With this in mind, I began to review how the view of marriage has changed for women of my generation. More and more Gen Z women are choosing to get married later, not getting married, or even actively choosing to live as singles, refusing to see marriage as a necessary part of life. We no longer see “marriage” as a source of security, but rather seek to realize our personal values and take the initiative in life. This got me thinking: is this shift a true freedom of choice, or is it a struggle for a moment of respite from the old social structure?
In the course of my research, I stumbled upon the historical group of “self-combing women”. They lived in Guangdong a hundred years ago, refusing marriage, never marrying, and living independently through labor. At a time when the patriarchal structure was more strict, they escaped the control of the marriage system in an extreme way. Although their “non-marriage” was more of a helpless struggle than a romantic freedom, their existence opened my eyes to another possibility – women could choose to “break away from the norms”, even at great cost. But their existence opened my eyes to another possibility – women can choose to “break away from the norms”, even if it comes at a great cost.
Therefore, I decided to take the “self-combing women” as the entry point for my research, to explore the position and resistance of women in the marriage structure in different times, and to examine what the “non-marriage choice” of our generation really means.
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