Nowhere girls

{{Multiple issues|{{Cleanup rewrite|date=November 2014}}

{{More citations needed|date=July 2022}}}}

"Nowhere girls" or "Mei Nü" ({{Lang-zh|c=沒女|p=méi nǚ}}) is a neologism coined to describe women who have no money, employment, education, prospects, looks, friends, or sophistication.{{cite news | title = TV show Nowhere Girls is nasty name-calling dressed up as entertainment.| date = 18 August 2014 | url = http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1574261/tv-show-nowhere-girls-nasty-name-calling-dressed | work = South China Morning Post}} The pronunciation of "nowhere girls" is homophonic{{efn|See Standard_Chinese_phonology#Third_tone_sandhi}} with "beautiful girls" ({{Lang-zh|c=美女|p=měi nǚ}}) in Mandarin Chinese.{{cite news|last=呂|first=書練|url=http://paper.wenweipo.com/2014/09/04/OT1409040011.htm|title=獨家風景：大家都是沒女|date=4 September 2014|work=Wen Wei Po}}

The term, which has strong pejorative connotations, is used to characterise women who refuse to conform to male expectations and are therefore thought to be unattractive by men. It may be a calque of a South Korean term,{{Citation needed|reason=This term is not "real" in Korean, but has been used after the TV programme's release.|date=June 2024}} it spread to Hong Kong via China, and became popularised through its use in a reality show called Nowhere Girls, which was broadcast by Television Broadcasts Limited. This show has aroused much public discussion on this topic.{{cite web|last=徐|first=詠璇|title=「沒女」有道義?|url=http://www1.hkej.com/dailynews/arts/article/741650/%E3%80%8C%E6%B2%92%E5%A5%B3%E3%80%8D%E6%9C%89%E9%81%93%E7%BE%A9%3F|date=11 October 2014|work=Hong Kong Economic Journal|access-date=30 October 2014|archive-date=30 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030141616/http://www1.hkej.com/dailynews/arts/article/741650/%E3%80%8C%E6%B2%92%E5%A5%B3%E3%80%8D%E6%9C%89%E9%81%93%E7%BE%A9%3F|url-status=dead}}

Description

In the TV programme Nowhere Girls, women are called "nowhere girls" because they are lazy, selfish, short-tempered, rude to others, unfashionable and self-deluded.{{cite web| title=沒女大翻身簡介 | url= http://programme.tvb.com/variety/nowheregirls/ | publisher=TVB.COM }}

Characteristics

Don't conform to traditional expectations of beauty{{cite news|last=Siu|first=Jasmine|title= Hit reality TV show blasted

|url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?art_id=148232&con_type=3 |newspaper=The Standard|date=11 August 2014|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20141030142317/https://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?art_id=148232&con_type=3 |archivedate=30 October 2014}}{{cite web| title=甚麼是「沒女」|date=29 July 2014| url=https://beauty.ulifestyle.com.hk/girlstalk/love/5814/%E7%94%9A%E9%BA%BC%E6%98%AF-%E6%B2%92%E5%A5%B3|work= U Beauty.|url-status=live|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20240705221944/https://beauty.ulifestyle.com.hk/girlstalk/love/5814/%E7%94%9A%E9%BA%BC%E6%98%AF-%E6%B2%92%E5%A5%B3|archivedate=5 July 2024}}

Unemployed or have low income
Lack social competence
Tend to escape reality
Self-centered, deny any problems of themselves
Emotional or short-tempered
Dependent

Causes

=Family=

As nowhere girls experience distinct family affairs, leaving them psychologically hurt. Moreover, Hong Kong has low birth rates from time to time,{{cite web |url=http://www.citymetric.com/horizons/hong-kong-s-low-birth-rate-blamed-women-s-sexual-problems-343 |title=Hong Kong's low birth rate blamed on women's "sexual problems" |last1=Speed |first1=Barbara |date=30 September 2014 |work=CityMetric}} leading to single-child families. They become the treasure of their parents. They are pampered and spoiled,{{cite web|url=http://edu.sina.com.hk/news/42/4/1/77629/1.html|title=Hong Kong kids|date=28 December 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223828/http://edu.sina.com.hk/news/42/4/1/77629/1.html|archivedate=2 December 2013}} which results in weakened coping abilities. In addition, children nowadays engage in less communication with their parents who are always out for work, and thus children receive less parental mental support.{{cite news | last = 何 | first = 詩韻 | title = 少溝通損孩子情緒礙發展 | date = 10 May 2013 | url = http://www.hket.com/eti/article/a59a6bb7-0f47-4d59-93e0-3d25e68ecef0-430214 | work = Hong Kong Economic Times | access-date = 30 October 2014 | archive-date = 13 November 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141113022254/http://www.hket.com/eti/article/a59a6bb7-0f47-4d59-93e0-3d25e68ecef0-430214 | url-status = dead }}

Media

=TV programme=

Nowhere Girls ({{zh|links=no|c=沒女大翻身}}) is a reality show produced by Television Broadcasts Limited. It was broadcast in August 2014 and there are 20 episodes in total. The show focuses on seven women who are described as "have nots" and each of them is said to represent one of "seven deadly sins", including laziness, selfishness, ugliness and being a recent mainland immigrant etc.{{cite news|last1=Chow|first1=Vivienne|last2=Nip|first2=Amy|last3=Lau|first3=Jessie|title= Discrimination turns critics off TVB 'reality' hit|url= http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1568567/discrimination-turns-critics-tvb-reality-hit|newspaper=The South China Morning Post|date=8 August 2014}} This programme stirred up much controversy since it discriminated against so-called "Mei Nu" and brought out wrong messages – "makeovers, working with fitness trainers and life coaches can lead to better lives"{{cite news|last=Wu|first=Alice|title=TV show Nowhere Girls is nasty name-calling dressed up as entertainment|url=http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1574261/tv-show-nowhere-girls-nasty-name-calling-dressed|newspaper=The South China Morning Post|date=18 August 2014}} to the audience.

There were also suspicions that seven women got paid to act and some incidents were staged.{{cite news|last1=Chow|first1=Vivienne|last2=Nip|first2=Amy|last3=Lau|first3=Jessie|title= Discrimination turns critics off TVB 'reality' hit|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1568567/discrimination-turns-critics-tvb-reality-hit|newspaper=The South China Morning Post|date=8 August 2014}} Moreover, the show hurt the professional image of psychologists in Hong Kong because Wong Hoi-man, who is a clinical psychologist and the guest counsellor of Nowhere Girls, handled cases in improper ways. It led to misunderstandings towards therapeutic techniques of qualified psychologists.{{cite news|last=Siu|first=Jasmine|title= Hit reality TV show blasted

|url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?art_id=148232&con_type=3 |newspaper=The Standard|date=11 August 2014}}