HONG KONG – “Slim”. “Beautiful.” “Rotten.” “Extra lazy.” “Rotten to the core.”
These were the size descriptions for women’s clothing from small to XXL that a Taiwanese chain, RT-Mart, suggested on map measurements in one of their superstores in China.
It caused a sensation last week in a country where fat burning is rampant on the internet and in advertising, and institutionalized definitions of beauty and femininity are narrow.
The chart was first noticed by a customer who visited Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform, to criticize the retailer, according to local news reports. “Help!” The customer wrote. “I was amazed when I saw this at an RT Mart location today. I feel rotten to the core. “
Soon after, on November 11th, Chinese Singles’ Day, an annual online shopping extravaganza by e-commerce giant Alibaba, as published photos of the card that said the clothes were for women between 18 and 35 years of age there was definitely an alternative to Valentine’s Day. Alibaba is a major shareholder in RT-Mart.
Dismay and anger over the size descriptions broke out in China. “We shouldn’t raise thinness as a standard of beauty,” says one blogger who grips the “Is that a joke?” Uses. wrote. “Even if someone’s weight is perhaps in the highest category, you can’t just put them in the” lazy to the core “category.”
The subject of body shame has been scrutinized all over the world as more and more women have emphasized the fitness and acceptance of their bodies and defended themselves against impossible standards of beauty. In China, many are beginning to question an aesthetic that is considered ideal for Chinese women – “pale, thin and youthful”.
In 2016, after women – and some men – started posting photos of their waists behind a vertical piece of A4 paper on social media to boast about their small size, others launched another campaign. A social media user named Zhai Ruoyi wrote of Weibo, “How can you have an A4 waistline? I have A4 legs! “And Zheng Churan, a feminist, posted a photo with the paper held horizontally and the message,” I love my fat waist. “
Clothing brands have long been accused of fueling unattainable standards of beauty. J. Crew’s XXXS and Triple Zero sizes for women have been criticized for normalizing an unrealistic and unhealthy skinny look. The company announced in 2014 that due to growing customer demand, the sizes were being created at its Hong Kong stores, both of which closed earlier that year.
Some social media users wondered why RT-Mart would want to sabotage its sales with such polarizing language. Others saw the table as a failed attempt at humor. Still others saw it as a symbol of a bigger problem with body standards.
“Two of the most disgusting standards in society: female figure and male height,” a blogger named Laphro said of Weibo.
Jen Chen, a reporter in the east China city of Jinan, noted in a Weibo blog post that sizes – S, M, L, XL, and XXL – corresponded to adjectives in Mandarin that had similar sounds – shou, mei, lan, xi lan , xi ba lan. She said another word for big – liang or attractive – would have been much more appealing.
RT-Mart, which operates a few hundred supermarkets in mainland China, later apologized and said it was “deeply sorry for the misphrased marketing material and the crime it caused.”
The company added that it removed the offending mark and that it was only in a store whose location had not been identified.
Some of the anger seems to be on the chain’s Taiwanese owners as tensions mount between Beijing and the self-governing island claimed by China. Some users found the chain’s apology inadequate and said they were boycotting their superstores to offend customers in mainland China.
China Women’s News, a newspaper of the state agency All-China Women’s Federation, published an editorial on Saturday with the searing title “The evil and vulgar body-shameful chain is on its way to ruin”.
RT-Mart was said to be “playing with fire” and “such basic methods give off the foul smell of death,” the newspaper said.
It is a topic that permeates many aspects of Chinese society, including job advertisements that often set requirements for height, weight, and attractiveness for women. In a 2015 job posting, Alibaba said applicants had to “look recognizably good.” The post was deleted after causing trouble online.
Aesthetics have even crept into the pinnacle of sportiness – the Olympic Games. Usherers recruited for the Beijing 2008 Games were told that they were required to be of “standard body shape with good proportions,” and only those between 5 feet 6 and 5 feet 10 were considered. (The average height of Chinese women is 5 feet 2.)
The height requirements in certain arenas have been extended to include men: male soldiers selected for the 2019 Chinese National Day military parade were required to be between 5 feet 9 and 6 feet tall, state news media reported.
Afra Wang, host of the Chinese-language pop culture podcast Loud Murmurs, doubted the backlash against physical embarrassment would lead to major cultural changes. In a phone interview, she said the language used to celebrate body diversity is superficial and limited at best.
“Body positivity is still a very peripheral issue” She said, adding, “I don’t see any signs of social change.”
Thinness as a selling point is still a strong bait.
Brandy Melville, a brand that wears a single size – extra small – for all garments, opened a store in Shanghai last year and has since gained a huge following among young women in China. This year, a series of videos appeared on Douyin, a Chinese app similar to TikTok. They showed young women weighing themselves and breathlessly calculating when they would lose enough weight to fit into the brand’s crop tops and 24-inch jeans.
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