Opinions about misogynistic themes in Chinese novels targeted towards young girls

Yeah, I agree that not all CN romance fall into that trap, however I have yet to encounter even just ONE where a female MC is in any way stronger than the male MC in the places where it matters -> power, economically etc. Even in Rebirth on the Doors of the Civil Affairs Bureau, the ML is a doctor, MC's family meeting him, despite being overprotective of their daughter, they still think he's too good for her etc. Let's not even get started on the sad fact that the female MC's past family completely cut off contact with her because she wasn't married by 30. Ridiculous.

I love RDCAB though, it's one of my favorites. But still, even though the author expressed those views as part of the culture without supporting it (and even pointed out the hypocrisy of the female MC's family), but consider the overall plot. The female MC managed to timetravel when she was 30 because she was feeling depressed about her lack of SO and the solution to that is not "let's give her a good SO at 30," it's "let's make her 8 years younger at the supposedly, most attractive stage of her life and then give her a good SO." The solution itself is sexist.

100% agree with your third point. It's not really the problematic parts that bother me either, it's the fact that the CN authors rarely think it's problematic.

Even though I also really liked Side Character Transmigrations, there are a lot of things I really dislike about it. For example, the MC is literally the only person who "breaks the mold." This doesn't make it good for females either because you basically just get the MC halo; she's the ONLY exception. All the other female characters either depend on her to save them or on the male ML's, none of them have their own agency.

I recall liking 8 Treasures Trousseu, but it's been a long time since I last read it. The problem with historical is that there is a strong prevalence of cases of rape/assault of women in as "bad" outcome for the villains, or perpetrated by the ML as "appropriate" punishments. Why do I think rape is a sexist punishment? Because rape is disproportionately inflicted on women. Because research shows that men who have raped do not think they are to blame. Because rape is also a expression of aggressive power over women. Just in the US, 1 in 3 women have suffered or will suffer from sexual violence in their lives, 1 in 5 women will be raped (that's 1 in 77 for men). I'm sure that's probably much higher in Asian countries.

While I also like BL, most BL tropes are misogynist in the exact same way. Ridiculous amounts of cannon fodder women who are basically mindless/illogical/psycho "enemies of society" pop up just as much in BL.

Not even going to go into the myth of the "top" vs. "bottom" in BL, which basically represent heteronormative roles: "Bottom" being the female role, and essentially, take on all the sexist connotations. Bottoms are the main character in 99% of BL writing and they are also filled with traits that you get for the typical female MC - weaker than the ML, pampered by the ML, shorter, younger, less powerful, less intelligent, lower economic ability or status, virginal, less sexually active after entering the relationship, take less initiative, etc etc.

Even the ones that have fairly equal partnerships, I'll guarantee they'll still fall into at least 2 of the above descriptors.

 

It is sad, even Eternal Love with Yang Mi isn't an exception.
The relationship wasn't healthy.
I holding off on the Legend of Fuyao for now.
Seigi no Mikata is something I would recommend.
Japanese unpopular dramas seem to be better.
Moteki was genius
It seems that it only works when women write stories for boys while pretending to be male writers haha.

The saddest thing is that it is also a fetish. That is why they are very popular
It is considered a sort of maternal instinct for girls to think they can fix bad boys.
Or that they are special and the bad boy will treat them differently.
Especially in the case of physical abuse, but in reality, more often than not, the women/ girls just end up beaten to death

 

+1 so unfortunately true

 

It's not brainwashing: it happens because this is a common fetish. There are writers who don't share that fetish and their male leads are quite different. And if you think that's weird, bear in mind that it's also common for women to have a rape fetish.

"The Empress' Livestream" is a good example. I think the title should actually be called "the Female Emperor's Livestream" because she sure as hell doesn't owe her title to who she's married to. In this book, the protagonist makes it her life's goal to conquer the world and the male love interest is just one of her subordinates (arguably not even the most important one).

 

It's not like the authors decided to write whatever they wanted. If most of the female romance fictions were like what you said, then it's the readers that enjoyed such trope, causing the authors to write even more. Same with isekai with slice-of-life, cultivation with comedy.

 

Correction. It is fairer sex unless you are a flower boy.
You can get any girl that you want. Doesn't mean that it would be worth it.
You just need some confidence, consume media that inflates your ego instead of opposite eg Miracle Beach, Chuck.

When people consume media that destroys their self esteem and are surprised their self esteem is non existent.
Masochists!

 

Your last point stuck me in the heart....
To go into my own personal history...... I am a single parent child..... My mother brought me up while attending an eight hour job six days a week.
I never had the presence of my father in my life....
Then when I was ten years old due to some circumstances(nothing cliche....) My father tried to connect with me n my mum
I have never talked about it deeply with her but let me tell you I was damn afraid of that person. Not that he did anything bad or something it was just that to a ten year old child her mother was her world and I was afraid that somehow my mum would get closer to him and would leave me behind(obviously nothing like that happened)
The went their difference tways in two years again but those two years. ... Everytime that person used to visit me or mum, I would pray for him to leave as soon as possible...
I understand that novels are fiction but in real life when those things happen there is no romanticism to it.... For a child who has only known one parent it's damn difficult to except the other person no matter how they try to explain their absence..... I could never accept him all those years ago and till date I don't think I would ever accept a person who ditched me n ma

 

That's why I stay out of novels with "blah blah CEO, Primce Charming, Empress, Hidden Marriage, Black Belly..., Trial Husband... etc."

These kind of titles dominate webnovel right now, and I read some of them before but I almost cough blood. At first, I thought those are just some Chinese jargons but I learned the hard way.

 

This is why I try my best to steer clear of Chinese novels.

 

it's funny how there's a misandry tag but no misogyny tag considering most novels I've seen are pretty misogynistic, Chinese especially.