Sat, Nov 13, 1999 page8

• Time for men to stop `fooling around'

  • Pu Ta-chung
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan (|阱s) held a press conference in Hong Kong the other day, admitting he had an affair with a now-pregnant Hong Kong actress named Elaine Ng (吳綺2?/CHINESE>) and pleading with the media to stop hounding his wife and teenage son, according to a Reuters news story that appeared in this paper on Nov. 11.

  In my opinion, just about everything Chan said at the press conference was wrong. The only thing he did right was to refrain from attacking Ng.

  When US President Bill Clinton acknowledged having a fling with Monica Lewinsky, he didn't badmouth her later. This is the main reason that women's groups in the US let him off the hook.

  In a smiliar manner, Chan never said that Ng seduced him or schemed against him. All he said was that he made a mistake, which tells us that he has a conscience.

  Saying that he will take responsibility for Ng's child, if the child is his, Chan told reporters that he did something "many other men have done" and that his mistake was caused by the fact he "likes to fool around too much." Chan also said his wife and son had forgiven him and would continue to stand by him, according to Reuters.

  What did Chan say that was wrong?

  Tsai Chao-yang (1/22兆陽), in defending some of the building collapses during the 921 earthquake, recently said that Taiwan was not the only country "doing shady jobs and using substandard materials" (偷?u減料). Other countries do these things too, Tsai said.

  Tsai's remarks were similar to Chan's statement that many other men have had affairs. Chan's apology to his family resembles Clinton's apology to Hillary and Chelsea.

  Chan's real mistake lies in holding paternalistic beliefs, such as saying he was merely "fooling around too much" and that "all men have done these things."

  For her part, Elaine Ng, saying that she doesn't want Chan to bear any responsibility for their "love child," said the infant will take her surname and will be of no concern to Chan. This proves that Ng is subjectively conscious of her autonomy over her own body and sexual desires. In contrast, Chan is still living in a Neanderthal, male-chauvinist past.

  The declaration made during the first Women's Rights Conference in the US said that the history of the human race is the history of an endless number of attempts on the part of the male half of the population to establish absolute domination over women.

  Men should realize from Chan's mistake that they must liberate themselves from the role of being "a strict father plus an overgrown kid." Male-chauvinist thinking is not only degrading to women, but it harms men's lives as well. It's time to grow up.

  Pu Ta-chung is a deputy chief editorial writer at the China Times.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    First person arrested as Danjiang Bridge opens

  • 2

    TSMC shares stumble on report, but losses minor

  • 3

    Navy needs 12 subs for modern fleet: CSBC head

  • 4

    Snake on a train spooks riders on Taipei MRT line

  • 5

    HIMARS to be deployed to islands