Straight man cancer (Chinese: 直男癌; pinyin: zhí nán ái)[1] is a derogatory neologism used by Chinese feminists to describe men who are stubbornly supportive of traditional gender roles and therefore considered sexist and chauvinistic.[2] Coined by the users of Chinese social networks Douban and Weibo in mid-2014, it refers to conservative men who unapologetically uphold traditional patriarchical values and belittle women's movement and gender equality, and are usually nationalistic and variably hostile to foreigners and ethnic minorities.

The term originated from mainland China.[3] It became popular in 2015 when scholar Zhou Guoping was accused of having the syndrome after a Weibo post.[4] However in recent years, the use of the term has been accused of misandry and is met with significant backlash on social media with counter-insults like "feminist cancer" (Chinese: 女权癌, the Chinese equivalent of "feminazi") or "feminist whore" (Chinese: 女权婊, implying Chinese feminists tend to only criticize Chinese men harshly but behave rather warm towards foreign men). The Chinese feminist movement is also vilified as "field feminism" (Chinese: 田园女权, a portmanteau of "field dog" 田园犬 and "feminism") to denigrate feminists as barking extremists.[5]

Causes

Historical self-sufficiency

The self-sufficient economy (also called small-scale peasant economy), a basic socio-economic formation in Chinese feudal society, has lasted for more than 2000 years in ancient China. It did not require any aid, support, or interaction, for survival; therefore it is a type of personal or collective autonomy, which contributes to the formation of the idea of male supremacy.[6]

Since men have advantages in physical strength, some occupy positions in the main production sectors and some women are relegated to a secondary position in production.[7]

Preference for sons

Numerous Chinese families which still have been influenced a lot by the patriarchal tradition, especially the rural families, tend to have a preference for boys rather than girls.[8][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Tang, Nancy (5 February 2015). "'Straight Man Cancer': Sexism with Chinese Characteristics". The Diplomat. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Do You Have 'Straight Man Cancer'? [Lost In Translation]". TechNode. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  3. ↑ Geng, Olivia (20 January 2015). "In China, a Backlash Against 'Cancerous' Straight Men". The Wall Street Journal China. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  4. ↑ Steinfeld, Jemimah (13 March 2015). "China's 'straight man cancer': are Chinese women finally on the rise?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Feng, Jiayun (March 8, 2017). "Hard times for feminists in China". SupChina.com.
  6. ↑ "谱系文化：社会功能及其民间信仰的表现方式". Capital-markets. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Larson, Christina (31 July 2014). "In China, More Girls Are on the Way". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  8. ↑ Yaqing, Mao (26 February 2013). "China's Unbalanced Sex Ratio and its Ripple Effect". CRIENGLISH.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  9. ↑ Arnold, Fred; Zhaoxiang, Liu (1992). Sex Preference, Fertility, and Family Planning in China. The Population of Modern China: Springer US. pp. 491–523.
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