Fellow stupidpolers, I come to distract you from the horrors beyond our comprehension with some idpol news from the PRC.
On April 3rd 2026, a movie was released in the PRC entitled “Wo, xuke” （我，许可). The English title is “It’s OK”, although the direct translation is “I, allow”). The following isn’t a discussion of the film itself, but rather of the billboard advertising campaign associated with it in the Shanghai Metro (pic attached.) First off, have a look at the pictures to get a sense of their vibe.
Below are my rough translations of all the text from the 12 billboards. Each text block follows the same structure, with either mother or daughter addressing the other (and the viewer) with the expression “I allow you to [mild rebellion against social-patriarchal norms]”, and ending with the catchphrase “no matter how many people disapprove!”:
Daughter, I allow you to put on the most intimidating makeup, not to treat smiling as a duty, and not to feel forced to show kindness, no matter how many people disapprove!
Daughter, I allow you to be a killjoy and to argue back without hesitation when you hear inappropriate jokes no matter how many people disapprove!
Daughter, I allow you to live bravely, to seek those rights you are entitled to, no matter how many people disapprove!
Mum, I allow you to live selfishly, to do whatever makes you happy, no matter how many people disapprove!
Mum, I allow you to put on the most sexy makeup, to treat "you don’t look like a mother should" as the best compliment, no matter how many people disapprove!
Mum, I allow you to not come home, and not to anchor your life on the family, and to go adventure in the outside world no matter how many people disapprove!
Mum, I allow you, regardless of your age, to treat your physical desires directly, to please yourself however you like, no matter how many people disapprove!
(Note: there's a famous Chinese poem with the line "a caring mother holding needle and thread", indicating the paragon of maternal diligence. This one subverts that classic trope) - "A caring mother doesn't have to hold a needle and thread" Mum, I allow you to pick up a paintbrush, guitar, camera, or anything else you're interested in, no matter how many people disapprove!
Mum, I allow you to throw away that old underwear, as well as the version of yourself that is accustomed to compromise and endurance, no matter how many people disapprove!
Daughter, I allow you not to sacrifice yourself for pleasing others in any intimate relationship, no matter how many people disapprove!
There is no template for 'mother', daughter, I allow you to decide how you want to balance the priority of career and family, be a mum that's different from me, no matter how many people disapprove!
Daughter, I allow you to decide what underwear (probably referring to bras, not panties) to wear and how to wear them, or even whether to wear it at all, no matter how many people disapprove!
Some of you will interpret the preceding as proof of the total hegemony of Western gender brainrot in the heretofore inviolate Middle Kingdom. You will conclude that western individualism, narcissism, and anti-socialism have brushed aside the Great Firewall and a myriad meticulously centrally-planned defensive cultural doctrines from Beijing like so much gossamer on the hooves of a Manchu destrier. Others among you will celebrate the destruction of two millennia of Confucian patriarchy, dancing at the liberation of Han women from the cloying grasp of their ruthlessly misogynist slavemasters and Xi Jinping’s diabolical family-state apparatus.
A third group (the wisest among you) will conclude that Chinese feminism has become subsumed by capital and become a vapid and frivolous shadow of its historic material concerns, obsessed with meaningless fripperies like underwear color and hobby preference, rather than the material exploitation of working-class women by an economy with 0.75 GINI wealth coefficient. You will notice as you read that there’s no direct mention of elderly care, childcare, pensions, or wages, the most pressing issues for women in the Heavenly Kingdom today.
Now, I think you should make your own minds up about this, but I’d like to provide three thoughts of my own:
First, it’s striking how many of these are fundamentally consumptive. It’s giving Horkheimer. It’s giving Adorno. Several of these posters refer to purchase as an act of rebellion or manifestation of the ‘true’ self; underwear, makeup, cameras, etc. This reduces feminism to the contents of your Amazon shopping cart: progressive women’s liberation means buying sexy lace underwear if you’re middle aged or grandma bloomers if you’re young, it means buying purple/red lipstick (delete as appropriate) and ebook copies of Circe, Nightbitch, and The Vegetarian (or local equivalent, perhaps a Zhang Zhehan BL fantasy novel). It’s all depressingly shallow and capitalized.
Secondly, the recurring legend “no matter how many people disapprove!” strikes me as a kind of ‘individualism propaganda’. China, like all non-liberal societies, has historically depended upon social sanction as an essential system to curtail selfishness and predatory narcissism. This is sometimes glossed as a uniquely oriental “respect”, “face”, “honor”, “izzat”, culture, but in practice every civilization on earth has some variant of social control of this type. The idea is that you care about your reputation, so you don’t act like a total animal. I don’t think it’s too rosy to say that reputation is an alternate economy that mirrors the capital economy, but is one in which even poor people can avail themselves of privileges if they have sufficient reputation- or wealthy people can be denied privileges, if they’re universally despised. In recent decades mainstream Western civ has rejected the idea of reputation, and even criticized it as somehow anathema to the full development of the individual and identity. Of course, what reputation really is anathema to is capitalism and the money economy. Anyway, as a consequence we get Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth’s barbaric pronouncements alongside WAP and homeless junkies masturbating in public libraries. I'm convinced that these are all epiphenomena of the same ideology that rejects decorum, social harmony, and the opinions or feelings of others, from lumpen to bourgeoisie. This whole way of thinking is fundamentally anti-social and anti-socialist. Of course you should care what other people think. Other people are just as important as you! In fact, they outnumber you so they’re MORE important than you! If you’re annoying everyone, you’re probably an asshole! Everyone should go re-read the Law of Jante, I don’t care if it was meant as a joke.
Thirdly, it's interesting how many of these directly refer to rejecting sacrifice or endurance, especially for others, in favor of personal gratification. This might be laudable as a pushback to a society that expects women to completely abnegate their personal desires in favor of serving the family, but altogether there is something faintly self-centered about it. I don't really think that hedonic messages of perpetual indulgence and rejection of responsibility and sacrifice are particularly wholesome, for men or women.
Upon taking my meds I confess I’m probably reaching a little with all this. These are fairly harmless on the face of it - basically, ‘follow your heart’, ‘don’t feel you need to please men’, ‘don’t follow in your parent’s footsteps unless you want to’, ‘dress as cutely/noncutely as you want’, etc. - all very freedom-of-choice brained. However, I can’t help but feel a certain dark energy emanating from them. It might be my internalized toxic masculinity (likely).
As a side-note, they were only up for a few days. They’ve now been taken down and replaced with an alternate ad campaign that consists of stills from the movie. I wonder if the originals made people uncomfortable? There is something a little weird about an auntie telling me I shouldn’t worry about giving sexual pleasure to my husband while I’m on my way to work.
Eager to hear your insights about this nonsense. Thank you for reading.
