I don’t quite know where I stand when it comes to stereotyping. On the one hand we’re taught that it’s wrong to judge people before we know them, but at the same time I think it’s part of a natural human impulse to find trends and patterns of behaviour. Seemingly the pattern of behaviour amongst young foreign males in China is not particularly good, as I was immediately branded a 色狼 (literally “colour wolf”), meaning a sexual predator or lecher, after just a couple of weeks of being there. This would be pretty quick even for a genuine “colour wolf” (how they stumbled upon that phrase is a mystery to me), but in my case it struck me as simply ridiculous.
At first I was angry at being so falsely accused, but now I can at least understand why that stereotype exists. Throughout my two years in China, I worked with just eleven other foreign males; three of whom were undoubtedly disgusting pervs; while another two or three were borderline sociopathic. If this ratio is representative, then over half of all foreign male teachers in China are degenerates of some kind, and that’s not even counting the businessmen. One former colleague used to touch girls’ hair and shoulders during breaks, while another asked his female students questions such as, “how many of you girls would have sex before marriage?” The worst offender of the bunch once showed his female students pornographic images as part of their final exam, and asked them to describe what they saw.
Photos like these probably won’t help
Given stories such as these (and believe me, there are many, many more), it’s no wonder that foreign males are subjected to stereotyping in China. You never know what your students have experienced in the past, and it’s possible that stereotyping is a kind of defence mechanism against future abuses of positions of trust and authority. I know that if I was the parent of one of those students, I would rather they distrust all foreign teachers, however unfairly, than put themselves at risk.
Thankfully over time I was able to dispel the negative assumptions that were made about me, and here’s how:
- Whenever I started teaching a new class, I made a point of spending a disproportionate amount of time speaking with the male students. Most colour wolves will speak exclusively to the girls, so set yourself apart from the beginning by subverting their expectations of you. It may seem unfair on the girls, but it’s just for the first couple of weeks, and I strongly believe that it’s a good trade-off in the end. Once you feel you’ve made your point, you should divide your attention equally amongst the guys and the girls.
- I never spent time with a female student outside of class, and kept my social interaction with all students to a minimum. During class hours I was always friendly and approachable to the students, but I made it clear that my relationship with them was strictly professional. One of the many reasons for doing this is that gossiping is practically a national pastime in China, and if you are seen even walking with someone of the opposite sex, it is automatically assumed that you’re dating.
- The topics I chose for class were never ones that could make students uncomfortable. While it’s important not to make your lessons too dry, there’s really no need to ever talk about sex in class. Lessons on relationships and gender roles are fine, but be careful to keep things PG. Even if you’re teaching university students, pitch your content as though you are teaching a group of 14 year-olds, and you’ll be much closer to the mark.
- My last piece of advice is simply, “be a good teacher”. The perverted teachers you come across in China are perverts first and teachers second. In other words, they put more effort into being a perv than they do into being a teacher. Students are very quick to spot an incompetent teacher, and when they do so they are likely to start questioning that teacher’s motives for coming to China in the first place. Don’t make them question you in the same way. Prepare your lessons thoroughly, make your topics interesting and relevant, manage your classroom effectively, and just generally let your integrity show.
Simply put, if you’re not a pervert, then you have nothing to worry about, and remember not to take it personally if you feel that you have been wrongly accused. Just persevere with what you’re doing, follow the advice above if you like, and eventually you will have earned the trust and respect of your students.
What are your experiences with stereotyping in China? Do you feel like you were viewed or treated according to your race or gender? Please leave a comment below if this issue has affected you.
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I never knew foreign guys had it so bad in China, but everything you said makes sense. Glad I was a woman teaching in China!
I never thought I’d hear anyone say that. From what I’ve heard, being a foreign woman in China isn’t exactly easy as the pervy shoe is on the other foot, so to speak.
I figured I was bigger than everyone there so I could take care of myself.
Photos lie that are instigated by students, not teachers.
