Dylan Levi King

China’s war on effeminate men

Beijing wants to enforce traditional masculinity

A mural of K-pop star RM in Seoul, South Korea (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)

A rectification notice from China’s state censor earlier this month included a peculiar admonition to ‘resolutely oppose’ effeminate men on television. The note stood out in the otherwise dry document. Its other targets — people with ‘poor morals’ or ‘lacking solidarity with the party and nation’ — make sense within Beijing’s authoritarian logic.

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