Female Stereotyping

About female stereotypes.

 

Recently, Yang Liping, a famous dancer, was criticized for saying that “the biggest failure of a woman is not to have children”, which aroused hot discussion on the Internet.

On June 8, Yang Liping posted a video of enjoying flowers and eating hot pot on social media, but such a daily vlog made her a hot search.

“What of living at ease? Do you have children? You fail without children.”

Similar arguments filled Yang’s comment section.

The seemingly well-founded comment, which received more than 1.5 million likes, has been followed by a series of online debates and slurs, sparking a debate on the topic of “women giving birth”.

There are almost two sides to having and not having children:

Some people think that it is the responsibility of the previous generation to reproduce.

Some are on the other end of the spectrum, thinking it’s far out of date to take procreation as a measure of the value of life.

This triggered my thinking. Even in this year of freedom and equality, stereotypes about women are inescapable.

No life is complete without marriage and children

It’s no use having a girl

Women should do housework

If a woman has a job, she has to take care of her husband and children anyway

The promotion of beautiful women is suspected of using unfair means

Girls are not cut out for academics

Girls are weak in math and logic

Girls are shopaholics

Women drivers are bad drivers

Girls need to keep a good figure and make up

Keep your hair long and short and unfeminine

Girls have to be gentle and careless

Girls are sensitive animals, like unreasonable

Long hair, short wit

Get married early. If you don’t get married at 30, no one will

…

In this stereotype, most women are deprived of the right to choose, both from the internal self-consciousness and from the external selection restrictions.

For example, “return to the family” and “get married and have children”, if you grow up in such an environment, it is difficult to realize that you have other options, or consider the possibility of making other choices. More likely, he accepted “everyone thinks that being a civil servant, marrying a good husband and having a son is the best choice”.

Another example: seeing a woman with a shaved head, baggy T-shirt and jeans, many people would say “butch”. A guy who likes pink objects will be called a “sissy” or even ostracized.

Many people choose to disguise themselves because of stereotypes, fear of other people’s different eyes and malicious remarks, which makes them further and further away from their real selves.

 

We can’t choose how we live or die, but we can choose how we love and how we live.

Many years ago, Yang Liping made this statement in an interview: “Some people’s life is to carry on the family line, some are for enjoyment, some are for experience, some are for observation. I am a spectator of life, and I will live to see a tree grow, a river flow, clouds drift, and dew condense.”

Born as a human being, everyone has the right to choose any way of life that does not harm others.

Why not choose one life and still be willing to accept that the other is a good choice?

Compared with the choice of right and wrong, the value of the high and low, the respect and understanding between different people is more important.

 

 
Wenshan Wang