Letters | Objectification of Ukrainian women on Chinese social media reflects a deep-seated societal ill

Some social media users in China have suggested ‘importing’ women fleeing Ukraine, showing how entrenched hostile views against women are in parts of Chinese society

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Women look after their babies in the pediatrics unit of a hospital was moved to the basement which is being used as a bomb shelter, in Kyiv on February 28. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:30pm, 3 Mar 2022Updated: 5:52pm, 3 Mar 2022

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Russia’s full-fledged military assault on Ukraine has heartbreakingly become a breeding ground for objectification of Ukrainian women on China’s social media platforms. Some men have suggested “importing” beautiful young women fleeing from Ukraine, which generated rounds of backlash on Reddit and Twitter.

In response, the social media platforms said such remarks would be addressed seriously, with thousands of posts and comments deleted and accounts suspended State-owned news outlets condemned the vulgar speech and called for rationality in war-related discussions.

However, this is far from enough to dismantle the appalling male gaze that reflects a deep-seated societal ill. In some segments of Chinese society, women are still perceived as a disposable means of procreation and sexual gratification rather than sovereign individuals with equal rights.

Consider the unbalanced gender ratio after gender-selective abortion across several decades, the recurring fantasy of “wife distribution by the state” in some online communities and the recent jaw-dropping report that a woman in Jiangsu province was chained up, sold twice as a bride and forced to bear eight children.

Some people’s blatant refusal to fully acknowledge the problem also gives us a window on how deeply embedded hostile views against women are. A WeChat user commented under a news article: “We Chinese want to marry them, don’t say such ugly things, don’t look down on Chinese men. … It’s so hard to get a wife in China nowadays.”

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.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | Objectification of Ukrainian women on Chinese social media reflects a deep-seated societal ill

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Some social media users in China have suggested ‘importing’ women fleeing Ukraine, showing how entrenched hostile views against women are in parts of Chinese society

Letters | Objectification of Ukrainian women on Chinese social media reflects a deep-seated societal ill

Some social media users in China have suggested ‘importing’ women fleeing Ukraine, showing how entrenched hostile views against women are in parts of Chinese society