Who Are the "Monster Girls"?

"There is a newly emerging demographic engaged in sex work, and their common characteristics include astonishing weight, unattractive appearance, sluggish reactions, and gluttony combined with laziness. Consequently, they have no choice but to enter sex work. Their prices are low, and they do not object to threesomes or even foursomes. As a result, many dirty old men flock to them, sometimes even calling friends to join while the sexual transaction is underway. Because their bulky size often 'fills' entire police stations, police circles call them 'monster girls'…"

Do not doubt it—this passage full of bias and discrimination did indeed appear in our mainstream media. In this description, obesity, stupidity, laziness, cheapness, and prostitution are woven into a net of morality and contempt, tightly entangling women who are "unattractive and of astonishing weight." Meanwhile, it matters little whether those dirty old men and clients are dashing or elegant, because the "monster girls" are the easiest targets for ridicule.

This is our culture. Even professional media workers are completely unaware of the discrimination and bias flowing from their own pens, taking for granted their contempt for obesity and their mockery of appearance. Why did these women enter prostitution? What stories lie behind them? Were they voluntary or coerced? Did society drive them into this corner, or are they actually enjoying the thrill of providing consumer lust? No one knows, because they are "monster girls"! Because they lack attractive features or fine figures, they are not worthy of the media's concern, the audience's attention, or voyeuristic gaze; we do not even treat them as ordinary human beings.

This cruel reality is concretely reflected in this report, but what is even more cruel is that it rarely garners sympathy from other women, because we are not "monster girls"! Through mocking the "monster girls," it is proven that we stand on the opposite shore of beautiful women. We diet, fast, undergo cosmetic surgery, apply makeup, and keep ourselves pure—we are certainly not fat and stupid "monster girls." Women have been imprisoned in the cage of appearance and figure for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. To this day, obesity and ugliness remain a woman's greatest enemy. When such a serious "social news" report appears in the press, openly mocking fat women as stupid and ugly, I wonder if my sisters might feel a pang in their hearts, grieving over the fate of women imprisoned for thousands of years by the spell of beauty, and feeling contempt for this male-dominated society that fancies itself handsome and debonair!

※ Published in: Taiwan Daily