Wei Tingting

{{Infobox person

| name = Wei Tingting

| image = Wei Tingting.png

| alt = A portrait of Wei Tingting.

| caption = A portrait of Wei Tingting.

| native_name = 韦婷婷

| native_name_lang = zh

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1989}}

| birth_place = Hechi, Guangxi, China

| nationality = Chinese

| other_names =

| occupation = Human rights activist

| years_active = 2007-present

| known_for = Feminist Five

}}

Wei Tingting ({{zh|s=韦婷婷}}; born 1989) is a Chinese LGBTI+ and feminist activist, writer and documentary filmmaker. She is one of the Feminist Five.{{cite news|last1=Jacobs|first1=Andrew|title=Taking Feminist Battle to China's Streets, and Landing in Jail|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/06/world/asia/chinese-womens-rights-activists-fall-afoul-of-officials.html|work=The New York Times|date=5 April 2015}}

Early life and career

Wei was born in Hechi in the southern region of Guangxi in China.{{cite book|last1=Tellis|first1=Ashley|editor1-last=Tellis|editor1-first=Ashley|editor2-last=Bala|editor2-first=Sruti|title=The Global Trajectories of Queerness: Re-Thinking Same-Sex Politics in the Global South|date=2015|publisher=Brill Rodopi|location=Leiden, Netherlands; Boston, Massachusetts|isbn=978-9-004-30933-3|pages=137–144|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1wlRDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22wei+tingting%22+sexuality&pg=PA137|chapter=Of Comrades and Cool Kids: Queer Women's Activism in China (Thamyris/Intersecting No. 30)|oclc=924636601}}

In 2009, Wei received a LL.B. in sociology from Wuhan University. In 2011, Wei received a LL.M. in anthropology from Wuhan University.

Career

While in college, Wei became active in the women's and LGBT rights movements. In 2007 and 2009, Wei assisted in coordinating and staging productions of The Vagina Monologues. She joined the Wuhan Rainbow, an LGBT organization.

Wei also served as director of Ji’ande, an LGBTQ rights organization in Beijing.{{cite news|title=China: Arbitrary arrest and detention of nine women's and LGBT rights defenders|url=https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/china/china-arbitrary-arrest-and-detention-of-nine-women-s-and-lgbt-rights|work=FIDH: International Federation for Human Rights|date=13 March 2015}}

Wei co-founded the National Bisexual Network in China.

From 2011 to 2016, Wei worked as a project manager at the Beijing Gender Health Education Institute, a national agency centered around sexuality and sexual health, raising awareness about gender inequities and sexual diversity. Part of her work included helping to organize an annual AIDS Walk on the Great Wall, the China AIDS Walk, the first large-scale HIV/AIDS public fundraising project in mainland China, coordinating the Mainstream Media Awards for good LGBT community reporting, and coordinating the organization's Rights and Advocacy program & annual National LGBT conference in China. Wei co-hosted China's first non-profit LGBT webcast called "Queer Comrades", was a member of the China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong-based network Queer Lala Times, and attended women's conferences in India and South Korea.

In 2012, Wei Tingting and Li Tingting participated in a Valentine's Day protest against domestic violence in Beijing.

From 2012 to 2014, Wei was a project manager at Chinese Lala Alliance.

From 2013 to 2014, Wei was a contributor to Les+ Magazine and coordinated a project called “View Beijing+20 from Lesbian perspective”.

From 2015 to 2017, Wei was a coordinator at LGBT Rights Advocacy China, where she worked with victims of LGBT conversion therapies to help them bring legal cases, and also support lawsuits against homophobic teaching materials.

From 2016 to 2019, Wei was the founder and director of the Guangzhou Gender and Sexuality Education Center (GGSEC), a non-governmental organization in Guangzhou, China. The organization conducts gender and sexuality education, training and advocacy activities.

Wei collected material for the first Chinese documentary film about bisexuality in China, which was called Bi China and was released in 2017.{{cite news|title=Bi China|url=https://filmfreeway.com/1343031|work=FilmFreeway|date=2017|language=en}}

In 2018, Wei founded the Guangzhou Nalisha Education Consulting Co., Ltd., a company that conducts gender and sexuality research, education, training and advocacy activities, offering mental health support and consulting support for victims in gender and sexuality field to against discrimination to women and LGBTI community.

