Abstract: From advocating “bái yòu shòu” (白幼瘦) to refusing to “serve beauty duty”, the road of self-awakening and struggle of contemporary Chinese women can be described as bumpy and tortuous. The rise and development of “bái yòu shòu” (白幼瘦) in China originated from the “heroin chic” in the 1990s and the BM trend driven by Korean pop culture (K-Pop) represented by Korean girl groups around 2020. Among many aesthetic trends, Chinese and even East Asian men selectively choose the trend of “bái yòu shòu” (白幼瘦) as their aesthetic expectation for women, reflecting the negative impact of the gender role view in Confucian culture on men. The fashion of “bái yòu shòu” (白幼瘦) has exacerbated the irrational behavior of “serving beauty duty”, and the awakened contemporary Chinese women have begun a series of rebellious behaviors to express their firm stance of refusing to “serve beauty duty”.
Key Words: “bái yòu shòu” (白幼瘦) ; beauty duty; heroin chic; BM trend; self-awakening; anti-objectification