You’re absolutely right, except in this case I have to confess that it was I who did the instigating! They were the best class I’d ever taught and I wanted a positive memento to take back to England. I just think it could be easily misinterpreted.
China should stop hiring sick foreign men as English teachers all together. It is so disgusting to see those perverts as mentors to the young chinese. Pathetic foreigners are either sexual predators or democrazy/human riots activists when the touch the chinese soil
Did it take you a whole two minutes and all of your brain power to come up with that absolute gem of a comment. Such insight, thoughtful, profound thinking. Surely someone like you shouldn’t be trolling blogs, but should be using his clearly superior intellect to manage the country. Or just go and play in the traffic.
Facts speak louder than words. Criticizing me english？ so typical of arrogant ppl like you. How fluent is ur chinese ???
Sick foreign men need to stop trolling the Chinese land-u got it upside down. Colonial days are over. The better the Chinese ppl treat these sick perverts, the worse they will return the favor
Where did I criticise your English? And what “facts” do you have that speak louder than words. Why don’t you post some of your “facts” that speak louder than the words you type here.
My Chinese ability bears absolutely no relevance to the discussion. We are engaging in English, and despite you thinking for some reason that I have criticised your English, I haven’t. You seem quite capable of making yourself clear in English, but seem to argue with rhetoric instead of the “facts” you suddenly hope to draw on but fail to provide.
Half of those male English teachers are sexual predators. If that is not astonishing, I do t know what is. It conforms with our experience of observing on a daily basis. No conscious parents would ever allow their kids whether boys or girls to be mentored by such perverts.
In summary, what you are saying is that 50% of Chinese parents have “no conscious”?
Mike-
Xenophobes and racists like you who apply your personal stereotypes to foreigners are no better than Hitler in my mind. It’s a lot easier to be a dumb, ignorant racist than it is to accept the fact that all people are different and you need to use brain power to evaluate them all separately. Keep living in your insulated world where everything fits into your comfortable, moronic ideas and ideals. In the meantime, I’ll keep living in China with my wife and family and contributing more to this society than someone like you ever will. You are embarrassment to your country, your ethnicity, and your family.
Constantly accusing us Chinese of being nazis and hitlers only cheapens ur argments. It’s so common nowadays for foreigners to resort to such frivolous charges. I am wondering who the real hitler is??? Look around and judge it based on facts rather than fictions. Don’t ever terrorize us for getting fed up with foreign male teachers who are truly sexual predators rather than mentors.
Thanks everyone for your interest in this post – you know it’s a sensitive subject when someone drops the Hitler Bomb!
Mike, I think you’ve proved my point nicely. You clearly have a chip on your shoulder about foreign men in China, and I’d imagine you’ve experienced something to make you feel this way. If this is the case then I’m sorry for whatever happened, and I agree with you that it is disgusting when certain people abuse the trust that others have in them in such a way. However, it seems that you have taken this behaviour as absolute; i.e. attributed it to all foreign men in China. I hope you acknowledge that this is an unfair assumption to make, and that there are plenty of foreign males making a very meaningful contribution to Chinese society.
As for Archie and Dave, I completely understand where you’re coming from, and I too got annoyed when people made sweeping generalisations based on a few isolated experiences. Unfortunately I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon, so the best you can do is to undermine these prejudices through patience and integrity. If you can at least win over the people in your immediate social circle, then that’s a very good start.
Matt, I truely respect your integrity-it shows through your blog.
I personally don’t have any grudges against all foreign men. Nowhere did I lump them into one category. I know you were inferring that my personal life has been ruined by superior foreign men– and I can only say “no”
I am, like any consciou parents anywhere, jjust concerned about young boys and girls being mentored by any perverts where they are from home or abroad. And I am aware through all channels of the media that a significant proportion of foreign male English teachers are sexual predators–this is not fiction. Had the role being reversed I definitely believe the Chinese sexual predators would have been thrown into jails or beaten to the ground.
I must have misinterpreted what you said previously as it certainly sounded as though you were calling all foreigners sexual perverts and/ or human rights activists. Anyway, sorry for the misunderstanding!
