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<p>Body-focused anxiety refers to a wide range of negative emotional and social experiences centered around discontent with one’s own body. This widely recognized phenomenon is mainly experienced by women across different contexts, often resulting from gendered socialization (Becker (1995) Body, self, and society: the view from Fiji. University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 2016). In modern Chinese society, it is important to understand these complex experiences within the quickly changing social landscape and ideas of womanhood. This study goes beyond clinical settings and the scope of mental illness (such as disordered eating or body dysmorphia) to include a variety of embodied experiences, including gender-related stress, negative self-awareness, and struggles in intimate relationships in the daily lives of young Chinese women. To grasp the current generation’s body-focused anxiety, this research suggests examining it through the lens of intergenerational trauma, particularly the embodiment of patriarchal injustice reflected in the deeply connected relationship between Chinese mothers and daughters. Over 7 years, this article presents person-centered ethnography to show that some of the most intense body-focused anxiety among young women is an intergenerationally shaped existential crisis rooted in their mothers’ upbringing within an explicit son-preference culture. As part of the intergenerational trauma, the body-focused anxiety is driven by (1) the mothers’ unresolved girlhood trauma of being “born into the wrong gender”; (2) the desire to fulfill social obligations, which reflects both intergenerational trauma and the gender-specific challenges faced in a changing patriarchy. This analysis emphasizes that body-focused anxiety is not just a reaction to current social pressures, but a reflection of identities shaped across generations. It reveals that “becoming women” in a specific cultural context is transhistorical and closely linked to unresolved traumas from previous generations. Manifesting in different forms, understanding young women’s body-focused anxiety from an intergenerational trauma perspective highlights how ongoing social forces are embodied even as cultural norms and social structures change.</p>

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But My Mother Is Beautiful: Understanding Body-Focused Anxiety Among Chinese Young Women as an Embodiment of Intergenerational Trauma

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  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年10月16日

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  • Hua Wu

摘要

Body-focused anxiety refers to a wide range of negative emotional and social experiences centered around discontent with one’s own body. This widely recognized phenomenon is mainly experienced by women across different contexts, often resulting from gendered socialization (Becker (1995) Body, self, and society: the view from Fiji. University of Pennsylvania Press, p. 2016). In modern Chinese society, it is important to understand these complex experiences within the quickly changing social landscape and ideas of womanhood. This study goes beyond clinical settings and the scope of mental illness (such as disordered eating or body dysmorphia) to include a variety of embodied experiences, including gender-related stress, negative self-awareness, and struggles in intimate relationships in the daily lives of young Chinese women. To grasp the current generation’s body-focused anxiety, this research suggests examining it through the lens of intergenerational trauma, particularly the embodiment of patriarchal injustice reflected in the deeply connected relationship between Chinese mothers and daughters. Over 7 years, this article presents person-centered ethnography to show that some of the most intense body-focused anxiety among young women is an intergenerationally shaped existential crisis rooted in their mothers’ upbringing within an explicit son-preference culture. As part of the intergenerational trauma, the body-focused anxiety is driven by (1) the mothers’ unresolved girlhood trauma of being “born into the wrong gender”; (2) the desire to fulfill social obligations, which reflects both intergenerational trauma and the gender-specific challenges faced in a changing patriarchy. This analysis emphasizes that body-focused anxiety is not just a reaction to current social pressures, but a reflection of identities shaped across generations. It reveals that “becoming women” in a specific cultural context is transhistorical and closely linked to unresolved traumas from previous generations. Manifesting in different forms, understanding young women’s body-focused anxiety from an intergenerational trauma perspective highlights how ongoing social forces are embodied even as cultural norms and social structures change.