America is said to be obsessed with beauty and body image, and it has long been argued that the standards of beauty in the US are unnatural and unrealistic. They are allegedly oppressive to women, as well as based on a particular racial standard that many women do not fit into. This, like much of the other chatter we hear with an American accent, is a discussion that occurs in a cultural bubble, so I always find it amusing when attempts are made to square both American and foreign discourse on favorite feminist subjects such as beauty.
I just found an article written for the All-China Women’s Federation which attempts to do just that, and in bringing American Born Chinese (this what Chinese call Chinese Americans) girls’ experiences in China to light, it shows just how strong American cultural (and dietary, evidently) influence can be.
Stephanie Lin and Emerald Chien are fairly typical Chinese American girls. They are healthy, well-educated, and, ermmm, well-fed; especially by Chinese standards. Stephanie and Emerald are students at UCLA, and consider themselves fairly normal at home. In fact, Stephanie wears a size “small” in the US, but in China she was dismayed to find that the labels on the clothes that fit her in China indicated “large.”
Emerald, for her part, was shocked when her Chinese tutor looked her up and down and plainly stated: “you’re fat.” She explained that it was not as mean to call someone fat in China as it is in the US, but actually, she’s not entirely correct — Chinese women dread being fat.
Other Chinese Americans studying in Beijing were “appalled” by the skin whitening products in supermarkets. One Chinese American woman likened their use to racial betrayal, “because skin tone is so much a part of who you are racially.”
Chinese women appear to be blissfully unaware of the concerns of these American students in their midst, celebrating their own idea of beauty, which is epitomized by Miss China World 2007 Zhang Zilin. Ms. Zhang is beautiful by any standard, but the article suggests that her beauty is a typically Chinese kind that Chinese American girls can relate to due to racial affiliation.
However, I think the writer gets it all wrong. The Chinese American girls could not relate to the thin, fair women of their ancestral home. In Chinese society, feminine traits such as delicacy and fair complexion (relative, of course, considering one’s ancestry) are emphasized, whereas American women have rejected both. China still has a strong sense of gender differentiation, even at the level of popular culture. In America, women strive to be darker, don’t mind being large, and are brash, aggressive and loud.
The Chinese American woman who said she felt racially betrayed actually felt betrayed because her American ideals were rejected. It is really no wonder that many American men find East Asia something of a paradise compared to what they left behind.
The Chinese American girls are the ethnic controls who prove that there is something about American culture that causes women to take on masculine traits. The people of China also prove that there was never anything unnatural about standards of beauty, but rather that they are universal.
14 responses so far ↓
1 Justin // Jul 17, 2009 at 9:29 am
I’m not sure, Welmer. The Chinese are still largely agriculturalists, so pale skin is a status sign of leisure. In America, even working women are inside all day, so there is no status signal sent by being pale, the way there used to be. In fact, it is the opposite. Having a good tan is a status sign of wealth and leisure for us.
In America, traditionally feminine ladies are still highly valued, perhaps just not in popular culture. I think a lot of guys don’t realize they are there because they are scooped up in marriage so quickly.
Who do you think it is having all the children today? It ain’t the foul-mouth boy-toy-chasing masculine-trait types. In the religious culture of America, feminine ideals are enjoying something of a renaissance, actually.
As for the chubbiness, that cannot be denied. One of our college-aged exchange students went home to Korea, and her mom literally locked her in the house for 8 weeks until she lost all that weight. However, its just a matter of time: I know the Japanese are already observing a change in the physique of the average woman, demonstrated in the upsizing of their bra and dress sizing.
2 Of No Consequence // Jul 17, 2009 at 6:23 pm
You had children with an Asian woman there in Seattle, didn’t you Welmer?
3 Welmer // Jul 17, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Nope. My “baby-mama” is ethnically pretty much the same as me, except she’s got a little more continental blood (she’s 1/4 Bavarian), whereas I am almost entirely British Isles/Scandinavian, with an inconsequential smidgen of Dutch.
My children are little Nordic angels, in case you were concerned.
But what’s your point?
4 Lukobe // Jul 18, 2009 at 6:55 pm
According to his comment on your “Seattle sucks” post, it’s that “multiple races inhabiting the same territory goes against the natural order.”
5 hel // Aug 25, 2009 at 2:54 am
Agree with the first post, it’s a sign of wealth. I live in Vietnam, with shares a fair bit of culture with China and skin whiteners are everywhere. They’re usually cheap skin bleachers which do damage long term. Even roll on deodorant has whitening stuff in it. Darker farm girls, who’ve spent all day in the fields, are usually considered “ugly” by the locals but are sometimes preferred by the expats, so Vietnamese friends tell me. And it’s rare to see a very pale skinned “model” type dating a foreigner. Western men think they look odd and unnatural and expats are nowhere near as loaded as the local playboys so the girls go for the latter.
6 Demeco // Sep 21, 2009 at 4:55 am
I want to know the best places in china to visit it
7 Welmer // Sep 21, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Best places in China? The list would be pretty long, and it depends on what you’re looking for.
8 Liviana // Jul 28, 2010 at 2:13 am
Why aren’t american kids getting thrown into trash cans like they are in china? If Chinese women are so much better why don’t they give up neglecting their children and stop allowing the murder of kids? Don’t you have a high rate of children being tossed into trash cans? I see it on the news all the time so how are you better mothers than us “Tough”" Manly” “Feminist” western women? I guess it’s healthy to be tough and masculine since we put a huge responsiblity on the mental and spiritual health of our children and od not lock them up for being chubby or throw our female babies in trash cans… American women are mentally healthy and thick skinned… You are a disgrace to my morality if you cannot put your shallow image aside and think about how tormented you must be to care more about your looks than the lives of others? I have large breasts, therefore, I can be chubby..Chinese women have to get implants and surgery to look voluptuous…I don’t. Skinny isn’t universal. There were skinnier actresses than Marilyn Monroe but men consider her the ideal..Hell..Hugh Hefner does even though he is surrounded by anorexic models all day..
