#MeToo

A Chinese company’s new video advertisement for women’s makeup remover wipes has been savagely panned by online critics, forcing the ad to be pulled and the company apologizing twice. Purcotton, owned by Winner Medical Co., released the video last week on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, showing a young girl scaring off a would-be attacker with her naked makeup-free face after using the cleansing wipes. The 26-second video ad was pulled after online users denounced it as “demonizing” female sexual assault victims. The offending ad showed a young woman walking down a street at night followed by a masked man. As the stalker gets closer, the woman pulls out a cleansing wipe to quickly re

In a darkened room, pieces of paper with pencils stabbed through the middle tell the stories of sexual abuse and harassment. On the floor, speakers play a loop of monologues from victims. In another corner, a giant mosaic spells the English word “Resist.” These are installations at an exhibit named “Her Story – Eliminating Gender Violence 2020,” an exhibition launched by feminism activists in Beijing that ran between November 25 and December 1.  The display followed their #MeToo exhibit last year that was displayed in five locations across China, said one of the curators, who only wants to be referred to as Jing. China’s #MeToo movement started in 2018, when Luo Xixi, a Beihang University gr

China’s education department issued a new regulation on November 11 banning postgraduate tutors from having “improper” relations with students to prevent instances of exploitation.  Postgraduate tutors are often treated as guiding mentors, or even employers, by students who face immense pressure to achieve high marks in China’s notoriously high-pressure academic culture. The relationship dynamic has resulted in sexual misconduct or bullying from teachers, and in some cases resulted in the student committing suicide.  The directive banned tutors from the following violations, among others: Humiliating their students Using their students to apply for research grants Willfully postponing stud

Despite arrests and censorship campaigns, China’s #MeToo movement has succeeded in shedding light on problems of sexual harassment in the country, particularly in universities.  In once such recent case, a former vice-president of a top Chinese university was fired over allegations of sexual harassment after a six-month-long investigation.  Cai Xiang also faces charges of corruption and has been stripped of his Communist Party membership.  China’s education disciplinary commission and the party’s disciplinary watchdog for Beijing municipality found that Cai Xiang had maintained “inappropriate sexual relationships with several women, accepted bribes and misused public funds.” In July 2018, a