Gendered Denunciation, Sexual Misconduct, and the Regulation of the Maoist Cadres During the Socialist Education Movement

Abstract Why did village women who were victims of cadre sexual abuse refrain from making public denunciations of their abusers, while their husbands, fathers, and unrelated men did so? This article examines previously overlooked materials from the Socialist Education Movement (1962–66) to deepen our understanding of the gendered form of political participation that contributed to holding cadres more accountable. Although the extant scholarship has used the term “patriarchal socialism” to explain the lack of women's participation in politics in the Mao era, this article argues that certain gendered practices shaped villager participation. It proposes three characteristics involved in “gendered denunciation”: First, gendered mobilization, the potential for domestic violence, and previous failures to bring down the accused cadres all kept the abused women from making public denunciations. Second, these women's husbands and fathers made public denunciations to regain their mianzi (“face”) that they felt had been lost in the sexual abuse of their female family members. Third, unrelated men who themselves had suffered from the cadre violence and the lack of privileged access to scarce goods exposed the cadres’ sexual misconduct at public meetings.