By ALEXA OLESEN
(Virtual China, May 30) "This is my first pregnancy and I want to know if there is a non-surgical option for abortion," reads an online query on a mainland Chinese Web site. The site is called Yesee.com and serious and sensitive personal questions like this one can be found there in abundance.
Whether it's about finding the elusive G-spot, types of contraception, or the Chinese marriage law there is no limit to what can be discussed on these bulletin boards -- as long as there's no politics. Yesee.com is just one of a slew of portals aimed at Chinese-speaking women that provide plentiful original content about money, love, sex, family, fashion and careers. Most of them have sprung up in the past year.
Finally, Chinese women are jumping onto the Internet bandwagon. The only thing is they seem to be going single file. Chinese women currently make up a mere 20% of the estimated 10 million Chinese people on the web in China, according to official statistics. However, some experts say that number is probably low because a very high percentage of Internet use is in the workplace, where computers may be registered under a man's name but used by female employees.
Sex and Marriage
Still, the number of women online in China is slowly increasing, and the surplus of good new material available online is likely to spur those numbers even higher.
Blanca Li, one of the co-founders of the California-based Redskirt.com, a site that targets netizens with double X chromosomes in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, says she believes that the web is especially well-suited to the needs of Chinese women. The privacy of the Internet allows a safe and discrete forum for traditionally modest Chinese women to find out about and talk about things like sex and marriage.
"Chinese women are shy and more conservative [than others]," argues Li. "Chinese women have particular mother-in-law problems and pressure on them regarding the sex of their children. They need a channel and a way to express those concerns and a place that can provide answers. Because its anonymous we saw the Internet as a good way to communicate. If you can't find a solution in your community maybe you'll find a solution with millions of Chinese women worldwide."
Wireless Pie
Redskirt.com is entirely in Chinese and went live in December of 1999. Already, says Li, they have 150,000 users. Around 40% of those are from the mainland. The rest are mainly Taiwanese, except for about 10% who are overseas Chinese viewers in North America and Europe.
The key to getting more Chinese women online in droves, according to Li, is the Internet via a mobile phone, or wireless application protocol "WAP". With the current penetration of cellular telephones in China, Redskirt.com could boost the amount of traffic their site gets by converting their content to the WAP format and providing specialized content.
While computers in China are still mainly male dominated, cellular phones on the other hand are used equally often by both Chinese men and women. By marketing to the female half of the PRC, Redskirt could quickly take a significant piece of the wireless pie.
"We are going for wireless content syndication," Li said. "Actually the cell phone is really a common item, and it has 50-50% sex ratio. We will offer specialized, updated content information, for example you can customize recipes and have them sent to your WAP cellular phone. Then you have right there on your phone what will you are going to make for dinner."
A Few Chinese Language Women's Sites:
Redskirt.com/
Gaogenxie.com/
Woman.zhaodaola.com/
Banbiantian.com/
Halfworld.com/
Ladynow.com/
Womantv.com/
Ladyonline.net/
Womencare.com.cn/women/women.hts
Zjonline.com.cn/she/index.htm
Daoyi.com/
Webgrrls.com.cn/
To reach Alexa Olesen email: alexa@virtualchina.net
