The economy of controlling women
The making of a story: 'Initiation'
Hello, fellow voyagers🖖. In today’s edition we‘ll into the inspiration and research behind ‘Initiation’, a four-part, coming-of-age biopunk sci-fi mini-series I published here.
Initiation: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4
In 2012, I jumped on a bus in the city of Guilin, China, excited to visit the famous Longji Rice Terraces. It was a foggy, two-day journey up steep, hand-carved mountains. As I climbed, trying to keep up with a nimble, middle-aged Yao woman carrying my luggage in a hand-woven basket on her back, a milky mist enveloped us. Although I couldn’t see much of the landscape during my stay in the Yao village, I had time to observe its people. A handful of cedar-wood houses dotted the mountain paths, and Yao women were everywhere—guiding tourists, making and selling crafts, hosting shows, and managing their homestay businesses.
From time to time, I noticed men swiping dust, washing laundry by hand in a cauldron, or working at construction sites, occasionally making brief eye contact and then smiling shyly. I found this odd at first, and then intriguing. My host’s husband would shyly withdraw to shadowy corners every time I passed, children clinging to his pants. Why did men in this village behave like shy teenage girls? It turns out that the Yao minority is matriarchal.
This experience stayed with me. Every time I share this story with men, they laugh and cringe, slightly shrinking into themselves. Since then, I’ve been fascinated by the ways society shapes women’s roles—a theme I set out to explore in Initiation.