Latest news with #EmotionalAntiFraudSimulator
South China Morning Post
02-08-2025
- South China Morning Post
Sex, lies and video games: China's heated debate over sexism, misogyny
A young woman expelled from university for having sex with a foreigner. A man jailed for raping his fiancée after paying her the bride price. And a video game portraying women as gold diggers. Advertisement These are among the cases fuelling heated debate, and outrage, on Chinese social media in recent months over sexism, misogyny and gender stereotypes. The discussion started in April when a court in Datong, Shanxi province upheld the guilty verdict and three-year prison sentence of a man who had raped his fiancée the day after they got engaged. The case centred on whether the bride price he paid of 100,000 yuan (US$13,900) and a gold ring was considered marital consent and a tacit agreement for sex. In June, there was anger over stereotyping and sexism after a Chinese online game originally called Revenge on Gold Diggers shot to the top of gaming platforms on day one. Advertisement Players of the game are male characters being pursued by manipulative women who only want one thing: their money. The backlash prompted the game's creators to change the name to Emotional Anti-Fraud Simulator the day after its release.
South China Morning Post
01-08-2025
- South China Morning Post
Sex, lies and video games: the heated debate over sexism and misogyny in China
A young woman expelled from university for having sex with a foreigner. A man jailed for raping his fiancée after paying her the bride price. And a video game portraying women as gold diggers. Advertisement These are among the cases fuelling heated debate, and outrage, on Chinese social media in recent months over sexism, misogyny and gender stereotypes. The discussion started in April when a court in Datong, Shanxi province upheld the guilty verdict and three-year prison sentence of a man who had raped his fiancée the day after they got engaged. The case centred on whether the bride price he paid of 100,000 yuan (US$13,900) and a gold ring was considered marital consent and a tacit agreement for sex. In June, there was anger over stereotyping and sexism after a Chinese online game originally called Revenge on Gold Diggers shot to the top of gaming platforms on day one. Players of the game are male characters being pursued by manipulative women who only want one thing: their money. The backlash prompted the game's creators to change the name to Emotional Anti-Fraud Simulator the day after its release. It did not end there. The same month, media reported that a dowdy, 38-year-old cross-dresser had lured hundreds of young men into having sex, which he secretly filmed before selling the videos online. Days later, a 21-year-old Chinese student was expelled from a university in Dalian, Liaoning province for having a one-night stand with a Ukrainian gamer attending an event in Shanghai. The man had posted intimate photos and videos of the student, one of his fans, on social media, calling her 'easy'. Advertisement In the case of the cross-dresser the discussions initially focused on lurid details of the videos. But that shifted to a debate over why the men involved, including the cross-dresser, had their identities protected by the authorities yet the student, a woman, was publicly shamed by the university. According to experts, the intense discussions around sexism and misogyny prompted by these cases are part of a broader phenomenon of 'gender antagonism' that has emerged in China over the past few years. And the echo chamber effect on social media has only amplified these tensions.
BBC News
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
A Chinese video game on 'gold diggers' is fuelling a debate on sexism
"He's more obedient than a dog... If only more of these dumb ones come along," boasts a woman in a new video game that has fuelled a debate on sexism in players in the live-action Revenge on Gold Diggers are male protagonists lured into relationships by manipulative women who are after their money - how the man responds shapes the rest of the topped the gaming platform Steam's sales list within hours of its release in June but controversy quickly followed. Some slammed it for reinforcing insulting gender stereotypes, while supporters say the game cautions people about love heated was the criticism that the game's creators quietly renamed it Emotional Anti-Fraud Simulator the next day. But that wasn't enough to undo the damage. The game's lead director, Hong Kong filmmaker Mark Hu, has now been banned on several Chinese social media platforms. The game's creators insist they never intended to "target women" - rather they wanted to facilitate "open dialogue about emotional boundaries and the grey zones in modern dating". Xu Yikun, an artist who tried the game and found it deeply offensive, rejects that rationale. She accuses them of "a classic business model that thrives on generating content that sparks debate and divisions".Critics like her say the very term "gold digger" reeks of misogyny. "It's a label that's used, all too often, on women," Ms Xu says. "Sexist jokes and derogatory terms like these have found their way into our everyday language." "If you have a rich boyfriend, you are called a gold digger. If you try to make yourself look pretty, you are called a gold digger... Sometimes the label is used on you merely for accepting a drink from someone," she adds. Some players, however, find the criticism overblown. "The game isn't trying to say that all women are gold diggers... I don't find it targeting either gender," says 31-year-old Zhuang Mengsheng, who used a pseudonym to speak to the BBC. "Both women and men can be gold diggers."And yet, in the game all the "gold diggers" are women. From a fresh-faced online influencer to a go-getting entrepreneur they are all shown scheming to get the men to lavish money and gifts on them."Want to know if a man loves you? See how much he spends," one of them game has divided even local media. A newspaper from the central Hubei province said the game was "labelling an entire gender as fraudsters".But Beijing Youth Daily praised it for its "creativity", citing the financial impact of love scams: around 2bn yuan ($279m; £204m) in 2023, according to data from the National Anti-Fraud Centre."We need to put a stop to emotional fraud without delay," it said in an aside, sales of the game have continued to soar. It is now among China's top ten titles for the PC platform, surpassing even Black Myth: Wukong which is reportedly the most successful Chinese game of all time."I don't get why people are upset about this. If you aren't a gold digger yourself, why should you feel attacked by this game?" says a 28-year-old man."I actually thought the game's creators are very bold. These issues [like emotional fraud] aren't widely discussed enough in China." Some people online have suggested the game is inspired by the real-life story of a Chinese man, known as Fat Cat on the internet, who jumped to his death last year after a breakup. His death sparked an intense discussion online, where the term "gold digger" was liberally used, with some accusing his ex-girlfriend of exploiting him, leading him to take his life. Police have dismissed these who spoke to the BBC worry that the video game perpetuates problematic gender norms in China, where society believes women belong at home, while seeing men as the primary breadwinners. So for women, marrying well has traditionally been perceived as more important than professional success. Official rhetoric from the male-dominated Chinese Communist Party endorses this - President Xi Jinping has repeatedly called on women to embrace their roles as "good wives and mothers". The government has also cracked down on a growing pool of activists demanding gender equality."I feel a game like that merely fans hostility between men and women," says one woman who did not want to be named, fearing hostility online. "It casts women, once again, as the inferior gender who have to somehow find ways to please men to earn their livelihoods."
