Gender roles are a lot more pronounced in China than in the U.S. Girls rarely play sports, except for maybe a casual game of badminton or ping pong. Frills and giggles are a must. Mixed-gender friend groups are rare. Girls are also considered to be generally weak. When hiking, a boy always has to be in front so he can offer a helping hand to the girl(s) behind him. If you're a girl carrying anything besides your purse (eg. bag of groceries, books, etc.), one of the boys you're with will immediately relieve you of the burden. Attempting to refuse these offers of assistance is seen as an insult to his manhood, and is akin to a slap in the face and a kick in the groin.
Another example. When a girl and a boy walk around together, the boy will position himself so that he is closer to traffic, thus "protecting" the girl. I was unfamiliar with this rule, so last night when I was walking around with a male friend, I was confused my his constantly scampering around me as we crossed streets and generally navigated traffic. When I expressed my confusion and my friend finally explained what he was doing, I must have looked surprised, because he asked me if boys in the U.S. watched out for the girls that they hung out with. (Unbidden, an image of a dancing cowboy came to my mind. Ahem. You know who you are.) I explained that in my experience, no, not really, gender equality blah blah blah.
The funny thing is that while on the one hand, Chinese boys are making constant claims to manliness by insisting on taking care of their female friends, on the other hand, they do tons of stuff that would be considered pretty girly in the U.S., like posing for cutesy photos, sporting sparkly charms on their cell phones, and having stuffed animal key chains.
And yet... One of my new friends just posted a series of male-centric "jokes" on the Chinese version of facebook, including this gem:
Guy 1: Aren't there any virgins on this campus?
Guy 2: Yeah - but they're all the unborn fetuses of our girlfriends.
Ummm...?
It's an interesting country this is.
2 comments:
I feel like I need to tell you that it's also a "rule" here in the US that boys (ahem, men) are supposed to walk on the side of traffic.
You know how I love manners!
Really?? Ha! Who knew?
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