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A Sixth Tone (a CPC media outlet) article on this:
“I feel numb to such news,” said Cui Le, a PhD student at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education and Social Work, who researches queer issues in China’s education system. “It’s just another example of Chinese authorities reinforcing a traditional gender ideology, emphasizing men should be so-called ‘masculine’ and devaluing them for being feminine.”
Tiffany Yu, a postdoctoral fellow researching gender and the media in China at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, told Sixth Tone the country’s obsession with masculinity is a reflection of the anxiety that the future generation won’t be able to protect it. She added that a common conspiracy theory is that the softening of masculine values is a way for “foreign forces” to weaken the country’s defenses.
But why do sections of Chinese society and officialdom want to confine men to the traditional definition of masculinity?
Cui from the University of Auckland believes it’s related to associations with nationalism. At a time when China is at loggerheads with several countries, he said that many think the idea of gender diversity is “increasingly being shaped into a Western ideology,” which authorities believe requires both vigilance and resistance.
It's so silly because the US has a very similar strain of "masculine nationalism" which almost everyone rolls their eyes at (including their own military). And being more dynamic in terms of these things is how you reduce western influence, instead of alienating a bunch of people. If anything, they should be trying to "out-gay" the United States, and weaken support for the imperial core in the imperial core. They shouldn't let the imperialists try to take a victory they don't deserve.
Tbh they've never done a good job at these sort of foreign propaganda tactics, which in itself may be a tactical decision.
China's LGBT policy sucks (partially due to a culture where feudal family relations were not completely elided by Capitalism.) but this is a hack job.
It's mostly a slightly confused effort by the Chinese government (not the CPC proper, who internally have better LGBT policies from what I hear) to stop some of the idol-mania causing dangerous plastic surgery fads and similar, and they've latched onto the cultural surface symbols (which have some basic prejudice already present).
Came across this comment on genzedong copied below: https://www.reddit.com/r/GenZedong/comments/pgpkrl/yes_this_is_100_real_and_definitely_not_a_fake_new/hbdy4ku/
Some context for those who are not keeping up with Chinese entertainment industry
- the term "niang pao" has no direct counterpart in English, has multiple potential meanings and its use in this context has been controversial. In the 2018 debate over "niang pao" culture, People's Daily warned against using the term because of its pejorative nature. It's quite unfortunate the word was "used" this time by a government body, but they probably felt that its "usage" is necessary to convey the message. However, to the regulators' defense, they didn't really use the term "niang pao", they mentioned it as the phrase only ever appeared in quotation marks (read some basic philosophy of language if you are not sure about the use-mention distinction).
- this is not a case of the government cracking down some small subculture. The problem, as the regulators see it, is that it's difficult for a young male actor to succeed without being a "niang pao". Indeed, the actor Zhang Zhe Han, before he was banned for visiting the Japanese war shrines, remarked that he had been playing "manly" men on screen for 10 years and nobody ever cared about him, then he became "wife" and suddenly everybody loved him. Young men aspire to an entertainment career were pretty much forced by companies and the market to act "effeminate".
- this incentive to play "niang pao" was evident in the TV show Drawing Sword 3, which was mentioned in the Guangming Daily article that started this recent round of "niang pao" debate. Here you can watch a scorching review (in Mandarin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdn8-J9AvN4
Here you have WW2 anti-Japanese fighters dressed in spotless and freshly ironed uniforms and sporting perfectly styled hair 24/7 and drinking coffee and smoking cigars during battles. Oh, they also live in a luxury villa.
There was a huge debate over this in 2018. The government didn't directly intervene that time and instead expected the industry sort it out themselves. The problem only got worse. So the government is intervening directly this time.
This sounds exactly like conservatives whining over Black actors playing characters in medieval Europe.
Is there any evidence of this other than an american news outlet
it's just boomers getting mad about Kpop idol shit and I have no idea how "sissy pants" translates in Chinese but I have to imagine there's some nuance lost.
I'd really love to read an actual source though. Because they call it both a boycott and a ban in this article and then also say
It’s unclear how the government will define “sissy pants,” but the order is expected to prompt more stringent self-censorship by tech and entertainment companies that are already caught in a sweeping regulatory crackdown.
so is it a ban, or is it an ask for self-censorship?
This articles a mess, but either way it's probably conservative old guys afraid of Korean idol stuff and fear of the loss of "masculinity" which still sucks.
Vice? yeah, I'm just going to assume this is some western chauvinist slander. This seems to me as an attempt to stop ridiculously aesthetically sanitized ahistorical portrayals of historical events. This has also bothered me about lots of media.
Why must everyone be fucking beautiful and perfectly manicured unless they're portrayed as the inhuman villain? Why is the team of the world's greatest scientists in your film also a group of the most attractive people in history? Is it really a great idea to have all plain looking, ugly, overweight, disfigured, and/or disabled people who are otherwise talented actors basically unemployable in media? Why should only beautiful people be cast in ostensibly realistic depictions?
I'm asking for the volcel vanguard to diversify casting so that the entire film industry isn't dependent on a de facto horny arms race.
This is about making teenage girls worship soldiers and "manly men" instead of pretty boy K-pop stars. It's part of a broader conservative push aimed at the youth which I suspect is largely in order to prevent a collapse in birth rates (and help shore up the PLA).
Wtf time to post winnie the pooh Xi photoshops in reddit to protest
Going to guess this is more complicated than the headlines or something.
There's a post about this on r/communism with a link to what is supposed to be the actual CPC document.
Hellsite link to r/communism thread.
Link to what I believe is supposed to be the actual official document.
You will need to translate this on your own.
Revelant section translated by whatever random translation add on I used for French/German...
- Resolutely resist pan-entertainment. Strengthen cultural self-confidence, and vigorously promote Chinese excellent traditional culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture. Establish the correct aesthetic orientation for the program, strictly control the selection of actors and guests, performance styles, costume makeup, etc., and resolutely put an end to "girly guns" and other abnormal aesthetics. Resolutely resist the pan-entertainment tendencies such as hype to show off wealth and enjoyment, gossip privacy, negative hot spots, vulgar "net celebrities", and bottomless review of ugliness.
Emphasis is mine.
Resolutely resist the pan-entertainment tendencies such as hype to show off wealth and enjoyment, gossip privacy, negative hot spots, vulgar “net celebrities”, and bottomless review of ugliness
I mean that part is good. Just seems like they're missing the mark and blaming it on the wrong thing. Big bummer
I don't know enough about Chinese pop culture to know if I'm supposed to interpret "girly guns" as metrosexual or as queer.
I could maybe see moving away from metrosexual stuff. That all seems more oriented towards people who spend an inordinate amount of time/money on self presentation as being of a higher class.
If its what it sounds like, and the target is actually queer folk, that's disappointing.
I think you can interpret it as both. Any pushback against metrosexual behaviour is defacto a pushback against queer behaviour because "guy acts outside of traditional gender role expectations" is a feature of both. Whether that is the intent or not that is the consequence.
This kind of thing will be brought up over and over again in any of our attempts to defend China to lgbt and lgbt-supporting people, which is much more than half the population in the west. It absolutely cripples our ability to defend them.
China's new no. 1 star is ... squints at notes ... dead American movie star John Wayne, the least sissy man that ever was.
