‘Sperm bank and plastic surgery saviours of single women’: China outraged by influencer couple’s ‘frivolous’ and ‘disrespectful’ gender talk
- Zhang Xiaonian has more than 900,000 followers on Weibo, where she shares videos of her experiences, life advice and feminism
- ‘Every sentence was beyond my imagination, and every scene was a shocker,’ says one commenter on the couple’s viral video
A self-proclaimed feminist influencer in China is under fire after sharing on social media a video conversation with her boyfriend being described as “frivolous”, lacking any awareness of gender issues and “disrespectful” to women.
Zhang Xiaonian has more than 900,000 followers on Weibo, where she shares short videos about her daily life, advice and feminism.
On April 10, she posted a video with the accompanying text: “I never thought that the biggest stumbling block on my boyfriend’s way to donate sperm would not be me nor the quality of his sperm, but the unprofessional and unmotivated staff at the sperm bank”.
In the more than 10-minute video, Zhang is shown sitting on a couch with her boyfriend, Yang, having a conversation.
“Don’t let your ‘fertile water’ flow into others’ fields. You are giving away your sperm to someone else. What should I use then?” asks Zhang in the first of many statements that have caused anger and offence in China.
Zhang then said that by supporting her boyfriend to donate sperm on the eve of their third anniversary, she supported “independent women” and that “sperm banks and plastic surgery are saviours of single women”.
Yang said he is contributing to the “prosperity of the nation” by donating sperm and insinuated that Zhang should make a porn video by saying she could prepare “material” to help him and put it on his iPad.
Zhang said: “I’d rather recommend other male friends to donate.”
