Bridge 4: Chasity

I am exploring why women in China are heavily slut-shamed if they express sexual desire while men’s sexual desires are accepted. I believe this inequality is created by the cultural values throughout Chinese history where women’s virtue is heavily valued, and women’s sexual desires were shamed. I plan to create a photoshoot, where a Chinese girl is dressed in a white chiffon dress decorated by classic Chinese element with red ribbons tied around her ankles, wrists, and neck. The girl would have many white lingerie around her on top of a white bed sheet that acts as a sign of purity and innocence. Her dress and everything around her would be stained by half-eaten strawberries. While the red ribbons tying her up would show the sense of being trapped and suffocated by the slut-shaming that females get, the stains of the strawberries show the stigma females who show their sexual desire carry in China. Maybe in China believes that when you lost your virginity you would bleed and stain the bedsheets, as the strawberries stain the bed sheet and white dress it symbolizes lost of virginity and being engaged in sexual activities. The photos would later be posted mainstream Chinese social media Weibo and Tiktok to act as a conversation starter to the issue of slut-shaming in China. Through this photoshoot, while expressing the effects of slut-shaming, I hope to encourage women in China to fight back when faced with slut-shaming.

While my original intention was to alter a dress and conduct an editorial photoshoot, due to the impact of COVID-19 my materials did not arrive. With nothing to work with at my house, I resorted to drawing a vision of the photo.

Moodboard

Process

April 7-14

I have picked out the dress and accessories that I am going to need or alter and ordered it online. I have chosen an off white dress as it seems very pure and innocent, which is something that some old fashioned Chinese figures want young Chinese women to be.

With the set, I want something very simple, just a white bedsheet with a few red ribbons on top and strawberry stains. There is a belief in China that if you are a virgin, you would leave bloodstains on the bedsheet after your first night due to your hymen breaking. Although this is scientifically wrong since the hymen is just a piece of membrane that could easily break through activities such as riding a bicycle, many in China still see it as the proof of one’s virginity.

April 14-21

The original plan was for the materials to arrive this week, but it did not arrive as expected. Therefore I was unable to start the alteration process.

April 21-28

There is a very great possibility that my materials would not arrive even after the project deadline, therefore I would not be able to create the dress and photoshoot as intended. I’ve thought about using something that I already have in my house but I wasn’t able to find any materials that are suitable for my project. In this case I am changing the final product into one illustration to show my vision for the final photo shoot.

I’ve chosen a small and square canvas to give a sense of tightly compressed space and encasement, reflecting on Chinese women’s sexual freedom that is still unobtainable due to many people’s closed minds. The figure’s eyes and mouth are covered as Chinese women are expected to keep their mouth closed when it comes to sexual desires while being blindfolded by old ideas that belong to the old society. Red is a color that symbolizes marriage and the blood that is left on the sheets after the loss of virginity. The red flower made by ribbons is an accessory that is used in traditional Chinese wedding ceremonies, I’ve included this to relate to the old idea of women keeping their virginity for their marriage. The ribbons extending from the flower ties around the figure’s body, reflecting Chinese women’s sexual freedom being retrained by the idea of keeping their virginity for marriage.

April 28-May 5

I continued to work on the illustration, finishing the painting by refining the dress, the figure, and the background. For the background I have chosen to use a combination of the original set design and multiple ribbons to enhance the idea of being tied up and trapped in the ideas of the old society, not having sexual freedom. The figure does not exactly have a clear face as her eyes and mouth are covered by ribbon, I choose to not give the figure a complete face as it is representing all young Chinese women who wish to seek sexual freedom.

Full Process Video

Final illustration

Research Paper

Bridge 4_ Rough Draft