Some feminists have claimed that many Chinese characters under radical woman are pejorative, 奴 (slave), 妖 (demon), 妒 (JP: 妬, envy), 姦 (Simp.: 奸, rape, traitor), 嫌 (dislike) for example, and learning and using them may unconsciously lead to misogyny.[1] Some have even proposed a reform of these characters.[2]
In 2010, a mainland Chinese male lawyer posted an essay online, in which he criticized 16 Chinese characters for their sexist implication. The 16 characters were 娱 (娛, entertainment), 耍 (to play with, usually classified under radical 126而), 婪 (greedy), 嫉 (envy), 妒 (envy), 嫌 (dislike), 佞 (flattery), 妄 (presumptuous), 妖 (demon), 奴 (slave), 妓 (prostitute), 娼 (whore), 奸 (姦, rape, traitor), 姘 (extramarital sex), 婊 (bitch), and 嫖 (to visit prostitutes). He also proposed a reform of some characters, e.g. replace 奸 with a newly created Chinese character "犭行" (犭: dog, usually associated with monsters or uncivilized actions; 行: behaviors; the proposed character therefore implies rape is a monstrous behavior), believing that the change would reduce rape cases.[3] Opponents argued that the new characters were historically unsound; that even if they were adopted, they would remain specious and would not effectively improve female's social status. They also pointed out that improvements in legal and social culture aspects were the actual remedy of sexism.[3][4]
In 2015, an exhibition in Beijing entitled "姦: Cultural Codes of Gender Violence" (姦：性別暴力伤害的文化符号) organized by 65 artists was canceled by the authorities. Still, the idea of this exhibition made its way through international media outlets. Tong Yujie (佟玉洁), the exhibition's academic convener, questioned in her writing: "Why did one woman become three, and such a symbol of political and moral imagination and an object of enmity in traditional Chinese society and political theory?"[5]
A 2014 study done by Wang Yuping from Anhui University's School of Chinese Language and Literature analyzed all Chinese characters with the woman radical in a concise edition of Hanyu Da Cidian (汉语大词典简编). The result shows that among these characters, there are 56 with negative meaning, 70 with positive meaning, and 184 are neutral. Nonetheless, the author believed that some of these categories suggested discrimination in traditional Chinese culture.[6]
Similar controversies also exist in "gendered" European languages which have divisions between masculine and feminine terms. This phenomenon is called linguistic sexism.
Character
Alone the character is one of the Kyōiku kanji or Kanji taught in elementary school in Japan.[7] It is a first grade kanji.[7]
Literature
Fazzioli, Edoardo (1987). Chinese calligraphy : from pictograph to ideogram : the history of 214 essential Chinese/Japanese characters. calligraphy by Rebecca Hon Ko. New York: Abbeville Press. ISBN0-89659-774-1.
^邱慕天 (2018-09-10). "漢字歧視女性 《經濟學人》認應重新造字" [Chinese characters are sexist. The Economist proposed a reform of Chinese characters] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 台灣醒報.
^黄玉顺 (1994-03-04). "汉字里的性别歧视" [Sexism in Chinese characters]. 中国儒学网 (in Chinese (China)).
^ ab"律师认为16个汉字歧视女性 建议奸改为犭行" [Lawyer pointed out 16 sexist Chinese characters, proposed replacing 奸 with 犭行] (in Chinese (China)). 现代快报. 2010-01-21 – via 新浪新闻.
^程俊 (2010-01-22). ""奸"改为"犭行"可减少强奸犯罪为何很傻很天真" [Why it is naive to think replacing "奸" with "犭行" would reduce rape] (in Chinese (Singapore)). 联合早报.
^汪宇平 (2014). "浅谈汉语中的女部字与中国文化的性别歧视" [A Brief Discussion Chinese Characters under Radical Woman and Gender Discrimination in Chinese Culture]. 安徽文学 (in Chinese (China)) (372): 16–17.
GF 0011-2009 Table of Indexing Chinese Character Components prescribes 201 principle indexing components and 100 associated indexing components (in brackets) used in Simplified Chinese. Not all associated indexing components are listed above.
