• axont [she/her, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Isn't this several layers of miscommunication because some apparatus of the Chinese media has tried to curtail kpop style idol culture? And it ended up being a little mismanaged or misguided, but then western media got a hold of it and deliberated misrepresented the situation to Chinese media banned any sort of feminine guys?

    Do I have that right? I just wanna know, please don't yell at me.

    • LeninWeave [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      There was some misrepresentation, but there's also clearly an element of reactionary policy. The CPC has a pretty big faction with, let's say "boomer mentality", and this does seem to affect their media policies especially.

      If you want decent analysis of it, I recommend Sixth Tone, which is actually a party publication but is very critical on many issues.

      • FidelCastro [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        If you’ve got a link to any sixth tone articles about this, that would be helpful. I’d like to read up on where things are at now.

        • LeninWeave [none/use name]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008389/chinas-ongoing-struggle-against-sissy-young-men

          Here's a short article that argues there are reactionary motivations to the "sissy" thing. The whole website is good, and worth digging through. They have a tag for "gender" specifically, but there's a lot of interesting but critical coverage of a lot of things in there.

          • FidelCastro [he/him]
            ·
            edit-2
            3 years ago

            Dope, thanks. It looks like the “sissy” aspect has also been tied in with the skin bleaching trend they were trying to counter because of how linked the two are. Unfortunate.

      • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
        ·
        edit-2
        3 years ago

        there’s also clearly an element of reactionary policy

        • Private sector setting insane beauty standards that can only be achieved through extensive cosmetic procedures and then dictating success in mainstream media by how tightly you comply

        • Public policy regulation established to reverse this trend, because your committee recognizes it as socially toxic and alienating. But you're employing a gendered term to describe it

        Both of these things are reactionary. Both sides. Both!!!!

    • FidelCastro [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Yeah, it was a layer of misrepresentation. It’s part of a push by the chinese government to curtail racist western beauty standards like skin bleaching and “double eyelid” cosmetic surgery to look more white. That shit has caught on huge in American-occupied South Korea (wonder why) and is attached to a lot of Kpop.

      If I remember correctly, the policy was focused on requiring wider representation of gender expression in male actors besides the KPop style guys. Many actors were starting to feel pressured into skin bleaching and getting cosmetic surgery on their eyes to get work in the industry and also appeal to their fans, the majority of whom are straight women.

      The party brief discussing this used a slang word in quotations as an example which doesn’t translate correctly when you throw it into google translate. I think it translated to “sissy”, which apparently wasn’t a very accurate translation. Still, that word choice also rightfully got shit in China because it is a word used by reactionary conservative boomers. This added to the confusion once the story made it over here.

      This was from when the first wave of “China is banning le fembois” talking points showed up. I checked out after I saw that there was this degree of ambiguity to it because:

        1. I don’t live in China
        1. I don’t speak Mandarin
        1. Our entire media apparatus is actively trying to find every angle it can to build support for a cold/hot war with China.

      This then got complicated even further online because a chunk of stupidpol motherfuckers started concern trolling / stanning for China in support of them banning “sissy boys”. That then poisoned the well if you pushed back on the articles claiming this stuff.

      I’m sure there’s other shit and maybe more info has come out since then. China legitimately does still have a lot of issues it needs to work on with LGBTQIA rights. This struck me as noise that got in the way of being able to actually discuss those problems.

    • baby_trump [undecided]
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      I'm gonna be honest with you, I have no idea who is correct in this argument. Just admired the high quality discourse it sparked lol.