Matt, I don’t think apologising here helps. Mike makes an argument that 50% of male teachers in China are “sexual predators”. You mistakenly suggest he said al foreign males, but he didn’t. So you apologise, but your argument is still valid. Nowhere does he offer “facts” to support his assertion. All he does is blow hot air, make claims based on some fantastical media reports and personal insight. This is not fact, and would not stand up to any test of reason. I challenge Mike. Mike, I’m happy to talk to you about this, as I too agree we should avoid having dangerous people influence children (or people in general), whether in school or sports, or wherever. But making sweeping claims about numbers only weakens your argument. Provide some facts, some proven research, not personal examples, anecdotes and rhetoric. Or shut up, and quit wasting your time spewing vile trash and creating arguments that only seek to steer the debate of course.
Statements like this, “Had the role being reversed I definitely believe the Chinese sexual predators would have been thrown into jails or beaten to the ground”, can be made all day long. Yet, they are guesswork, and can’t be proven, therefore are useless. I could say, “Had the role been reversed I definitely believe the Chinese sexual predators would have been given a chance to defend themselves in a court room, and if found guilty charged accordingly”, and could be equally chuffed in making such a claim. But I can’t prove it, so it is pointless when we are trying to get to the bottom of your statements, that claim specific numbers, but nowhere provide any proof these numbers are anything but a figment of your imagination.
Although it was written with good intent I’m sure, I dont feel as if this article is fighting stereotypes, but perpetuating them.
Hey, thanks for your comment. I suppose a more appropriate title would be “Fighting Unfair Stereotypes”, because really it’s for those who do not fit the category they are so often lumped into. However, I didn’t want to completely dismiss the colour wolf stereotype as unfounded because from my personal experience, the shoe fits in several cases. Obviously I can’t say whether my experience is representative; maybe I was just unlucky to work with an abnormally high proportion of creepers. If this didn’t come across in the article itself, hopefully I’ve now managed to clear it up.
I don’t understand point of this article. guys who came to china for girls will ignore it and their ratio compared to normal men will stay same, while other people would behave normal even without this article, so what is the point of giving advices to someone who doesn’t need them?
Because men who aren’t predators are boxed into the same bad stereotypes—so it’s helpful if they know how to change false perceptions as fast as possible. Knowing what to expect and applying Matt’s tips could help make them more effective teachers (or whatever their role is here).
Thanks for saving me the effort, that pretty much sums it up! I would only add that “behaving normal” isn’t always enough, as I found out the hard way. Sometimes you need to make concerted efforts to remove yourself from suspicion.
Really interesting! I had no idea about this. / Martin Engegren
Thanks Martin, I’m glad you liked it!
Is it really that important whether people think you’re a 色狼? Nonsense stereotypes like that wouldn’t bother me – certainly not to the extent that I would take measures such as spending a “disproportionate amount of time speaking with the male students.” Take it easy dude, people will think what they want.
Good question. I think whether it’s important or not will vary from person to person; all I can say for sure is that for me it was very important. I cared about my job and wanted to do the best I could, and I didn’t think it was possible to do so with half the students having a negative opinion of me as a person. You need to have the trust and respect of your student if you want to stand any chance of making a difference.
But more than that, I actually felt it was my duty to care what people thought of me. Whether they want to or not, many foreigners in China become unofficial ambassadors for their country. Therefore I felt a sense of responsibility to represent my country as best I could so as to lessen, not increase the mutual suspicion and lack of understanding on both sides.
Fair enough. As you rightly say, negative stereotypes about foreigners are everywhere in China. But if you’re a decent guy, most people will realise it eventually. Those who don’t aren’t worth bothering with. Indeed, a minority of Chinese people, I sometimes think, feel comfortable with their prejudices and have no intention of changing!
Absolutely, although I think it’s safe to say every country has its fair share of those people. Thanks for your input, hope you enjoy the blog!
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I really don’t know there are stunning stories like these among you internatioanl teachers too, it definitely shocks me a lot.
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