On February 19, 2012, a group of female college students from several universities in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou staged an “occupy male toilets” protest Chinese media referred to with the more sanitized term “performance art.” Bristling over the problem of extremely long lines outside public toilets for females — by contrast, of course, to short waits for males — the young women demanded in an open letter a new law calling for more and better toilet facilities for women. Meanwhile, they occupied male toilets and appropriated them for use by women, preventing men from entering. In this cartoon, posted by artist Shang Haichun (商海春) to QQ.com, a female student stands victoriously atop a porcelain toilet, brandishing the red flag of revolution.


David Bandurski

CMP Director

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