China Crackdown on Celebrities to Stop “Sissy Men” Culture Promoted By Korean Boy Bands

“It’s the beginnings of a mass movement and that is what the government doesn’t want,” said a social studies professor at a Chinese university who did not wish to be named. 

Multiple crackdowns have swept the tech, education and showbiz sectors in recent months, as authorities increasingly target the rich and powerful in a push for greater socioeconomic equality.

But it is also partly to instill “healthy,” government-sanctioned societal values in young people, so they are less influenced by wayward celebrities.

“Chinese youth lack other types of idols,” said Fang Kecheng, a communications professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “It’s very hard for them to have other means of civic participation (such as activism).”

China’s broadcast regulator last month banned performers with “lapsed morals” and “incorrect political views,” as well as what it termed “sissy men” ― an androgynous aesthetic popularized by Korean boybands, and imitated by male Chinese idols like Xiao. 

Experts read the latter as a sign of Beijing’s increasing discomfort with alternative forms of masculinity at a time of falling birthrates and rising nationalism, as films with macho, military heroes are promoted by the state. 

Korea Times

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