抛头露面

Origin and story

Ming fiction documents the expression against social expectations that respectable women should avoid public exposure. Chapter thirty-two of Investiture of the Gods uses the reversed form lu mian pao tou: Huang Tianhua worries that his absent mother could be brought before the authorities and publicly exposed. This is the novel's fictional setting and reflects its restrictive assumptions about women.

The exact modern order also appears in The Plum in the Golden Vase, where a woman hesitates to bring a complaint in public. Later usage applies to anyone appearing before an audience or attracting public attention. It does not require accepting those earlier restrictions.