The Negative Influence of “White, Young and Skinny” Aesthetics on Chinese Feminism

By Xiaoyu Liu

As a misleading rhetorical device formed on the basis of the dananzizhuyi, “big man’s opinion” (Chinese male chauvinism in ancient China), the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics reduces Chinese women’s competitiveness by emphasizing the importance of less competitive attributes. The “white, young and skinny” aesthetics also restricts the voice of feminists. The aesthetics stimulates the appearance anxiety and low self-esteem of Chinese women to form a situation that excludes them from the field of visual communication. Therefore, Chinese feminists should reduce the negative influence of “white, young and skinny” aesthetics on the Chinese feminist movements by promoting independence and sustainable belief in gender equality.

First, what are the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics? In the summer of 2020, with the rise of “BM challenges,” the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics gradually developed to become the mainstream aesthetics in China. The “BM” in the “BM challenges” refers to an Italian fast fashion brand, BrandyMelville. During the BM challenges, Chinese women took pride in being able to wear BrandyMelville clothes. The reason for this pride is that BrandyMelville only produces and sells clothes in small sizes. Therefore, being able to wear BrandyMelville clothes indicates the figure is slender. In addition to the BM challenge, some social media in China are also continuing to promote and praise the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics. There are endless streams of advertisements and tutorial videos with a large number of clicks about how to make women’s skin more white through cosmetics, how to quickly lose weight through dieting, and how to choose clothing to make women appear younger and submissive.

The aesthetic concept of “white, young and skinny” consists of three main rhetorical points: “white, young and skinny.” “White” means that people regard light skin as most beautiful. “Young” refers to young and juvenile. The aesthetic concept of “white, young and skinny” conveys that young women who are as obedient as children are most desirable. The “skinny” in the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics emphasizes that beautiful women should show the characteristics of slender limbs and flat abdomens.

From ancient times to the present, there have always been examples of “white, young and skinny” aesthetics in Chinese culture. As noted in the BM discussion, in China today, there are endless ways to promote this aesthetics: advertisements, videos, dieting suggestions, and clothing suggestions. The “white, young and skinny” aesthetics in modern Chinese society originated from the ancient Chinese dananzizhuyi. Ancient Chinese dananzizhuyi is an ideology that maintains men are more noble than women; it also asserts that men are superior to women and men should rule women. In ancient societies where male chauvinism prevailed, Chinese women had low social status and were characterized as unthinking and submissive. The image characteristics of ancient Chinese women are the origin of the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics. In the modern society where the power of women is rising, to consolidate the male’s social status, some Chinese men have adopted the behaviors of ancient dananzizhuyi and are imposing the characteristics of ancient women through rhetoric by creating the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics. These Chinese men use the adjective characteristics of “white, young and skinny” aesthetics rhetorically, persuading Chinese people to construct a false “perfect” image of Chinese women in their minds to hide the behind male thinking and dananzizhuyi. Therefore, the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics is a misleading rhetorical tool formed on the basis of ancient dananzizhuyi.

Under the influence of the “white young and skinny” aesthetics, in order to put themselves into the frame of “perfect” Chinese female image, some Chinese women have adopted extreme methods. For example, in order to become slender, some women use diet and induce vomiting to reduce their weight at the cost of harming their own health. Eventually, some women have various diseases such as anorexia or bulimia. Not only that, some Chinese women with other aesthetic characteristics find it difficult to see their beauty under the impact and guidance of the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics, and thus become unconfident. Corresponding mental illnesses, such as appearance anxiety and depression, also have a significantly higher female prevalence.

According to the definition, the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics is dedicated to promoting and shaping harmless, submissive, and child-like unthinking female images in a subordinate position by emphasizing the importance of less competitive adjectives in Chinese females. The rhetorical characteristics of the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics will compel people to associate women with less competitive adjectives, such as “uncertain, anxious, nervous, hasty, careless, fearful, dull, childish, helpless, sorry, timid, clumsy, stupid, silly... sympathetic, pure , generous” (Campbell 78). This stereotype will mislead Chinese women to form these personality traits.

Therefore, the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics can be understood as a value that serves the interests and status of men by emphasizing the importance of less competitive adjectives in females. The aesthetics and values of men are forced into women’s thinking, thereby misdirecting misleading the direction of the formation of Chinese women’s character traits. In this way, the “white young skinny” aesthetics has negative influences on Chinese feminism and women’s liberation movements. Such influences lead Chinese women to avoid developing those competitive adjectives, such as being strong, shrewd, proud and good at speech. However, these competitive characteristics and qualities are usually required by some high-status or high-income occupations. As a consequence, the number of Chinese women who can have high-status and high-income occupations has also begun to gradually decrease, resulting in a situation where the proportion of women in the upper class is gradually being reduced. The weakened competitiveness of women will only reinforce the superiority of the number of men in the upper class and maintain the social status quo of men’s dominant position in society.

