Men in ladies’ lingerie slip past Chinese censors

CHINESE lingerie firms are using male models after censors blocked images of women wearing the undergarments in internet shopping broadcasts.

After censors cut short several livestreamed shopping sessions featuring female influencers in lingerie, online shops replaced them with male models.

Videos of men wearing lacy bodysuits, silk nightgowns and push-up bras are now circulating on Chinese social media. “This is not an attempt at sarcasm,” an online retailer who identified himself as Mr Xu told Jiupai News. “Everyone is being very serious about complying with the rules.

“We don’t really have a choice. The designs can’t be modelled by our female colleagues, so we will use our male colleagues to model them.”

A video livestreamed by Mr Xu’s company on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, in December showing a male model in a silky robe, attracted thousands of reactions from users. “The guy wears it better than the girl,” one wrote.

In other Douyin videos, female models wore lingerie on top of T-shirts. In one, a male model was shown wearing a lace-trimmed slip dress alongside a woman clad in long-sleeved pyjamas.

A law against spreading obscene materials, passed more than 30 years ago, applies to media including books, films, videos and pictures. More recently, a code of conduct released in July 2020 by the state-supported China Advertising Association bans “illegal or vulgar content” from livestreams.

The Chinese livestream shopping sector is expected to reach $720 billion (£598 billion) this year, according to marketing agency iresearch.

Livestreaming sales account for about 10 per cent of the country’s e-commerce revenue, says management consultancy Mckinsey.

‘Everyone is being very serious about complying with the rules. We don’t really have a choice’