9 Liviana // Jul 28, 2010 at 2:25 am
In the West men look for inner beauty… In America I couldn’t insult skin color or put it down as inferior, and I wouldn’t want to. How can a woman say she has inner beauty when she acts like a racist skin-nazi?
Inner beauty in America= Charity, family values, care for animals & selfless love etc..
Not just marriage and how you look.
Yes, all those tough manly bitches breed just as much as those feminine girly girls… In America it is different… even Christianity supports an anti-gender view of the world so it may have partially influenced our attitude.
It’s healthy to be masculine and feminine here… It’s not considered negative. Women have a healthy relationship to their kids and do not judge them by gender or by looks… We have little violeence toward children and our crime has droped in amny places… Women in America are smarter and healthier than we’re made out to be by these propagandists.
We do not care what China or Russia thinks…
In America you’ll never see infanticide from our men oir women no matter their walk of life…
10 Liviana // Jul 28, 2010 at 2:26 am
Liviana // Jul 28, 2010 at 2:13 am
Why aren’t american kids getting thrown into trash cans like they are in china? If Chinese women are so much better why don’t they give up neglecting their children and stop allowing the murder of kids? Don’t you have a high rate of children being tossed into trash cans? I see it on the news all the time so how are you better mothers than us “Tough”” Manly” “Feminist” western women? I guess it’s healthy to be tough and masculine since we put a huge responsiblity on the mental and spiritual health of our children and od not lock them up for being chubby or throw our female babies in trash cans… American women are mentally healthy and thick skinned… You are a disgrace to my morality if you cannot put your shallow image aside and think about how tormented you must be to care more about your looks than the lives of others? I have large breasts, therefore, I can be chubby..Chinese women have to get implants and surgery to look voluptuous…I don’t. Skinny isn’t universal. There were skinnier actresses than Marilyn Monroe but men consider her the ideal..Hell..Hugh Hefner does even though he is surrounded by anorexic models all day
……….
11 Paulina // Sep 23, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Most Chinese people are healthy, thin, and well-educated.
12 Ranee // Nov 3, 2010 at 12:46 pm
I’m personally a Chinese American and America women tend to be bigger because of our lifestyles… We sit when we can. We drive everywhere. In China, people actually walk around to places. And did I mention fast food? Chinese people tend to cook their own meals.
13 Kari // Nov 21, 2010 at 7:43 pm
I tend to think that a lot of the people that write these blogs have no real experience in what they are talking about. I hear western men sometimes say that they regard Asian women as the most attractive in the world, yet those very men have never even lived in or been to Asia. Their opinions, often times, have been formed solely by the Asian women they see in magazines, on TV, or in pop culture. Asia is the same as the west, in that way. Most American actresses, models, girls on TV, on billboards, are more attractive than the average person on the street. Asia does that exact same thing. They are not going to present an unattractive women to the rest of the world to represent their country.
I am an American woman living in Thailand with my Japanese husband. I have also lived in Japan. I am not overweight, not masculine, and not overly brazen. Yet, I’m not mealy mouthed and submissive. I have a large chest (which often draws stares from the local men here). I am often regarded by Thais as being attractive and slightly superior due to my lighter skin tone. The funny thing is, is that Thai men (who are not slightly shy) seem to adore me, and my husband’s Japanese coworkers (much shyer than Thai men), in their more courageous moments, have complimented me too. While, western men tend to think that Asian women are better, Asian men, in my experience, have quite a lot of curiousity about western women.
They usually just know the western women they see in magazines, in movies, on TV and billboards though, just like western people only knowing Asian women of the same sort. Trust me, as someone who has lived in Asia for a most of my adult life, Asian women (and men, I suppose), are no more beautiful than any other continent’s people. There are attractive and unattractive people, but for the most part, we’re all just average. Actually, just a little tid bit, here in Asia, Chinese women (not the ones in magazines and representatives in beauty pageants) are regarded as the most unattractive because of their dark skin, a history of physical labor, and broader than average faces (especially the nose, although most Asian people, women being no exception, have broad faces and wide noses.)
Just kind of interesting to me. It seems like people, especially men in this case, tend to want what they don’t have, or what isn’t easily accessible, even though they have no idea what they are talking about.
Ah, just a little something else. You wouldn’t believe the amount of makeup that Asian women wear. It’s ungodly. I don’t know about the other Asian countries, but Japanese and Thai women wear layers upon layers of makeup. Come see for yourself.
14 Annabelle // Jan 18, 2011 at 2:10 pm
Liviana, how can you say this? You clearly don’t understand. I myself was adopted from China and what you say is extremely ignorant and harsh. What Chinese mothers have to go through to decide to give up their children to a better life is an impossibly selfless thing to do. To be able to give up your child so that he or she may have a chance at a better life is something some Americans like you cannot understand. I’m greatly disturbed that you would think that people are “tossing” their children in trash cans. Instead here in America mothers simply get abortions or abuse their children. Many of the chinese mothers who give their children up for adoption have to make this decision which is the hardest decision of their lives. You also use a lot of generalizations, Chinese women do not “have to get implants” and you seem very racist against the Chinese, I’m sure there are some Chinese who fit your description but remember not everyone in China is the same.
Leave a Comment