Essay by Isa Lau

My family and I are always exhilarated whenever the Olympics play on television, gluing our eyes to the screen no matter what we are doing - brushing our teeth, eating lunch, playing card games, etc. Squeezed onto our too-small sofa, my family and I anticipated the next contestant - Gong Lijiao, China’s Olympic shot putter, with an impressive track record to step up to the plate. My sister’s eyes sparkled looking at Gong’s well built and muscular body, as she aspires to become a great athlete just like her. That day we witnessed Gong throw her best shot yet, 20.58m (China's shot putter Gong Lijiao wins her first Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, 2021), winning gold in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

Imagine my surprise when I saw an interview of Gong Lijiao by a reporter from CCTV (a Chinese state-owned news media), being asked whether she “had plans for a women’s life” (Wong, 2021), then being prodded even further with “You used to be a masculine woman for the sake of shot put. But moving forward, can you be yourself?” (Tokyo Olympics: Backlash after China's champion shot putter Gong Lijiao asked about her 'masculine' appearance and marriage plans in interview, 2021). I was outraged and shaken by the absolute insensitivity, outright intrusiveness displayed by that reporter - Gong’s entire career and identity diminished to just “you should get married”; appearance judged to be too “manly”. This is the type of problem experienced by women on a daily basis in China and internationally, our existence reduced to the responsibility of being a mother, wife, confined by societal expectations and standards of beauty, perpetuated and aggravated by the media. 

Gong Lijiao is one of the many women to be criticised by the media. The many problems of seemingly subtle or minor sexist comments made by these outlets can be extremely harmful to the young women of our generation. Online media controls our actions and behaviour in this day and age, children and teens who are not even fully physically and mentally developed are handed electronic devices, exposed to the harsh realities of the world, being told that they “are eating too much” or “eating too little”, “too sexual” or “too uptight”, having “too much makeup” or being “too plain”... a plethora of expectations to uphold. Advertisements pop up from Youtube videos and news websites, portraying stereotypes of women in more inferior jobs like waitresses and office workers, while men are cooks and CEOs; wearing outfits full of skin, looking feminine and sexually appealing. These things communicate a message to young girls, telling them that their identity revolves around pleasing the opposite gender, simultaneously also sustaining unrealistic beauty standards, leading to consequences such as mental health/body image issues, eating disorders, affecting confidence, etc (Backe, 2006). 

So what does it take to stop these toxic, misogynistic comments and activities by the media? One of the most important things is to get the government to recognize these issues and take action as they have legitimate power - laws should be implemented so that the media outlets 

change their tone when talking about women. But even more important is recognizing the power we have as a collective when we stand up together, to demand change from our society, so that future generations of young people can learn from the good role models and leadership that can 

hopefully be presented by our media. My wish is that women can work towards being whatever they like, no matter the career they wish to pursue, the size of their body, and what they look like.