Women say no to Shanghai Metro’s suggested dress policy
Rachel Ogbu
WVoN co-editor
Following a warning from Shanghai Metro authorities to “dress modestly,” women have come out in protest.
The warning came in the form of a Chinese social network post, Weibo, after a number of harassment complaints were made by women traveling by train.
The post read: “Dressing like that, it would be unusual for a lady not be harassed. There can be perverts on the subway and it’s hard to get rid of them. Please have self-respect, ladies.”
To avoid assaults by “perverts,” they advised women to dress up in a “dignified” manner. The warning sparked strong reactions, many claiming it was sexist in nature.
“I can be coquettish, but you can’t harass me,” read signs raised by protesting women commuters who believed the warnings were offensive.
“It was a fight against the company’s statement on its micro blog. We believe women have the freedom to choose what to wear, and how people dress should never be an excuse for sexual harassment,” one woman who joined the protest told the state-run China Daily.
Lan Tian, a media officer from the Shanghai Metro operations centre, defended the online warning by saying it was intended as “a kind reminder for more self-protection.
“As the city’s subway operator, we have the responsibility to warn women of the potential danger of sexual harassment on the subway,” he said.
He added that there had been an increase in the number of complaints of sexual harassment, including men exposing themselves and assaulting women.
One man was accused of ejaculating on a woman’s legs while on a train at the People’s Square Station.
The BBC reported that the majority of Internet users who responded to a Sina Weibo survey agreed that women should dress conservatively when taking public transport.
“Dressing appropriately in public is a matter of public courtesy,” said one micro blog user. ”Asking women to be self-respecting in the way they dress does not equate to justifying sexual harassment.”
Tian described reports of a protest on the underground as “sheer hype”, blaming it on a “feminist organisation.”
Women should have the right to dress scantily and the wisdom and decency not to.
Santimonious AND ignorant. Am I supposed to be impressed?
“Dressing like that, it would be unusual for a lady not be harassed. There can be perverts on the subway and it’s hard to get rid of them. Please have self-respect, ladies.” Simple logical advice.
Women dress for the occassion – party, office, meetings, etc. When they dress scantily, that occassion will be harrassment.
Men harrass women whatever they wear. It is not against the law to show off your body, just as it is not against the law for a jeweller to put gold in the windows of their shop. It is against the law for someone to lob a brick through the window and take what they want, just as it is against the law to ejaculate on someone’s leg. The offense is in the men’s behaviour, full stop. How the women are dressed is just a smoke screen for men to break the law and then try and blame someone else for their own actions.
All am saying is it is your right to display your God given “wares” – BUT it is not always a very wise choice – existence of the law not withstanding. It is your right to leave your front door open, after all there is a law against theives getting into your house and making off with your household stuff. “The offense is in the thieves’ behaviour, full stop. How you leave your front door is just a smoke screen for thieves to break the law and then try and blame someone else for their own actions.”
I don’t understand what you’re saying – harassment is less a crime, more a natural endpoint, or some sort of social occasion?
Nudity would not make a woman’s body a man’s business. And neither does their dress. You’d do well to step out from your self-aggrandizing pit of privalege and learn this.
You sound a bit confused all round, and making personal insults in a general debate means you’re a troll too.
Sorry Vicki we’re not the same person. I was making light of his pointless use of name, and no personal insults.
Ah, that explains it!! Didn’t notice the 2 in the name and thought the guy was arguing with himself and me too!
“Nudity would not make a woman’s body a man’s business. And neither does their dress.” I agree with you entirely.
Infact while I recognise that it is their right, I despise women who dress scantily. I wouldn’t even touch them with a 10 foot pole. Now that is my attitude. What is the attitude of the perverts?
The ad is not saying harrassment is a lesser crime. Neither does it say scanty dressing is an offence. It only draws your attention to the dangers associated with scanty dressing. Simple, logical advice. Take it or leave it.
Hmm, you are answering your own points so think we’ll leave it there, two against one isn’t fair, even if both of the two are in fact one person!
“I despise women who dress scantily..What is the attitude of the perverts?”
I believe they share the same contempt for women as you do. It may also be relevant to note that perverts don’t recognise themselves as such.
You know, some may consider it perverse to ‘despise’ women for their dress. The standard man-child that harrasses women is not sexually unconventional, but simply has no respect for them. Much like your good self, in fact.
Perverts, on the other hand, are driven by all manner of diverse desires, and it’s pot luck whether the state of dress of the target has any relevance at all. We had a flasher at school, who would expose himself to the (fully dressed, I assure you) girls in the playground, which, happily, they uniformly found hilarious.
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘perverts’. An overwhelmingly large part of male culture either ignores women and children altogether or where they are mentioned, it is as objects for sexual use by men in conjunction with descriptions of the women and children as some type of vermin – whores, cunts, gashes etc. The only comparable use of this type of language that I have seen is what was commonly described as propoganda by bodies such as the Nazis about Jews, the KKK about negroes and other institutionalised bodies that promote psychopathic behaviour in their members towards a group of people they wish to wipe off the face of the earth or work to death as slaves. There is little the target body of people can do to change this behaviour projected at them since it is psychopathic and done to make the projecting group feel superior within themselves. The fact that you despise women is most likely learnt behaviour from whatever media and men you mixed with as a teenager … what the women wear, how they act and how you interpret that is a symptom of your male grooming process and one that you might do better to do some personal work on in psychotherapy.
“…they are mentioned, it is as objects for sexual use by men…”
Scanty dressing says exactly that “I am a sex object”.
No, its may say that to you, it may say to someone else that this person is wearing a short skirt because she’s hot, been playing a sport, wants to show herself off to her friends, wants to feel flirty within herself … what your take is on her appearance is a result of your social grooming and individual take on that.
“..Scanty dressing says exactly that “I am a sex object”..”
..or “Gee, it’s hot today.”
“The warning came in the form of a Chinese social network post, Weibo, after a number of harassment complaints were made by women traveling by train.”
What a marvellous idea in these recessionary times. Think of the millions that could be wiped off the law and order budget, at a stroke, if, instead of investigating crimes and catching criminals, police simply issue notices telling the victims it’s all their own fault and what do they expect them to do about it?
And why stop there? The applications are endless. The NHS, for example. The whole wasteful, inefficient, cripplingly expensive system could be dismantled and replaced with one Tommy Cooper joke. ‘Doctor! Doctor! It hurts when I do this!” “Don’t do it then…. hurr hurr” Cost to the overburdened taxpayer? £0. I’m surprised Andrew Lansley hasn’t thought of it already, actually.
Just a thought. Maybe it is high time that society holds both male and female responsible. Society rules need to change. We are now charging 5.00 from men to pay to see women take off their clothes so it can go against 6k rape kits that have never gotten off dusty shelves. They know acknowlege 12 to 1 that it incites rape to have stripper bars and that is their way of making good. Lets not look at society as whole. We are so broken is it even possible to make good someday as human beings? I hang my head in doubt.
Women do not defend other women in this world. This is a huge problem. Sometimes I truly wonder who hates women more in this society Women or men. