Preventing the Feminization of Male Youth

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Do girls have to like makeup and boys have to like sports? The latest trending topic on Weibo came as a reaction to the Ministry of Education’s announcement to put forward the “Proposal on Preventing the Feminization of Male Youth”.

On their website (read via QR code below, Chinese only), the Ministry of Education says that it intends to prevent feminine male youth by strengthening physical education teachers in the top-level design of the school sports system, in-depth health education, and supporting the research on related issues to better solve this problem. In short, it intends on enforcing schools to place more emphasis on physical education so that male students can become more “masculine”.

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The announcement quickly sparked discussion on Weibo from both sides. Some have praised the decision saying that “now boys are less like boys” while others say that it’s emphasizing stereotypical gender expectations.

The Ministry of Education first made the announcement on Dec 8 of last year and says that its first step is to increase the allocation of PE teachers. The “Management Measures for Part-time Sports and Aesthetic Education Teachers” was issued to encourage retired athletes and volunteers with sports expertise to serve as PE teachers, and comprehensively improve the ability and quality of part-time teachers. In the past five years, approximately 20,000 new physical education teachers have been added each year and more than 10,000 people have been trained through the “National Training Program” and “Provincial Training Program”.

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