In Chinese, there is a word “chou mei” that is the combination of 2 characters with opposite meanings: “chou” means stinky and “mei” means beautiful. Beauty is a positive word. However, with a character “chou” in the beginning, “mei” is no longer laudatory. People usually used the word to mock girls who care about their appearances. If a teenage girl grooms herself, her parents will probably call her “chou mei”. Most girls I’ve seen have been called “chou mei”, but I have never seen anyone call a boy “chou mei”. The word is made for girls. Unlike other words like “beautiful” or “ugly”, which can be used to describe both genders, “chou mei” is a word specifically for girls, as if people are reluctant to admit that girls are prettier after grooming. I have never seen such expression in other cultures. So why do people get sarcastic when they see girls become prettier? Why aren’t girls allowed to be attractive in my culture?
Growing up in China, I was always told by parents and teachers that “appearances don’t matter”, “girls shouldn’t wear makeup because it makes you look precocious”, “people like innocent and pure girls, not sophisticated girls with makeup”. I clearly …show more content…
In the survey, I asked them when they started wearing makeup, why do they wear makeup and what do they feel if they are not allowed to decide how they look, and here is the result: From the survey, we can see that girls in the United States start wearing makeup at a much earlier age. And most of them wear it quite frequently. What’s more, according to the survey, the primary reason for girls to wear makeup is to have fun and conceal flaws so that they can feel more confident. Most importantly, none of the respondents chose the option “to attract males”, which is surprising because the result is exact the opposite to what most Chinese parents and teachers
Growing up in China, I was always told by parents and teachers that “appearances don’t matter”, “girls shouldn’t wear makeup because it makes you look precocious”, “people like innocent and pure girls, not sophisticated girls with makeup”. I clearly …show more content…
In the survey, I asked them when they started wearing makeup, why do they wear makeup and what do they feel if they are not allowed to decide how they look, and here is the result: From the survey, we can see that girls in the United States start wearing makeup at a much earlier age. And most of them wear it quite frequently. What’s more, according to the survey, the primary reason for girls to wear makeup is to have fun and conceal flaws so that they can feel more confident. Most importantly, none of the respondents chose the option “to attract males”, which is surprising because the result is exact the opposite to what most Chinese parents and teachers