Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026

A Real-Time Interactive System for Studying Confrontational Pursuit Behavior in Rodents
Published on: May 16, 2025
My Sassy Girl: a qualitative study of women's aggression in dating relationships in Beijing
Xiying Wang1, Petula, Sik Ying Ho
1University of Hong Kong.
Abstract:
The Korean film My Sassy Girl was very popular among young people in urban China in 2001. After the release of the movie, the new image of the "sassy girl" emerged in different media. This study uses the media image of the sassy girl as a stimulus material in interviews and focus groups to explore how young men and women make sense of women's aggression in dating relationships. This qualitative study is mainly based on two focus groups and in-depth interviews with 20 informants (13 female and 7 male). The study sheds light on how the competing and multilayered discourses in contemporary China regarding gender, love, and sex have left some space for young adults to justify women's aggression in dating relationships. We see how young adults in Beijing situate themselves within this set of social cultural discourses and make use of them to "do" their gender through their aggressive behavior and interactions with each other. New images of men and women are thereby created.
Related Concept Videos
Relationship Formation
Aggression
Jealousy in Romantic Relationships
Socioemotional Experience and Gender Development
Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
Cross-Sectional Research