Additionally, the “white, young and skinny” aesthetics, which has become the mainstream aesthetics in modern Chinese society, silences the voices of feminists by stimulating anxiety and low self-esteem of Chinese women to form a situation that excludes Chinese women from the field of visual communication. Among Chinese women, only a few can meet the requirements of “white, young and skinny” aesthetics. Those Chinese women who do not have the characteristics of “white, young and skinny” will face ridicule and judgments on appearance from the surrounding people and social media. These negative comments will destroy the self-confidence of Chinese women and induce their low self-esteem. Under such circumstances, these Chinese women will avoid the opportunity to appear in public because of their appearance anxiety and the fear of being laughed at. The participation of women in the field of visual communication such as public speaking will gradually decrease, and eventually it may evolve into a situation where women’s status in the field of visual communication will decline and even will lose the opportunity to speak.

 In addition to literary works and audio works as carriers, the publicity, promotion and development of feminism also require visual communication channels such as public speaking. For example, in Logan’s Black Women on the Speaker’s Platform, Logan emphasizes Harper’s recognition of “the opportunity for instruction that public speaking afforded to those who did not read and did not subscribe to newspapers”(19). If feminism loses its voice in the field of visual communication, feminists will also lose these special audiences and supporters, which is not conducive to the spread and development of feminism.

Fortunately, Chinese feminists have realized that “white, young and skinny” aesthetics is a rhetorical way of overemphasizing the importance of some adjectives in Chinese female’s consciousness. Under the guidance of Chinese feminists, some Chinese women have begun to break the restrictions from the less competitive female image norms created by “white, young and skinny” aesthetics. These Chinese women have to actively seek and show the diverse and competitive adjectives in Chinese women. After eliminating the limitation of male thinking established in Chinese female thinking through adjectives, Chinese feminists help Chinese women regain their self-confidence and gradually successfully return to the field of visual communication.

The aesthetic concepts based on male thinking in cultures of other countries will also have similar consequences: some women will reduce their competitiveness and opt out of the field of visual communication because of adjective restrictions and appearance anxiety. In order to solve this problem, I have provided some possible solutions. First of all, as explained in Wang’s Breaking the Age of Flower Vases: Lu Yin’s Feminist Rhetoric, Lu Yin envisions “the goals for the Chinese women’s movement as building ‘a healthy and balanced society based on the cooperation of both sexes’ in which women lift themselves up, become independent ren, and have equal opportunities to participate in various civic activities” (254). Lu Yin explains one of the goals of being a feminist: women form independent personalities. Independent personalities will help all women, not just Chinese women, realize the importance of self-awareness and self-independent thinking, thereby reducing the impact of other values on women’s psychology. Women who possess an independent personality are no longer easily influenced by the evaluation of others. Women with independent personalities will also realize the importance of self-confidence and self-love. These women will not lose the opportunity to enter all areas of society because of their low self-esteem, which will restore women’s status and power in society.

Women who become feminists and participate in feminist movements and women’s liberation movements will establish firm beliefs to persevere in the struggle for feminism. This point can be applied to feminists in all countries, not just China. Feminism may take a different form because women come from different cultures, races and classes. However, these struggles are all based on the common goal of pursuing gender equality. Therefore, feminists can also learn from each other and learn from the experience of struggle. For example, as shown in Royster’s To Call a Thing by Its True Name: The Rhetoric of Ida B. Wells, feminists will encounter verbal abuse and unpopularity, so feminists need to learn “how to stand alone, unpopular and sometimes reviled” (173). Every feminist has irreplaceable importance. Each woman’s existence could be the belief of other women on the road of struggle. When some feminists encounter difficulties and feel confused on the road of promoting feminism, other women have to believe that their existences could be those feminists’ motivation and reason for persevering. Feminists will continue to fight for gender equality because of each other’s existence.

In conclusion, as a misleading rhetorical strategy formed on the basis of the dananzizhuyi (male chauvinism) in ancient China, the aesthetic concept of “white, young and skinny” reduces Chinese women’s competitiveness by emphasizing the importance of less competitive attributes for them. The “white, young and skinny” aesthetics also restrict the voice of feminists by using adjectives to stimulate anxiety and low self-esteem in Chinese women to form a situation that excludes them from the field of visual communication. Not only that, the aesthetic concepts based on male thinking and aesthetic orientation in the cultures of other countries in the world will also use their own rhetorical devices to weaken feminism. Therefore, feminists should reduce the negative influence of this kind of aesthetics on the feminist movements by promoting independent personalities and firm belief in struggling for gender equality.