Okay this isn't an extended discussion of yesterday's post. It's just I've translated the entire article into English (please excuse my non-professional translation - I realized I can't and will never be a translator), for those of you who are interested in reading it yet has no or little knowledge of Traditional Chinese.
Also, please acknowledge that the original article was written from a Taiwanese's perspective, and Taiwan is a relatively liberal and open place (in terms of LGBT movement). Nonetheless Li Yuchun and other androgyny celebrities do make people who dress differently than the society's gender role expectation to pass by easier in Asia.
See the original article with images here: http://castnet.nctu.edu.tw/view.htm?ar_pk=1303* * *Intrusion of Androgyny! Challenges To Your AestheticsText by Hsu Pifen (translated by alpha grid), 03/29/2009Since the start of history, gender and sex are hot topics in discussion among the public. However in today’s media or culture, including manga, movies, performances, tv shows, foreign theatres and others, androgyny is blossoming; genders are not so clearly divided into two categories anymore. From China’s Supergirl Contest’s Li Yuchun to Taiwan’s Super Idol Zhang Yunjin, the trend of being androgynous in entertainment is brought out. Dressing in “handsome” outfits is no longer an opportunity solely belonging to the boys; this raised the gender-related discussion to a new level.
To classify gender/sex in today’s terms, most would categorize based on sexual orientation and gender, for example male/female homosexuals, male/female bisexuals. Outer appearances go beyond one’s gender identity; it is also the aesthetics identity of one. According to traditional aesthetic values, dress or suits, and short or long hair, are people’s instinct tools to classify gender. Yet in today’s liberal sexual/gender era, when certain individuals found themselves being different from the society’s “gender role expectation,” as their first steps they would dress themselves in self-identified genders. Due to the success of gender/sex education, the boundary of gender becomes indistinguishable – teenagers and young adults’ dressings and outfits are heading towards androgyny, making it hard to identify gender based on their outer appearances. The numerous combinations with different fashion items provided people the opportunity to dress in any gender.
As the topic of sexuality are being discussed in a diverse and openly manner, the general public are gradually accepting those who are ambiguous in gender identification, or those who feel different between their outer appearance versus their born anatomy. Also, due to the extensive spread of the popular androgynous trend, people are less likely to use pejorative terms like “fag/sissy” and “dyke.” Males, who carry soft and gentle qualities, are now described as “elegant and polite”; tough and strong females are described as “bold and outspoken.” With examples of metro men and unconstrained women together as hot couples, the new generation of androgynous males and females are gaining confidence progressively, especially in the territory of love and relationships. Back in the days, parents would have to scorn their androgynous kids on being “unable to marry off (or get a wife),” but now the elderly must grant acceptance.
Virtual Art Raises the Cosplay Trend
To talk about the start of our contemporary androgyny movement, it would have to relate to recent movies and soap ops. Currently the trend of “guys dressing as girls” or “girls dressing as guys” is hot – for example the popular tv drama
Hana Kimi revolved its plot on a girl who dressed as a boy in order to stay in a boy school, and eventually she was able to capture the boy’s heart even though she dressed androgynously. Other than the Taiwanese drama
Hana Kimi, which was later developed into another Japanese drama series, there was also South Korea’s
Coffee Prince. South Korean movie
The King and the Clown also boosted the “pretty” idol-actor Lee Junki to stardom. Chinese period films
Farewell My Concubine and
Mei Lanfang were noted examples as well. The character Qiu Rubai in
Mei Lanfang once said, “Men disguising as women are sometimes more beautiful than women themselves.” This testified the idea of “being feminine-masculine ambiguous” and “sexuality alteration” are agitating our aesthetics.
On top of the androgynous tread in entertainment business, the circle of manga and animations fans should also be considered as a group that is under deep influences of androgyny. Many male characters in manga have pretty face features; their bodies are slim while containing elegant female qualities. Meme, a cosplayer, said “I think only the boys in manga are considered as pretty. Being bony is aesthetic to female manga fans!” Her manga recommendations included
Nosatsu Junkie,
W Juliet,
Penguin Kakumei,
Ouran Koukou Host Club, and others; the male leading characters are all slim weak pretty boys, while the female leads are mostly smart bold girls with lively and outgoing personalities. The manga listed above were all very popular among the group, with a solitary fan base comprised of both males and females. This showcased people’s aesthetic values are slowly transforming – the engagement in idle theorizing had metamorphosis into contemporary trend in reality.
At the moment androgynous idols are stylish; in order to capture both male and female fan base successfully, male celebrities need to have pretty and well-groomed faces, while female celebrities are required to have smart and cool dressings. Other than Zhang Yunjing who was mentioned earlier in the article, there are Ella from S.H.E. and Ueno Juri, the androgyny representative from Japanese drama
Lastfriend. The trend is being widespread among teenagers and young adults; they are following the idols and stars, dressing in androgynous style fashion. However, this trend is seen as rebellious in the eyes of the elderly.
Trend of Androgyny Defeating Traditional Values
Chiao Tung University Girls’ Residence 2’s attendants mentioned that this trend of androgyny had given them some challenges. Following the traditional concept on gender, most people would identify others with their outer appearances – so the attendants would not permit guys to enter the girls-only residence. They would often focus on the security camera screen capturing activities at the front entrance, keeping out male students from entering. However in recent years, the attendants are having some trouble identifying. One of them commented, “as soon as I saw those short-hair girls, I would questioned them. But after I checked their student id card to confirm they are in fact girls, then they are allowed to go in.” Actually due to this sort of ambiguous outlooks, many attendants are less alert in their determination, indirectly affecting the security in various aspects. They also pointed out that last winter at Tsing Hua University, a guy wrapped himself up and utilized the fact that everyone wears wool hat, scarf and winter coat, entered the girls’ residence along the stream of people and went on negotiation with his girlfriend. This incident stirred up some issues – residence attendants are worried yet unable to do anything as the population of androgynous girls increases. They said they can only “memorized those who often dress masculine, to avoid confusion.”
Essentially no matter how far the current trend would go, the transformation of fashion among the genders can be fully accepted by the modern era if gender prejudices are abandoned; but of course the traditionally-rooted ideas, of male/female representation and socially-acceptable gender roles, bounded in the elderly minds will take some time to get minimized and adjusted. Modern men are more into beauty, and the definition of being fair ladies are shifting bit by bit - this is an undeniable fact. A society that can bring up the trend of androgyny is an indication of advancement of the era; it can possibly lead to the unification and integration of gender-based fashion culture in the future, which will introduce another brand new vogue.
