SVSSSâs women and MXTXâs commentary on sexism
Every time someone starts with âMXTX is great but her womenâŚâ, I feel conflicted. I think the way she writes women is secretly brilliant, but that was a conclusion I came to after a long hard think about SVSSS (which was the third series I got into). I absolutely went through the 'MXTX is great but her women...' phase.
So thoughts for my fellow travelers on this journey of enlightenment or whatever. Iâm focusing on SVSSS here, because otherwise the post would be more than three times as long. I'm also not... idk how to phrase it... 'starting at the basics' since I think there's plenty already out there on MXTX's strong/not strong presence of female characters. (Thereâs this for advertisement. Then a somewhat more involved post on Su Xiyan which is brilliant btw. defo recommend.) This is more like... side notes, of things I have yet to see discussed. (maybe someone has discussed them and I've yet to find it.)
1. Ning Yingying, Institutionalised Sexism, and Growth
There were also some incredible female cultivators, but on the whole, these girlsâ strength and mental fortitude was lacking, and they often required help⌠they spent their time playing around instead of actually working. Basically they looked quite hopeless.
What I really have to appreciate about SVSSS is that it slaps you around the face with a giant cucumber so you really can't miss it. This was the passage that made me put down the book and think. Why is this here? What is the point? Idk it just stuck out to me.
So there's a lot to say here about SY's stunning narration, what that says about his internalised beliefs, as well as the portrayal of women in certain genres and how frustrating it can be as a reader/viewer (looking at you, shonen), but I wanted to divest for a second to mention implicit sexism (for no other reason than I happen to care).
In SVSSS, there isnât much explicit sexism aimed at female characters in world. By this, I mean there is no point at which a character in the world of SVSSS says sexist things to a female character, nor are there moments were female characters are specifically barred from doing anything because of their gender. Of course, it could in part be due to SQQâs blindness to such issues, but thereâs also another facet to this â the abundance of implicit sexism.
The Little Palace Mistress was the Old Palace Masterâs beloved daughter. Her martial skills were the product of his hands-on teaching⌠Meanwhile, Ning Yingying was the beloved youngest shimei who was pampered by the entirety of Qing Jing Peak; she very rarely encountered danger and had virtually no real battle experience.
Ning Yingying is never pushed. Sheâs loved and cared for, but not expected to excel. The thing with implicit/institutionalised anything is that itâs hard to point to any specific case and go âthatâs sexistâ or whatever. The effect is only clear when taken over a larger group. Returning to the Immortal Alliance Conference, what do our female participants look like? We have LMY doing her thing, ofc. But QWY? QWR? Their immediate reaction to danger is to cling to the nearest strong person and rely on them for protection. It feels like theyâve never learnt to stand for themselves.
MXTXâs later works often get the âthere arenât enough female characters in positions of powerâ or âall the female characters dieâ kind of remarks, but I think thereâs something deeper to be said about the kind of commentary it's making on society. Anyway, I won't go deeper here, but the subversion of NYYâs stereotypical role (and so arguably the whole point of her character thematically) is that she doesnât continue to be the loli icon with IQ 40. When NYY is forced to fend for herself and given the space to grow, she does grow. And isnât that a nice message?
2. LMY, the Daoist Nuns, and Sex Positivity
Because her face was excessively beautiful, capable of stealing souls, she had to hide it behind a veil all year round, rendering her like unto a flower on a high cliff, unattainable and out of reach.
The women of SVSSS are all about subversions of troupes, and the subversion of LMYâs troupe is twofold. At first, she is introduced as the âpureâ one, in contrast to SHLâs âsexyâ (commentary on the âtwo types of women: frigid and slutâ narrative). Then sheâs the ânot like other girlsâ. Sheâs beautiful but doesnât care for her looks. She doesnât care for men but they fall at her feet. Sheâs stoic and competent, the ideal of a âstrong independent womanâ. And then, right at the end, we learn that she writes very kinky gay porn.
I think there's a lot of disappointment around for LMY's potential not being fulfilled, and while I agree SVSSS on the whole wrapped things up very quickly, honestly? I think this is the funniest twist ever.
LMY a fanfic writer, a shipper, a BL enthusiast. The kind of woman whose literature has always been regarded with something between confusion, denial, and disgust: from the rise of shonen ai and Yaoi of the 60s-80s, or slash fiction in 70s, to the popularity of danmei in China. The CP fan, in all its bravery and ugliness. She's not a hero, she doesn't particularly do anything, other than pursue her hobbies. She's neither âpureâ nor âstrongâ, but touchingly realistic.
And even better, sheâs not alone. Thereâs the Daoist nuns, who (hilariously) are nuns who in an apparently life-or-death situations suggest dual cultivation??? (Now celibacy was necessary in some Daoist schools but not all, but since Shen Jiu mentions specifically that thereâs nothing strictly wrong with him sleeping with prostitutes because theyâre not a Daoist sect, it feels like thereâs a subversion lurking there.) (idk they have Catholic girl school vibes.)
ngl, I just love LMY. She's very sexy.
3. LPM, QWY, and Breaking Down the Mean Girl
If LMY is ânot like other girlsâ then the LPM is the âmean girlâ. Also, the âgirl who tries to break up the MLsâ of a BL. The two troupes are in the same ballpark. Rich, pretty, privileged. Also petty, stupid, and unnecessarily cruel. More generally, the Huan Hua trio - LPM, QWY, QWR all take different elements of the 'unlikable girl'.
I donât have many deep thoughts about this, other than their abject failure to make a dent on LBHâs devotion to SQQ being really funny (and an excellent post on QWY which breaks down her character and her relationship to og!LBH), but something that snagged with me is the comparison between these extracts.
Why did he act like one of those bitter courtyard complex concubines with too much time on their hands?
This is about Shen Jiu. Ya know, Shen abuses children Jiu.
He very much did not enjoy the sight of a sixty-year-old coot and a young girl in her teens cooing at each other right in front of him.
This is one of two (?) times that svsss mentions a young girl being married to an old coot (the second being SJ's mysterious jiejie). If you didn't know, the situation of women in much of Chinese history is... not great.
The Little Palace Mistress: Bitter, locked-up woman. She herself says that Luo Binghe treats her like a kept pig.
Also, the existence of Wang Lingjiao in MDZS, servant turned lover, who everyone hates (sheâs the one stuck to Wen Chao if youâre like me and forgot her name most the time).
Thereâs condemnation there (none of these characters are portrayed in a sympathetic light) but thereâs a hint of pity there too. LPM has lost a father. QWY a sister. And in MDZS, WLJ is plagued by the anxiety of an unfaithful lover who she relies on entirely for her power.
(Someone (irl!) mentioned Beauvoir to me in a (not svsss!) conversation (lol the brain rot is real but not 100% yet) and now I feel like maybe I should go back to the Second Sex for svsss reasons (so maybe the brain rot is real đ¤). Beauvoir writes a lot about 'bad women'.)
Anyway, this is not particularly organised and doesn't really have a point. I might expand some more on something at some point, but that requires me having coherent thoughts, which probably requires me having actual conversations to get a few things straight, so no guarantees. Whatever. Have a great day :)






















