Being Boycotted for being Women: Bad Cancel Culture Example

The Comedian and her Male Opponents

Yang Li, a 29-year-old female stand-up comedian in China, was in the center of a tornado, facing the accusation of ‘men-hating. Interestingly, the group feeling offended is gender-specific, which is mostly men. They are infuriated by her mocking that men are “so mediocre yet so confident” (他們那麼普通，卻又那麼自信) in one performance. On the contrary, Yang’s supporters love her sarcasm.

Initially, it is more of a debate on how to appreciate offensively humorous irony in a comedy. However, the tension started by Yang’s punchline escalated into the level of gender opposition.

The climax came when intel pulled away the cooperation commercial of Yang, requested by a number of male netizensthreatening to boycott the brand. They claimed that Yang insults masculinity and that a female spokesperson is unsuitablesince women are incompetent in computers and other technical stuff.

Curses, personal attacks on physical appearances, and death threats piled up under the Weibo comment section of the brand as well as the comedian. What’s worse, such scenarios occurred in almost every single promotional post on Yang’s page.

Although I am trying to be as objective as possible, some men are just too vulnerable to laugh a joke off. ‘Mediocre’ is probably the least harmful way to tease someone, not to mention the second half of her sentence pays tributes to the confidence of manhood.

Here is the confession: Yes, I am on Yang’s side. More importantly, from where I stand, the poor female comedian faced cancellation for nothing but being a woman herself. It serves as the worst example of cancel culture, where freedom of speech is abused to justify irrationality and misogyny.

A Case of Cancel Culture Falling Short in Rightfulness

Cancelling is not necessarily evil if it empowers people to equally express disapproval against stereotypes and prejudice. In fact, I have always been for social campaigns. The real question is, who is the underprivileged here in a patriarchal society? Men who take humor too seriously, or a female comedian?

My version of interpretation on these irritated guys is that they are not used to being judged by their female counterparts. Usually, it is the other way around. Owing to the toxic masculinity that views women as subordinate, the switching of positions is intolerable. Accordingly, the most moderate comment would sound acerbic, patronizing, and provocative if it is said by a woman. In other words, gender even overrides the matter of truth. Realizing themselves as subjects of observation, which is against their misogynous experience, brings out a man’s deepest insecurity. The egos become so bruised that they would attack anyone who makes the critic, like Yang.

However, to be fair, it's more like being challenged than offended.

With that being said, cancelling Yang Li along with her commercial is far from a valid case, for it way distorted the intention to do good deeds.

Amid all possible justifications for cancelling someone, being a female is not one.