Meet the Cambodian YouTuber fighting for reproductive rights
Strangers frequently tell Cambodian reproductive rights advocate and YouTuber Catherine Harry that she’s ruining Khmer culture. Some even say that she cannot possibly be Cambodian, because no Cambodian woman would talk so openly about sexual health and reproductive rights. Catherine asks all of them the same question: what is Cambodian culture? No one has been able to give her a satisfactory answer, because culture is not a fixed thing — it is constantly evolving. Catherine’s videos are just as much a part of Cambodian culture as the conservative ‘Chbab Srey’, the traditional code of conduct for Khmer women.
Catherine first became interested in feminism as a lead researcher and presenter at the BBC, working on a project with MSI about sexual and reproductive health. Researching for the project inspired her to reflect on her own experiences with sexism, shedding light on the discrimination that she “conditioned into thinking [was] ok.”
“Feminism is about giving women choices. If she wants to stay at home, then she is free to stay at home, so long as she understands that she doesn’t have to stay at home. But she shouldn’t really impose her idea on other women and say that this is how all women should be.”
The translation of the word ‘feminism’ means ‘bias towards women’ in Khmer, so few people in Cambodia are willing to broach topics related to women’s rights. Catherine decided that if nearly no one in Cambodia was willing to talk about this, then it was her responsibility to speak out. In 2017, Catherine began working with MSI Cambodia, where she currently serves as a communications specialist. In addition to her work at MSI, Catherine currently has over 70,000 followers on YouTube and 400,000 followers on Facebook. Her videos cover topics from safe sex to abortion to LBGTI rights. She was named Forbes 30 under 30 for Asia and collaborates with UN Human Rights to combat gender stereotypes — but her work isn’t without challenges.
“One of the things that makes me very controversial is that I empower women to own their bodies and I try to promote sexual liberation. Not just saying it’s okay ‘not to be a virgin’ but ‘it’s ok to have sex when you want to and with who you want to so long as there’s consent and you are of consensual age.’”
People often criticize Catherine, who is Cambodian, for being too ‘Westernized’. However, these people have what she refers to as ‘colonialism amnesia’: they forget that racism and sexism are colonial imports, not the other way around. “Before colonialism”, says Catherine, “countries [in the Global South] were actually empowering women — some countries were actually matriarchal. But in Cambodia, the French came in, and then they started saying that women who don’t wear shirts or women who are topless are ‘savages.”
Young people in particular are clearly hungry for information about sexual health: Catherine gets messages from young women nearly every day, thanking her for the work that she is doing. She often hears from young LGBTI people, who find her voice uplifting as they discover their identity. The Internet can often be a difficult place to be a woman talking about safe sex and contraception, but Catherine is able to connect with people who she wouldn’t have otherwise reached.
Despite the success of her online advocacy work, Catherine nevertheless hopes that one day Cambodia, where protests are banned, can have its own Women’s March. She wants to feel the sense of collective unity among protesters all fighting for the same cause.
“Sometimes I fall into this angry feminist trope…but I’ve read that sometimes it’s not bad to be angry because it means that you are aware that something is wrong in society…sometimes I want to be in a group of people with that same purpose and that same energy.”
Catherine also longs for the day that people stop using culture as an excuse for oppression, a day where inequality is not seen as a fixed feature of society. In the meantime, Catherine will continue speaking out on YouTube — and connecting clients with the care they need at MSI Cambodia.
