Skinhua

March 8, 2012 6:19 PM

FP Passport Blog: In an attempt to highlight the role of women in Beijing's annual National People's Congress, China's party newspaper the People's Daily published "Beautiful female journalists at two sessions," consisting of women asking questions and "beautifying" China's legislative session. It's hard to think of a more awkward way for a media outlet to celebrate International Women's Day, except maybe last year's offering from China's state news wire Xinhua: "Attractive females at NPC, CPCC sessions."
posted by vidur (8 comments total)

The first (and so far only) comment on the People's Daily link:

Mr Dong at 2012-03-08

I found that very easy to spank off to

Ah, see, the East and West are not so different after all.
posted by kmz at 6:56 PM on March 8, 2012 [3 favorites]

Hey China, don't look now but your patriarchy is showing.
posted by Scientist at 7:01 PM on March 8, 2012

It's not the People's Daily. On ChinaSMACK (which translates Chinese internet news and trends into English), just about every mention of a woman is prefaced with an assessment of her beauty. Overt sexism is still a lot more acceptable in China.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:34 PM on March 8, 2012

Yeah, no need to put names to these faces or anything. They're just beautiful female journalists.

In two sessions.
posted by zennish at 7:37 PM on March 8, 2012

One of the more startling moments for me on my first trip to China was the display of beautiful women at places like hotel counters whose sole purpose was to be physically attractive. It was a weird moment when I was doing check-in at a conference and told that I needed to go to the plain clerk, not the beautiful one. Also, letters of recommendation to graduate school that specifically mentions the female candidates' physical attributes are real awkward.
posted by jadepearl at 7:39 PM on March 8, 2012

I like the last slide: "A journalist from the Tibetan ethnic group."

riiiiiiiight.
posted by anewnadir at 7:55 PM on March 8, 2012

Things like this chip away at my naivete, though I can't really explain why I should be surprised. It's one thing when it's coming from the media because it's only a small step away from some pretty egregious examples here in the U.S., but this;

Also, letters of recommendation to graduate school that specifically mentions the female candidates' physical attributes are real awkward.

Is actually shocking to me. Maybe it's because it's so strange to see the juxtaposition of the technologically modern world we take for granted and a kind of casual sexism that's at least 50 years out of date.

And on International Women's Day- just adds insult to injury. It's like they really don't know how it comes across, but they have to, right? And they just don't care?
posted by quincunx at 12:18 AM on March 9, 2012

""Also, letters of recommendation to graduate school that specifically mentions the female candidates' physical attributes are real awkward."

Is actually shocking to me."
posted by quincunx

It shouldn't be. Look at how the workers are treated at Foxconn, Pegatron and Quanta.
posted by marienbad at 12:54 AM on March 9, 2012