ABSTRACT
On October 19, 2012, the overseas edition of the People’s Daily – the official voice of the Chinese Communist Party – published a column asking readers to take a “normal perspective on the foreign-f females” (wai f nu) (Zi 2012). First, we might ask, what is a “foreign-f female” and, second, what would be a “normal perspective”? For the term itself, the most common explanation is a “Chinese female who ‘fucks’ foreigners” with the English “f” referring to “fuck.” Others suggest, perhaps euphemistically, that the term means “foreign fly females” (wai fei nu), or women who want to “fly away” from China (see Douban 2012). All the discussions focus upon a Chinese woman who is sexually or romantically involved with a foreign, usually white western, man. And, even though there is an equivalent term – “wai-f nan” for men – the controversy centered on heterosexual Chinese cis women and their foreign lovers. Most of this debate takes place in Chinese on Chinese language websites.
