DailyKenn.com — While the Western world is demonizing masculinity as toxic, the Chinese are diverging.
The war on masculinity is made evident in the media's portrayal of ideal men; noticeably the infamous Gillette commercial and the bludgeoning of the Boy Scouts.
What do you think ...
What would be the media's response if the U.S. Dept. of Education were to launch as masculinity training program for boy and a femininity program for girls?
What would be the outcome of an armed conflict between the USA and China if masculinity were the deciding factor?
A notice from China's education ministry has caused a stir after it suggested young Chinese men had become too "feminine". The message has been criticised as sexist by many online users - but some say China's male celebrities are partly to blame.
For a while China's government has signalled concern that the country's most popular male role models are no longer strong, athletic figures like "army heroes". Even President Xi Jinping, a well-known football enthusiast, has long been seeking to cultivate better sports stars.
So last week, the education ministry issued a notice with a title that left no doubt about its ultimate goal.
The Proposal to Prevent the Feminisation of Male Adolescents called on schools to fully reform their offerings on physical education and strengthen their recruitment of teachers.
The text advised recruiting retired athletes and people from sporting backgrounds - and "vigorously developing" particular sports like football with a view to "cultivating students' masculinity".