Feminist Five

In 2015, she and four other activists (Zheng Churan, Wang Man, Wu Rongrong, and Li Tingting, collectively known as the "Feminist Five"){{cite news|last1=Murdoch|first1=Scott|title=Wei Tingting vows to continue protests in China|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/world/wei-tingting-vows-to-continue-protests-in-china/news-story/103fdef52c609e3136b3ed4b9b8d20b0|work=The Australian|date=6 May 2015}} were detained by the Chinese government just prior to International Women's Day, the day they planned to execute a campaign against sexual harassment on public transportation.{{cite news|last1=Jiang|first1=Steven|title=Released Chinese feminists: Out of jail but not free|url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/14/asia/china-feminists-release-jiang/|work=CNN|date=14 April 2015}} All five women were released on bail after 37 days of detention. Had they been convicted, the women could have faced up to three years in prison for "creating a disturbance".{{cite news|title=Chinese police release feminist activists|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/13/chinese-police-free-three-of-five-feminist-activists|work=The Guardian|date=13 April 2015}} Since being released, Wei has said she will continue to fight for gender equality. She said:

I have read so many reports and articles about our arrest and they are so touching and encouraging. I had started to feel despondent and thought this incident would be the end for us young, female activists. But the reaction has started an era of magnificent, new activists. They cannot catch all of us and block us all.

Personal life

Wei is bisexual.{{cite AV media

| title = Interview with Wei Tingting

| medium = interview

| publisher = Global Feminisms Project

| location = Ann Arbor, USA

| date = 2019-05-31

| url = https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/171770}}

Honors

2015: Bustle, 14 Women's Rights Activists Around the World Who Will Inspire You{{cite news|last1=Thorpe|first1=JR|title=14 Women's Rights Activists Around the World Who Will Inspire You|work=Bustle Magazine|url=https://www.bustle.com/articles/119637-14-womens-rights-activists-around-the-world-who-will-inspire-you|date=28 October 2015}}
2015: Ms. Magazine, 10 of the Most Inspiring Feminists of 2015{{cite news|last1=Hallett|first1=Stephanie|title=10 of the Most Inspiring Feminists of 2015|url=https://msmagazine.com/2015/12/30/10-of-the-most-inspiring-feminists-of-2015/|work=Ms. Magazine|date=30 December 2015}}
2015: Asia LGBT Milestone Awards (ALMAs), Hero of the Year, nominee{{cite news|last1=Reid-Smith|first1=Tris|title=Meet the 21 heroes changing LGBTI Asia for the better|url=https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/meet-21-heroes-changing-lgbti-asia-better100415/|work=Gay Star News|date=10 April 2015}}{{cite news|last1=Ar|first1=Zurairi|title=Malaysian transgender activist crowned 'hero' at regional LGBT awards|url=https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2015/04/16/malaysian-transgender-activist-crowned-hero-at-regional-lgbt-awards/879465|date=16 April 2015}}
2018: Troy Perry Medal of Pride{{cite web|title=Troy Perry Medal of Pride|url=https://www.rainbowadvocacy.org/2018-recipients.html|website=Rainbow Advocacy|language=en|date=2018}}

Selected works and publications

{{cite journal|last1=Wei|first1=Tingting|title=How to Use Applied Theater in Sexuality Education in China|journal=Population and Development (Core Journal in China)|date=2011|volume=1|language=zh}}
{{cite journal|last1=Wei|first1=Tingting|title=From Vagina Monologue to Leifeng Pagoda: Rethinking and Producing Women's Body|journal=The International Conference on Chinese Women and Visual Representation|date=2012}}
{{cite journal|last1=Wei|first1=Tingting|title=The Body Goes Beyond Boundary - Research of Lesbian and Gay in Cities|journal=Sexualities and Gender Study|date=2012|volume=5|pages=354–387}}
{{cite journal|last1=Wei|first1=Tingting|title=A Look at the Beijing Conference through Lesbian Eyes|journal=China Development Brief|date=2014|volume=3|language=zh}}
{{cite journal|last1=Wei|first1=Tingting|title=A Look at the Beijing Conference through Lesbian Eyes|journal=Asian Journal of Women's Studies|date=6 October 2015|volume=21|issue=3|pages=316–325|doi=10.1080/12259276.2015.1072944|s2cid=155370554|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/12259276.2015.1072944|url-access=subscription}}
{{cite journal|last1=Wei|first1=Tingting|title=Review and Report of the Beijing Conference 1996 through Lesbian Eyes|journal=Sexuality Research in China|date=2016|volume=2|issue=Total No. 37|pages=131–144|language=zh}}
{{cite journal|last1=Wei|first1=Tingting|title=A report on sexual harassment on Chinese College Campuses, 2016-2017|journal=Sexuality Research in China|date=2017|language=zh}}

Filmography

2015: We Are Here – producer{{cite news|title=Program - 台灣女性影像學會: We Are Here|url=http://www.wmw.org.tw/en/film/105|work=Taiwan Women's Film Association|date=2015}}
2017: Bi China – director