The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday slammed the recent popularity of the term “career line” (事業線) as objectifying women and signaling Taiwan’s failure to achieve gender equality.
“Career line” is a term used by palm readers in foretelling one’s career prospects. However, the term has been widely used in entertainment circles recently to describe a woman’s cleavage, suggesting this indicates whether a woman will have a good career.
At a seminar held yesterday to address gender issues, the term came under attack by KMT Deputy Secretary-General Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), director of the KMT’s Women’s Department, Chen Yu-mei (陳玉梅), and academics.
Hung said that she did not understand why female celebrities talked about “career lines,” adding that “flashing your body on TV, no matter how shapely it is, is simply objectifying women.”
“An actor is more than looks and body parts. It’s about how you act, how you direct the show, what is inside of you,” Hung said, adding: “I would like to know where a man’s ‘career line’ is.”
Chen, who also serves as a Taipei city councilor, said female celebrities’ willingness to bare their “career lines” showed a failure in gender education. Some companies even employ female models to take the MRT in nothing but their panties for sales promotion, she said.
Such methods of promotion “aren’t displays of liberty or being avant-garde; it’s an objectification of women,” she added.
Wang Lih-rong (王麗容) of the National Taiwan University’s social work department said that “objectification and commercialization of the female body has severely distorted society’s view of women.”
“The government should acknowledge this problem and the National Communications Commission should keep closer watch,” Wang said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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