For years, Chinese state media have marked International Women’s Day with effusive praise for women in the country, thanking them for their contribution and sacrifices to their family, society and nation.
But this year, a video asking specific questions about deep-rooted gender prejudices landed on the usual compliments – taking Chinese social media by storm.
The video was a collaboration between Chinese skin care brand Proya and China Women’s Daily, the official publication of the state-run All-China Women’s Association, to mark International Women’s Day on Monday.
What’s in the video?
The video begins with the presenter speaking in the room and asks a question that is repeated throughout the video: “Under what circumstances do you judge something by sex?”
“Seeing a car accident, we say, ‘Oh, female driver.’ We say, “You really have a nerve, you’re not like a girl at all.” We say, “You’re so quiet, you’re not masculine,” she says.
The video continues to highlight a number of gender norms and prejudices towards women, from being bad at math to expecting to “marry well” and focus on family life.
“We ask women, ‘How do you balance your family and your career?’ “But we never ask men the same question,” says the presenter. “We ask, ‘What does it mean to be an independent woman?’ But no one ever discusses what it means to be an independent man.”
The video also discusses gender norms and the roles that Chinese men must play. For example, the presenter asks why “a real man” should not cry, such as pink or learn ballet.
“Why don’t men have the right to be fragile? Why is it contemptuous, not laudatory, to say “you are like a woman” to a man? or exclusively exclusively for women? Is it true that only men can be independent, brave, strong and career-oriented? “A group of voices – both women and men – ask towards the end of the clip.
In contrast – and in keeping with tradition – other state media marked International Women’s Day, praising Chinese women for their contribution to society.
Daily, the official spokesman for the ruling Communist Party, on Tuesday called on the public to pay tribute to “her power.”
Do you make Chinese youth more “masculine”?
The campaign is in response to a suggestion by a delegate to China’s highest political advisory body that the country needed to prevent the “feminization” of teenage boys, which it said had become “weak, shy and low self-esteem.” .
The Ministry of Education’s call for action is not the first official effort to address what the state media has called the “crisis of masculinity” among young Chinese people.
Under Xi, China’s nationalist leader, the government has turned against male celebrities, from movie stars to boys who are considered too effeminate. In 2019, China’s leading video streaming platforms began censoring male actors’ earrings, blurring their earlobes.
But in the eyes of the Chinese authorities, the lack of “masculinity” is not just a matter of taste, but a great risk to the country.
In 2018, the state-run Xinhua news agency published a widely quoted comment that said, “Whether a country embraces or rejects (effeminate men) is … a serious issue that affects the nation’s future.”
Focusing its anger on extremely popular male idols, the article threw out the “sickly aesthetic” that had propelled young people “gender ambiguous, very make-up, tall and delicious” to stars on television and online.
“The phenomenon of ‘sissy men’ has provoked a public backlash, as the impact of such a diseased culture on young people cannot be underestimated,” he said. “When critics say that ‘wise young people turn a nation into a sissy,’ they may sound somewhat famous,” she added. “(But) cultivating a new generation that could rejuvenate the nation requires the resilience of an unhealthy erosive culture.”
In response, an increasing number of so-called “masculinity programs” aimed at instilling traditional gender roles in boys and young people through outdoor sports and classroom training have become popular in recent years. In 2018, such a club in Beijing attracted attention – and some criticism – because its students run shirtless in the middle of winter.
On Weibo, many users applauded the video from Proya and China Women’s Daily for speaking out against the trend.
“This is the best promotional material for International Women’s Day we’ve seen in the last 24 years,” she said in a comment. Another said, “There is no such thing as ‘what I should become.’ I have the right to choose my own life forever. “