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During the fight against COVID-19, Chinese state media released many reports praising medical staff for relieving public anxiety and arousing patriotism. Among them, a series of reports on female nurses shaved their heads prompted widespread public discussion and criticism because the signs were considered to be insulting.

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What are the signs in the video news of female nurses with a shaved head in Coronavirus Fight？What do these signs mean?

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A video of female medical workers crying while having their heads shaved has sparked backlash on Chinese social media, with netizens slamming it as a shameful attempt to channel the sacrifices of the country's frontline medical staff to serve a political purpose.

In the now-deleted video first published by local media, 14 female staff from the Gansu Provincial Maternity and Child Care Hospital are seen having their heads shaved before being dispatched to Hubei province and the front lines of the novel coronavirus epidemic.

Because short hair is believed to be more practical for anyone wearing protective headgear or a hazmat suit all day, some hospitals have provided haircuts for their doctors and nurses by enlisting the services of volunteer barbers.

However, because some of the women in the head-shaving video are visibly crying, netizens have questioned whether they consented to the procedure, or whether it was forced upon them.

On social app WeChat, a scathing commentary titled "Please Stop Using Women's Bodies as Propaganda Tools" has been viewed over 100,000 times, the maximum number the app displays.

"It is understandable that the frontline situation is hard and having long hair may be inconvenient, but is there really no better solution? Why don't you just let them choose a short hairstyle that they want?" the article said. "Their tears were used to reach an audience. ... I guess that's what the publicity officials want."

When reached by phone Tuesday, a staff member from the hospital's publicity department declined to comment, and calls to the leader of the medical aid team went unanswered.

Staff from Cai Bozheng's barbershop give haircuts to female medical workers who will serve on the front lines of the COVID-19 epidemic, Haikou, Hainan province, February 2020. Courtesy of Cai Bozheng

Cai Bozheng, a barbershop owner in the southern city of Haikou, told Sixth Tone that he and his staff have given haircuts to over 1,000 medical workers who were on their way to Hubei province to assist with the COVID-19 treatment and containment efforts. Not one woman asked to have her head completely shaved, the barber said.

"Yesterday, some of the female medical workers told me they thought they might need to shave their heads and asked me whether they would have to cry like those women in the news did," Cai said. "I told them there was no need - that in addition to not shaving their heads, we would give them beautiful short hairstyles."

Cai said that although long hair can be inconvenient for working on the front lines, he believes completely shaving heads is unnecessary. Instead, he and his staff have come up with several short hairstyles for the female medical workers to choose from.

A GIF shows the female medical workers from the hospital in Gansu province having their heads shaved before leaving to serve on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic. From @央视新闻 on Weibo

Sun Baihui, a researcher at Communication University of China in Beijing, believes this kind of publicity stunt demonstrates a failure to apply media ethics. People's criticism of the video isn't only about the women's heads being shaved, but also about them being used to achieve an ideological goal, she said.

"In the beginning, we were touched by these stories because they were authentic and real," Sun told Sixth Tone. "The problem is, after those videos, our media started seeking out those kinds of stories, which completely changed their nature."

Sun also believes such videos point to a bigger problem. The real issue, she says, is the patriarchal logic behind the "self-sacrifice rhetoric" that some Chinese media outlets are so eagerly appropriating.

"Some of our media really like the 'self-sacrifice' trope ... with the logic being the use of sacrifice to make the aim seem noble," Sun said. "The video suggests the most important value for a woman is her hair - which symbolizes beauty and sex appeal - rather than her professional capacity as a medical worker."

This is not the first case of female frontline medical workers being treated inappropriately. Last week, Sixth Tone wrote about hospitals and health authorities overlooking women's needs for feminine hygiene products, and there have also been reports of pregnant women being summoned to Hubei, as well as frontline women being given progesterone to delay menstruation.
Editor: David Paulk. (Header image: A nurse has her head shaved before leaving to serve on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic, Tianjin, Feb. 9, 2020. Zhang Yuqi/Xinhua)

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A video of female medical workers crying while having their heads shaved has sparked backlash on Chinese social media, with netizens slamming it as a shameful attempt to channel the sacrifices of the country's frontline medical staff to serve a political purpose.

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Semiotics analysis

Semiotics explores the logic and methodology behind communication and shows how we can understand systematically, through the semiotic method, what communications mean. Semiotics suits my research because Chinese media reports of female nurses shaving their heads have apparent symbolic features. Through semiotics, we can find out the signs in the news and analyse the inner meaning of these signs, so as to understand the causes of negative public comments.

Research process：

1.     Denotative level: Identify the signs in the screenshots.

2.     Connotative level: Identify the connotative meanings of signs.

3.     Mythic/Ideological level: identify the naturalised worldviews or ideologies.

4.     Combining the decomposition of the previous three levels, reinterpret the sample as a whole.

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1.     Denotative level-Signs：14 female nurses with shaved heads，1 male doctor with short hair，Medical staff with ambiguous gender，Tears of female nurses，Nurse uniform，Ordinary medical mask, N95 mask，Protective cap，Cheering gesture，Hospital

2.     Connotative level- connotative meanings of signs：

Official news report，ritual report

The period of COVID-19，

Shaving is the preparation before going to the epidemic area，

Involuntary behavior?

The unequal treatment of male and female medical staff. （Different masks, hair length）

3.     Mythic/Ideological level- the mythic/ideological meaning：

Women's spirit of sacrifice，

Oppression and materialisation of women，

The rudeness of the execution of orders by grass roots departments，

Amplify gender opposition，

Media lack of human care，

Women's body and politics.

……

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Since the outbreak of the epidemic, Chinese state media have tried to adjust social sentiments with reports promoting personal sacrifices. Through semiotic analysis, such reports create a lot of moving, ignore the perspective of human nature, magnify gender opposition, and use women as objectified propaganda tools. Media organizations must follow the standards of authenticity and humanity when constructing social identity to avoid moral problems.

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This research selects the screenshots of the video report of Gansu daily reprinted by the SIXTH TONE as the sample. The number of samples is less than 10, and the sampling standard is to cover all the signs that need to be explained.

Example：

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1.Calvet, L. J. (1994). Roland Barthes: A Biography. Indiana University Press.

2.O’Shaughnessy, M. and Stadler, J. (2012) ‘Semiology’ in Media and Society, 5th ed. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 131-143
3.Barthes, R. (2006). Myth today. Cultural theory and popular culture: a reader, 3, 293-302.