From: fsbrn12@venus.lerc.nasa.gov
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject: Chinese women today
Keywords: femininity
Date: 20 Aug 92 17:58:00 GMT
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


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.

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.

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 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.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china