The Horrors of Men's Abuse of Power

Living life as a woman in this world is an extremely difficult thing to do. I wouldn't exactly call myself a femanist and I know that I am only just starting out on my life journey, however I have faced male enforced issues since youth.

My male counterparts in the band constantly petitioned to the band director that I shouldn't be 1st saxaphone (The best part in the song, because I am #1 when it comes to music) from the time I began playing in middle school until my highschool graduation day. Then we have the boys that made and still make lewd offers and touch me innapropriately without my permission. After I complained to the school staff that some boys kept trying to flip up my skirt, some of them told me that that is just how boys are, and that now I know not to wear a skirt again. The list of offences from our male counterparts go on and on.

Of course it is not every single man on this planet that is this way, but they do not help our plight. It seems like they simply don't understand what we go through mentally, or emotionally. Even when we tell the world how it makes us feel, and that we should not have to hide or stop what we're doing to stop men from harrassing us, we are shut down and ridiculed. Which is why many women are scared to speak up. I used to be one of them. But to be honest, you don't need to wear a crop top and shorts to be harrassed. There have been times where I wore a giant hoodie or just regular blue jeans and still get harrased. What are they going to say then? Ban blue jeans? I was asking for it with that baggy hoodie on? The next stange man to grab my butt is getting slapped with an Iphone 11.

Women already have to struggle for equal pay, but in Mainland China, the situation is even worse. When interviewing a woman, it is the norm to ask about her plans to get married and have a baby. No company wants a woman who will need time off to bear a child. God forbid it not be a baby boy. (Note the sarcasm) China is recently having a surge in #Metoo occurences, spearheaded by the Kris Wu scandal that you can read below.

Alibaba Scandal

For the female employee whom we will call "A", the client dinner in July began like any other. A lot of drinking and being the only female present. For those who do not know, business drinking is a cultural phenomenon that happens in a lot of different countries. China is one of those countries.

"Look how good I am to you. I brought you a beautiful girl," "A" recalled her male manager telling their clients when she arrived at the meal. The next day, she says she woke up naked in her hotel room. The room was in disarray, her underwear was missing, and on the nightstand was a used condom. Apparently the hotel security footage reviewed by the police the next day showed her former Alibaba manager dragging her into her hotel, requesting a copy of her room card and letting himself into her room. The last thing she remembered that night was crying while her manager lay on top of her.

Jinan city police said in a statement that they believe the woman was "sexually abused" by her Alibaba manager and a company client at a company dinner. Despite their belief that she had been groped, they claimed that there was no evidence the manager had raped the woman, as she had accused him of doing in the 11-page essay uploaded Aug. 7 onto the internal message board. Nor did they find evidence to support her claim that she had been forced to go on the work trip and then forced to drink at the company dinner. However they do go on to say that the security footage shows the manager entered "A"'s hotel room multiple times and molested her. According to police, the following morning, the manager entered the room with a box of condoms, which remained unopened. When he left, he took a pair of her underwear. The 11 page essay which was later to become viral online was sent to the internal message board, it included the names of those involved. What I cannot tolerate is how noone reached out to help, leaving her traumatized and alone.

When "A" returned to work, her manager pretended nothing had happened. The woman approached two other managers to report the incident, however they refused to take action saying, "Our work is very important. Why should such a small incident derail something so important?" Both managers have resigned since then.

"A" attempted to share her story in work chat groups, but her messages were quickly deleted. Frustrated, she brought a loudspeaker to the Alibaba canteen, hoping to broadcast her allegations to other employees, only to be quickly surrounded by dozens of office security guards.

"A" who was probably already feeling a mixture of confusion, depression, and fury dipped even further and began harming herself. She said "I thought about those disgusting people doing those disgusting things to me, and I really felt like I could not live anymore."

Alibaba says it is in the process of creating an anti-sexual assault policy and a safe channel for employees to report these events, however it puzzles me as to why such things did not exist from the get go. I cannot imagine how many ladies have had to go through this and either hold their tongue to suffer in silence, or be fired and blacklisted for speaking up. The saying is better late than never, but some things need to be done in a timely matter, and this is one of them.

The police go on to say, that confirming certain details would be "difficult" because they occurred in the "secret space" of a closed hotel room. I know there are many of us that recognize this nonsense. The police make up lies and excuses all the time in an attempt to cover up what actually happens.

TV Host Scandal

Xiao, who also works in the TV industry, had been internet friends with Qian for months before meeting for the first time on Valentine’s Day in 2019 with a few other friends of his in Shanghai, she said. They had dinner and drinks, then went to karaoke before Qian took her to his home and allegedly raped her, she alleged in her Weibo post. Attached to the post were several video clips and screenshots of their online conversation before and after the alleged incident.

Xiao called the police after the incident, but she claims police refused to investigate due to insufficient evidence. A few weeks ago now, she decided to pressure the police for another probe on social media after consulting a lawyer.

Shanghai police said in a statement overnight that it launched an investigation after Xiao called the police in 2019, however Xiao said that “he confessed in front of me in the interrogation room that he raped me, which had been recorded by the police,” The police claim to have notified her of their decision not to file the case after a month had passed, as there was not enough evidence to support her allegation. Obviously, she demanded an explanation from police about why they refused to file a case given the evidence. To which they replied "Xiao didn’t apply for reconsideration within the following seven days, as she was entitled to." “If she has new evidence now, she can provide it to the police. A probe can be relaunched according to the law.”

So far, the only action taken is that Qian’s employer, Hunan Satellite TV, issued a statement saying he would be suspended until an official investigation is completed.

The police never denied that he confessed. Simply that there was not enough evidence. This is yet another case of the police's amoral mindset. You can tell by observing their lackluster behaviors.

Hopefully the rise in #Metoo movements around the globe leads to a beautifully bright future with equal rights for all, no matter your gender or interests.

Thank you for reading.