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https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-what-the-migrant-workers-who-made-my-iphone-taught-me-about-love-201563>
"Ten years ago, a group of images on a popular Chinese website caught my
attention. They showed young rural migrant workers in intimate, though not
overtly sexual situations: talking quietly, holding hands, kissing, embracing,
or simply sitting close to each other with their limbs intertwined.
These intimate moments all take place in public spaces in the industrial areas
of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, where these workers live and work – on the
lawn of a park, on a bench by the roadside, at a table outside a snack bar, in
a community library, in a public phone booth, on a city street. While some
women in the photos wear casual or even sexy clothes, others wear factory
uniforms.
As a cultural anthropologist who has spent 20 years studying rural migrant
workers in China, I was immediately captivated by these images. I liked their
realism. But what intrigued me were the polarised comments about them.
Some were one-liners such as “So sweet”; “How romantic”; “They are so pure and
innocent”; “Love doesn’t discriminate against the poor”; “Life is beautiful
because love exists.”
Others were harsh. One comment said that Shenzhen and Dongguan were full of
“illicit love birds”. Criticism of such intimate acts was also implied in
another post, which said “most of these couples are just after sex; love
doesn’t really come into it.” One of the comments struck me as particularly
judgemental:
They’re not interested in learning, they have no souls, they give free rein
to their bodily urges. They feel no responsibility for themselves, their
family, and society. They’re after cheap sexual pleasure. What do they know
about love?
Looking back, I realise it was my initial fascination with this group of photos
that started me on a decade-long journey of exploring the intimate consequences
of inequality.
I wanted to know what rural migrant workers themselves would make of these
images and these polarised responses. I wanted to know what it feels like to go
on yet another blind date arranged by their parents, to steal an intimate
moment in compromised circumstances, and to endure the stigma of not being able
to afford a wife."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
