In 1999, when Duan Chengfeng spent a week in Beijing with only 10 yuan, he never imagined that today he could become a hot star in the Beijing model circle - a choice

In 1999, when Duan Chengfeng spent a week in Beijing with only 10 yuan, she never imagined that she would become a hot star in the Beijing modeling circle today - a beauty contest helped her change from "Cinderella" to "Snow White".

Duan Chengfeng gradually became popular because of the awards in the "China Lingerie Model Competition" and the "CCTV TV Model Competition". In September this year, the model, the "amphibious beauty" of the film and television industry received more than 20 advertisements and seven or eight TV dramas, and at present, the TV series she participated in the performance of "Red Pink Family" is being broadcast on TV stations across the country.

　　

Last night's girl next door was red overnight, and she couldn't help but let many Chinese girls have the same dream as Duan Chengfeng.

In the past two years, the "Miss Universe China" finals, "World Model Contest", "International Supermodel", "Miss World Tourism" and other famous and unnamed "beauty pageants" have been staged in China, coupled with the continuous upgrading of beauty plastic surgery, the phenomenon of beautiful advertising promotions and other phenomena, some people describe that a growing "beauty economy" trend is sweeping the country.

Experts from the All-China Women's Federation described the so-called "beauty economy" as an economic phenomenon that uses women's appearance, body and sexual characteristics to stimulate consumption and pursue commercial interests.

The "beauty economy" seems to bring a "happy" ending: the girls who participate in the beauty pageant get the opportunity to become famous, the organizers get sponsorship fees, the anchor TV station receives a lot of advertising revenue, and the participants' travel, accommodation, shopping and other expenses also drive the consumer demand of the host cities. However, in terms of its social value, Chinese women's organizations and some experts are deeply worried about the phenomenon of the "beauty economy", believing that commercial interests have posed a real threat to Gender Equality in China.

"The essence of the 'beauty economy' is to materialize, commercialize and instrumentalize women, treat women as vases and playthings, degrade women's independent personality and social value, and are extremely detrimental to women's development and the healthy growth of minors," Peng Peiyun, honorary chairman of the All-China Women's Federation, said at a seminar on "Building a Well-off Society in An All-Round Way and Promoting Gender Equality" in September 2004.

The special report on the phenomenon of the "beauty economy" submitted by the All-China Women's Federation Women's Research Institute pointed out that because many girls rely on beauty to quickly become famous, some women are subtly and subtly pay too much attention to their "beauty", thus deviating from the normal way of relying on diligent study and hard work to succeed. Moreover, in fact, the "beauty economy" also makes "judging people by appearance" an admission criterion and value orientation of some employers.

Driven by economic interests, some places have even appeared to be a distorted "beauty economy" phenomenon. According to media disclosures, in April 2004, a restaurant in Kunming publicly launched "female sports" in the name of "introducing Japanese culture"; there were young and beautiful female models on the bustling road in Lanzhou who publicly displayed and explained the function of the "sex bed"; in order to promote a book in Guilin, beautiful women wore wide clothes in public.

What is more worrying is that the "beauty economy" not only impacts the adult world, but also has an immeasurable impact on Minors in China. In many places, colleges and middle schools have appeared "student beauty pageants", in some schools, girls who have won the title of "beautiful women" can not clean the classroom, because there will be many "flower protectors" to do the work.

Tan Lin, director of the Women's Research Institute of the All-China Women's Federation, said that the proliferation and vulgarization of the "beauty economy" have damaged women's personal dignity, and under the influence of this phenomenon, many women's values and cultural concepts have undergone great changes. Some women even simply associate job search failures, marriage breakdowns, and love frustrations with appearance, believing that beauty is the determining factor of success, and some also form psychological barriers.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the possible negative impact of the "beauty economy" on women's values and the concept of gender equality has aroused great concern from the All-China Women's Federation, The Largest Women's Organization in China.

Tan Lin, an expert on women's issues, believes that China should strive to build an advanced gender culture, guide and educate the public to establish the values and aesthetics of gender equality, and especially strengthen the education and guidance of young people. The whole society should be more sensitive to all kinds of practices that contain gender discrimination. She suggested that "government departments at all levels should take on the responsibility of supervising the growing phenomenon of the 'beauty economy'." ”

It should be pointed out that people in the "beauty economy" industry have certain reservations in the face of the above questions and criticisms.

"If the selected beautiful girls can only make 'vases' or act as playthings for people, it is indeed a great insult to women," said Li Shukun, head of the Harbin New Silk Road Professional Model Training Institution. If a girl with good congenital conditions is fully tapped through the beauty pageant, and then realizes the value of life through her own efforts, this kind of beauty pageant is meaningful. ——On November 5, 2004, Xinhuanet #Management # #副刊 #