女权在线－女权主义者的集结地

BETTY Bullock,a 64-year-old Californian who started smoking when she was 17 and is now dying from lung cancer,won a US$28-million payment from Phlip Morris,a US-based corperation,which is the produccer of such famous brands as Marlboro cigarettes and Kraft foods.

  A court decided that the cigarette maker was at least partially responsible for Bullock's cancer.

  However,not every woman who smokes understands the danger of cigarettes,and more women are jumping into the world of tobacco.They light up and risk their lives.

  The World Health Oranization(WHO) has reported that nearly 7 per cent of women in developing countries smoke while 25 per cent in Western countries do and Asia is generally considered an ideal market with great potential.

  For many years,big international tobacco companies have been trying to lure young Asian women to smoking.An estimated 60 per cent of men in Asia smoke,but only 5 per cent for women,so companis such as Philip Morris,British American Tobacco and Janpan Tobacco believe that females are a good promotion target.

  As a result of their successful advertising,the number of young female smokers in HongKong has doubled in the past five years;the number in South Korea is four times what it was in 1980;and five times more young females in Malaysia took up somking in past 10 years,according to a UN report on public health this past year.

  But,nowhere else in the world is somking more popular in China.China's 320milinon smokers account for 30 per cent of the world total,according to Newsweek Magzine(November,2002),meaning a third of all cigrettes smoked in the world are smoked in this country,which contains a fifth of  the world population.

  Among them,there are 20million female smokers aged from 15 to 45.And,the number is growing by 10 per cent every year as teenagers join in.

  China also has more female university students and female white collar workers turning  to smoking.

  Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao reported on a recent survey that 14.8 per cent of female students in four universities in BeiJing smoked.

  TangYing,a senior English major in NanJing somkes a pack of Sobranie Slim Mint cigarettes every two days."My elder sister taught me to smoke,"she said,"I think it is totally normal for female students to smoke.Just like you may like pure water while I prefer coffee with milk and sugar,smoking shows my taste."

  In China,movie and television along with advertisement impress people with the maturity,elegance,independence,and fashion of young female smokers.Smoking is no longer a symbol of valgarity in a woman.But it was not all that long ago when somking was considered something lesser women did,those who were not well educated.Some man even thought it was the symbol of sexual freedom or desire.

  In general,Chinese men do not seem to like women to smoke.In an online survey conducted by 163.com, 3,796 out of 6,392(roughly 60 per cent)people questionde said women should not somke that they hated that woman holding a cigrette.

  Then there are the  others saying hooray for women.Wu Jiaming,a sales man in Bei Jing,said he actually hoped women smoke more so that he would not feel embarrassde when he wanted a cigarette.

  "I do enjoy smoke with girls,"Wu said,"but whenever I see a girl frown when I light my cigar,I'm not sure whether she is really offend by the smell of tobacco or is just pretending to be a lady?"

  Or maybe the oppsite is ture.May be there's another kind of lady who like smoking,for one person to another.In order to prey on the elegant image of a smoking woman,cigarette manufacurers design prettier and slimmer cigars for women only.

  In one Wumei supermarket store in the northeast part of Bei Jing,the British sobranie and Davidoff brands,American Virginia Slim,and South Korea's ESSE are all in a prominent women's display at the China National Tobacco Co counter.

  Zhou Xiaozheng,a professor at Renm  in University,says that the increase in the number of  female somkers reflects the development of society as more people accept them for their lifstyle.But young students are not getting educated information about the bad effects of tobbacco.

  And,China is outdated in its awareness.Simply putting "Smoking is harmful to your health"on the outsaid of cigarittes is not nearly enough to send a waring to young female who are about to light up for the first time.

  In the US,the waring reads:"Smoking Caused Lung Cancer,Heart Disease,Emphysema,and while in Australia,one label screams:"Smoking killls!"

DU JUAN:21st CENTURY JANUARY 2.2003

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