Taipei, Taiwan CNN —
Five years after #MeToo took the world by storm, Taiwan, a liberal democracy that prides itself on gender equality, faces its own sexual harassment reckoning – sparked by a hit Netflix series.
The Wave Makers series follows the fictional lives of a team of campaign workers in the run-up to a presidential election in Taiwan. Although branded as a political drama, it is the series’ sexual harassment story arc that has garnered the most attention and has caused quite a stir in real life.
Since late May, the show has sparked more than a dozen real-life #MeToo allegations against political figures on the self-governing island is preparing for a presidential election in January.
With tensions between Taipei and Beijing reaching their highest level in decades, the fallout from the #MeToo revelations risks making the all-important presidential race even more uncertain.
The allegations have rocked the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), leading to resignations from its senior ranks and public apologies from President Tsai Ing-wen.
“As a former party leader, I should take full responsibility,” Tsai wrote in a June 2 Facebook post, promising to “think about our mistakes.”
The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party was also hit and promised to investigate an allegation of sexual harassment against one of its MPs.
Since then, the storm has spread from the center of political power to other sections of society, and the list of allegations against academic, sporting and cultural circles, and the exiled Chinese dissident community on the island’s mainland is growing.
The turn of events surprised the creators of “Wave Makers”. They said they did not expect such an impact and are now seeing “high waves” every day.
“Recently, cases have been popping up in every walk of life, and you can understand why it’s resonating,” said Chien Li-ying, who co-wrote the screenplay with Nina Peng. “There were so many incidents like this, but they couldn’t be discussed or told.”
Since its release in late April, the hugely popular show has provided a common language for discussions about sexual harassment, said Wen-Ti Sung, a Taipei-based policy analyst.
“It also gave victims who came forward a common reference point around which to gather support and strengthen their solidarity,” he said.
Courtesy of DAMOU Entertainment
The main story of Wave Makers revolves around the solidarity and support between the two female protagonists.
A central rallying point for Taiwan’s #MeToo reckoning is a powerful line from one of the most iconic scenes in Wave Makers, involving two of the show’s main characters.
In it, one of the characters, a high-ranking party member, promises redemption for an incident in which a low-level employee was groped by a colleague, despite pressure from above to cover it up.
“Let’s just leave it like that, okay? We can’t let it be that easy. Otherwise we slowly atrophy and die,” she tells her.
The line was referenced above in a Facebook post that started the whole #MeToo storm.
In the post, a former DPP employee claimed her manager dismissed her complaints of sexual harassment at work and discouraged her from officially reporting the incident.
Her report drew widespread online support and a quick apology from William Lai, the DPP leader and presidential candidate. The former boss, who had risen to become a senior party official, was suspended the next day and later resigned.
The case encourages dozens others come up with their own stories, including allegations against Wang Dan, an exiled leader of the 1989 Tiananmen protests. Wang, who was accused by a man of attempted rape, has vehemently denied the allegations.
Kang Ting-yu, associate professor of gender and media studies at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, said after watching the show, many victims of sexual harassment feel they should “not just leave it be.”
In addition to posting on social media, some have also filed sexual harassment complaints through official channels, Kang said.
“I know of several instances where they specifically said they were inspired by the show,” she said.
Courtesy of DAMOU Entertainment
Nina Peng (left) and Chien Li-ying (right) co-wrote the screenplay for Wave Makers.
Chien, the screenwriter, said the phrase “let’s not just let it go” embodies her aspirations for an ideal society where “victims could be helped and supported and told not to blame themselves.” .
In reality, she said, most victims of sexual harassment have been told to “let it go,” especially in organizations with a strong common purpose. “Victims tend to self-censor because they fear what they say will destroy the greater cause,” she said.
Such a culture of self-sacrifice is deeply rooted in Taiwan’s political reality, where the “big picture” often trumps everything else, Chien said.
“It seems like the issue of sexual harassment and assault was sidelined from the start – like we swallowed it up for a bigger political cause and sacrificed ourselves for the greater good,” she said.
Following the allegations, some DPP supporters criticized the victims for endangering the party’s presidential campaign. Others accused Wang’s prosecutors of sabotaging the overseas pro-democracy movement against the Chinese Communist Party, noting that the allegations came just days before the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Tsai, Taiwan’s president, has called on the public not to blame the victims and inflict secondary harm on them.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Portal/FILE
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has twice apologized for the #MeToo allegations against the Progressive Democratic Party.
As Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai was proud of her government’s efforts to improve gender equality, particularly women’s participation in politics.
According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 42% of Taiwan’s parliament is women – well above the average of 21% in Asia and also more than 37% in North America.
Taiwan is also at the forefront of LGBTQ equality in the region. In 2019, it became the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
But sexual harassment in the workplace is still rampant and those who choose to seek justice could face a daunting and grueling process. experts say.
“Even the protagonists in ‘Wave Makers’ might not be able to last in our system,” said Kang of National Chengchi University.
A woman who has since come forward to claim she was sexually harassed while working for a DPP local election campaign 16 years ago told CNN that watching Wave Makers reminded her of the challenges faced she faced during this time.
The woman, surnamed Liao, said it took two attempts for police To her sexual harassment complaint and a year for a government agency that “mediated” her case to rule that her allegations were well founded.
She said she was then told by the agency that she could take the case to court, but as a recent graduate she had no financial resources to fund a lawsuit. “In the end I let it go,” she said.
Liao has criticized Wave Makers for painting too “rosy” a picture of how workplace sexual harassment complaints are handled, but she’s happy with the impact the show has had.
“If Taiwan’s #MeToo craze is five years late, it would be great if we could seize the opportunity to reform outdated sexual harassment laws,” she said.
Many experts are now calling for reforms. “The reporting mechanisms of sexual harassment cases in organizations, such as ensuring the anonymity of victims, need to be improved,” Kang said.
More education and awareness-raising campaigns on sexual misconduct, as well as new laws against online sexual violence, are also essential, said Lu Sheng-yen, assistant professor of gender studies at National Taiwan Normal University.
As more and more people were experiencing sexual harassment, the island’s president apologized again on Tuesday and promised far-reaching reforms.
The government will review and improve existing mechanisms for reporting sexual harassment complaints and push for changes to gender equality laws, Tsai said.
“Our society as a whole needs to reeducate itself,” Tsai said in a Facebook post. “People who have been sexually harassed are victims, not perpetrators. We must protect these people and not treat them with prejudice.”
For the series’ writers, Taiwan’s #MeToo moment hasn’t quite arrived yet.
“I think this is just the beginning, the first step,” Peng said, citing the lack of societal consensus on supporting victims of sexual harassment.
Chien said #MeToo reckoning must not be limited to progressive circles or organizations. “Only when it happens across society – including in more conservative circles, and people are still willing to speak up – will it be the true #MeToo moment.”