A Comparative Study of the Influence of Feminist Development on Young Women’s Aesthetics in China and Australia
Abstract
The development of feminism has played a certain role in the promotion of women’s status and the defense of their interests and rights in Western and Chinese society. Chinese and Western women have demonstrated the influence of feminism on aesthetic changes. The research theme of this paper is investigating the development of feminism in China and Australia, which explores the development process of feminism in China and Australia and the similarities and differences between feminism and women’s perceptions of physical appearance. By comparison, literature review, and interview methods, this study found that the similarities between the development of women’s rights and aesthetics in China and the West are that young female interviewees who are subject to feminism think that physical health is the most important thing, and that women have autonomy and choice in the management of appearance. The difference between the development of women’s rights in China and the West on aesthetics is that due to the increasing influence of individualism and feminism in Australian society, Australian women have more freedom in managing their appearance, and they are less influenced by mainstream social norms regarding women’s appearance. However, under the influence of social pressure and collectivism, Chinese women are more inclined to change their appearance to adapt to the standard of ideal female appearance in Chinese mainstream society. Feminists in China can use the results of this study to understand the causes and effects of gender inequality, and pro-feminist educators can promote gender education in schools and society.
References
- Cambridge Dictionary.Meaning of Feminism in English. N.d. Retrieved August 31, 2023, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/feminism.
- Moreno-Domingeuz, S., Raposo, T., Elipe, P.(2019) Body Image and Sexual Dissatisfaction: Differences Among Heterosexual, Bisexual, and Lesbian Women. Frontiers in Psychology,10,1-10. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00903/full.
- Pateman, C., Gross, E.(1987) Feminist Challenges: Social and Political Theory. Northeastern University Press, North America, 190-200. https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uTdGAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA190&dq=what+is+feminism&ots=ybU7ndGAez&sig=xzMg-rUSj_LxpO4FZkdJe4ZIw7I&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=what%20is%20feminism&f=false.
- National Library of Australia. Women’s Suffrage. N.d. Retrieved August 31, 2023, from https://www.nla.gov.au/digital-classroom/senior-secondary/shoulder-shoulder-feminism-australia/womens-suffrage.
- Australian Human Rights Commission. Women’s Rights. N.d. Retrieved August 31, 2023, from https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/education/womens-rights#:~:text=Women%20have%20historically%20been%20excluded,drink%20in%20a%20public%20bar.
- Kingston, B.(1994) Women in Nineteenth Century Australian History. Labour History,67,84-96. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27509277?seq=2.
- Menke, A.(2017) The Development of Feminism in China. University of Montana, Undergraduate Theses. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1176&context=utpp.
- International Labour Organization.Law Safeguarding Women’s Rights and Interests of the People’s Republic of China. N.d. Retrieved August 29, 2023, from https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/WEBTEXT/49690/65116/E92CHN02.htm.
- Huang, Q.(2021) Anti-Feminism: four strategies for the demonisation and depoliticisation of feminism on Chinese social media. Feminist Media Studies,1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2022.2129412.
- Arroyo, A., Southard, B. A. S., Martz, D.(2022) Feminist embodiment, body talk, and body image among mothers and daughters. Body Image, 41,354-366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.04.005.
- Block, M. (2010) The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, Wiley-Blackwell,1-4. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp1685.
- Royal Australian Historical Society.(2021) Women’s Protests: Then and Now. Retrieved August 29, 2023, from https://www.rahs.org.au/womens-protests-then-and-now/.
- Grimshaw, P.(1991) Writing Women’s History. Palgrave Macmillan, London,151-169. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21512-6_8.
- Archer, C.(2019) Social media influencers, post-feminism and neoliberalism: How mum bloggers’ ‘playbour’ is reshaping public relations. Public Relations Inquiry, 8,149–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X19846530.
- Davis, M.(2019) The Far-Right in Contemporary Australia. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore,127–149. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8351-9_6.
- Spyropoulou, GA.C., Pavlidis, L., Herrmann, S. et al.(2020) Can Cosmetics’ Advertisements Be An Indicator of Different Perceptions of Beauty Amongst Countries? Aesth Plast Surg,44,1871–1878. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-020-01679-1.
- Fardouly, J.(2018) Instagram use and young women’s body image concerns and self-objectification: Testing Mediational pathways. New Media & Society, 20,1380-1395. https://www2.psy.unsw.edu.au/Users/lvartanian/Publications/Fardouly,%20Willburger,%20&%20Vartanian%20(2018).pdf.
- Butterfly. (2023)Dove and Butterfly Launch Petition Calling for a National Body Image Inquiry. Retrieved August 29, 2023, from https://butterfly.org.au/news/dove-and-butterfly-launch-petition-calling-for-a-national-body-image-inquiry/#:~:text=Through%20the%20Dove%20Self%2DEsteem,with%20the%20way%20they%20look.
- Cao, Y.(2022) The Cognition Trend of Chinese Traditional Media on Feminism and the Underlying Reason for Existing Negative Reports. In 2022 2nd International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication, Hainan,1-4. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202315503005.
- Yin, S., Sun, Y.(2020) Intersectional digital feminism: assessing the participation politics and impact of the MeToo movement in China. Feminist Media Studies, 21,1176-1192. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2020.1837908