Tag:civic space

Spicy Auntie here, waving from the kitchen table where three generations are negotiating who used the last soy milk. Let’s talk about China’s “nesters,” or as the internet now politely calls them, full-time children, without clutching pearls or sharpening knives. First, my position is boringly clear: young sisters and brothers should fly free. Independence matters. Privacy matters. Learning how to survive on instant noodles and bad landlords matters. Every woman and man deserves the chance to build a life that is not supervised by their parents’ rice cooker. Freedom is...

Let’s stop pretending that baby abandonment in Southeast Asia is a story about “bad women.” It’s a story about bad systems, suffocating stigma, and societies that punish women for sex, pregnancy, poverty, and honesty—often all at once. When an Asian woman abandons a child, she is almost never acting out of coldness. She is acting out of fear. And that fear is carefully, patiently manufactured. In much of Southeast Asia, being a single mother is not just a life situation—it’s a social verdict. Ibu tunggal, me chưa chồng, แม่เลี้ยงเดี่ยว, unwed...

Let Auntie stir this pot gently, but thoroughly. When we talk about porn trends involving Asian bodies, we cannot ignore the commodification of the “female body” and the “Asian body” at the same time — and yes, sometimes that comes with a side of racism served so casually people pretend it’s just a preference. The “cute,” “tiny,” “obedient,” eternally youthful Asian woman fantasy didn’t fall from the sky. It was manufactured, exported, and monetized. And porn, like every other industry, has been more than happy to cash in. That doesn’t...

Full support, my Indian sisters. Full, loud, unapologetic support—from this Auntie who has seen enough cycles of outrage, denial, repression, and “reforms” that go nowhere to know exactly what you are up against. I read the WEAVE India Report and nodded so hard my chili necklace nearly snapped. Not because it told me anything shocking—violence against women in India is not new, not hidden, not misunderstood—but because it finally tells the story from where it actually matters: from the ground, from the collectives, from the women who adapt because the...

Spicy Auntie here, adjusting her chili-pepper necklace and picking up the controller with one eyebrow already raised. Let’s talk about sexism in gaming in China, because apparently nobody else at the table wants to spill this particular tea. China has the biggest gaming market on Earth. Bigger than Hollywood, bigger than K-pop fandoms, bigger than your nephew’s esports dreams. And yet, somehow, many Chinese games still behave as if women are a decorative side quest. Concubines to collect. Waifus to upgrade. Cute assistants who giggle, obey, and exist mainly to...