist activist Zheng Churan and operating on the Taobao platform, were banned by Taobao.

Taobao is the flagship business of Alibaba Group. Alibaba Group listed on New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Alibaba Group’s users spread globally including North America. According to its 2020 annual report, Alibaba Gourp’s gross merchandise value reached over 1 billion US dollars. The group’s annul active users in China were 780 million and those outside of China were over 180 million.

In an interview with the Loving Sister, Xiao Meili shared her reaction to and thoughts on the incident that Taobao banned those twenty-three feminist commodities of Dupin Shop.

What was your reaction when you learned that Taobao banned your feminist commodities?

When I learned that Taobao banned my feminist commodities, I was very shocked and angry; and felt extremely powerless at the same time.

How do you see the reasons Taobao gave for the ban?

I think Taobao’s ban was led by the recent violence against me on the internet and the people who had attacked me. Since my feminist commodities were introduced in 2014 (on the Taobao platform), there had been no issues caused by the word “feminism”. However, now Taobao took down these commodities. My business partner Da Tu (Zheng Churan’s nickname) called Taobao on this. Taobao said that they were an impartial platform and advised us not to use the word ‘feminism”. They also said that they would not allow the word “patriarchy” to be used either. Taobao does not understand feminism at all. They think feminism is the same as patriarchy and does not understand that feminism is about equality and equal rights. They do not understand these concepts at all. They only interpret theses concepts literally.

These banned feminist commodities were spreading feminist messages. On one hand, Alibaba Group has been promoting female entrepreneurship and sheconomy. On the other hand, not only did it not support feminist commodities, but banned them. How would you like to comment on this?

I think that Taobao may not really care about gender equality. It is a commercial company that only wants to make money. For example, on every March 8 International Women’s Day, they promote it as “Goddess Day” or “Queen’s Day”. Even for this year, they still promoted it as “Goddess Day”. Taobao does not want to call the day ‘International Women’s Day’ because they think that the word “women” is derogatory. Many feminist activists, scholars and journalists have advocated for the celebration of International Women’s Day instead of “Goddess Day”. However, Taobao had not changed its position, and still called it “Goddess Day” this year, as if a woman can only be a goddess for that day, but can’t be a woman, a regular woman, who has access to rights as a human being. I think that Taobao does not have knowledge of and understanding of gender, feminism and gender equality; neither does it have the motive to take the initiative to learn about them.

Alibaba Group is a New York Stock Exchange listed company and its users includes ones in Canada. What would you say to its users in North America? 

I hope that its users in North America will educate Taobao on feminism that is not the female version of patriarchy, provide basic knowledge of feminism to them and then tell the company that its current so-called impartial position is actually the opposition to gender equality.

Alibaba Group did not respond to Loving Sister’s request for comments made last Thursday.

Chinese version: “它（淘宝）现在所谓的‘中立’，其实是一个反对性别平等的姿态”  ——专访中国女权行动者肖美丽

Yafang Shi is the founder and editor-in-chief of Loving Sister (www.lovingsister.com). She worked for Radio Canada International of CBC, Fairchild TV/Talentvision TV and Ming Pao Daily News. She has exhibited her photography of Women's Marches in Canada and China and presented on journalism and feminism on various panels.