From: alfred@walt.tmc.edu (Alfred Wu)
Subject: Re: Chinese women today
Keywords: femininity
Organization: Mississippi State Univ.
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 20:35:24 GMT

In article <20AUG199213584076@venus.lerc.nasa.gov> fsbrn12@venus.lerc.nasa.gov writes:
>
>In article 18973@news.acns.nwu.edu, usenet@news.acns.nwu.edu (Usenet on news.acns) writes:
>> Here is a piece of news from CND:
>> 
>> [Reuters 8/16/92] SHANGHAI -- A 24-year-old bus passenger, Dong Huibo, died
>> in the street, after tangling with one of the city's dreaded woman bus
>> conductors.   His nightmare began inside the bus when the ticketpuncher
>> snarled an insult about the shape of his backside.   She swore at him,
>> slapped his face and broke his glasses, made a grab for his testicles, then
>> stood back and aimed a vicious kick at his private parts.  As he scrambled
>> out of a window, the driver -also a woman- slammed her foot on the
>> accelerator pedal and sent him flying. (From: Di Bi Cao)
>> 
>
>The above story is, of course, an extreme case that exemplifies the 
>state of femininity in today's China. In the past forty years or so,
>because of the emphasis put on women's liberation in China, women have
>continually drifted towards their male counter part, and in some cases
>have drifted (mentally in most cases, physically on rare
>occasions, as witnessed by the recent Olympics) way past the demarcation 
>line between male and female.

Chinese female atheletes have more achievements than Chinese male atheletes.
We should be proud of them.  Since Chinese women can do it, why 
Chinese men can not ?

>
>I call this mental masculinization of Chinese females. To support my claim,
>wit the percentage of Chinese urban families wherein the wifes are the
>bosses, and have delegated the responsibilities of cooking, washing, grocery 
>shopping, changing diapers, etc., to their beloved husband.
>I have no statistics on this subject, but among friends (Chinese), 
>families that belong to this category are certainly the majority.
>
>If you have studied in a Chinese college during the period from late
>50's to mid 80's, and you happened to be a male student in an 
>engineering school, you would certainly remember the mentalities
>of your female classmates. If you are lucky, you would have forgot their
>facial features, but if you are unlucky enough to have married one
>of them, chances are you cook at home nowadays.

Both my parents were graduated from EE in early 60s.  They shared their
responsibility in taking care of the household.  Is there something
wrong?

>
>In the U.S., among students, I have known of many instances of marriages
>between Mainland male and Taiwanese female, and I have not yet known
>of any Taiwanese male and Mainland female combinations.

I know at least an instance that a mainland girl married a Taiwan
man.

>I have heard many Taiwanese boys complaining that Mainland girls
>"tai4 li4 hai4 le." (Then of course I have also heard Mainland girls
>say boys from Taiwan "niang2 niang qiang1," and secretly suspect
>that there is a trend of femininization of Taiwanese males. But that
>is another story.) It is a safe bet to say that more than 50% of the
>times, Taiwanese boys and Mainland girls do not attract each other.
>Based on the law of "opposites attract", the conclusion seems obvious.
>
>The social cause of this masculinization of Chinese women is, IMO,
>the higher expectations we have on women: "Fu(4)nu:(3) neng(2)ding(3) 
>ban(4)bian(1)tian(1)," thus saith our Maod. And the motto has been 
>carried to its extreme. The emphasis is not only "equal work
>for equal pay," but "equal work": whatever a man can do, a woman also.
>Thus women are subjected to the same harsh manual labors as men.
>Yet the "equal pay" part is often conveniently neglected: In the 
>countryside, a man's working day worth 10-12 Fen, while a woman's
>only 8. Female factory and office workers are often passed over
>for raises and housing assignments. 
>
>"Equal work" is probably the only meaningful thing that women have achieved
>in this revolution, and together with is, the masculinization.
>
>I say, return femininity to Chinese women.

For what, do you want Chinese women go through the fight that American
women had gone through.

alfred wu 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china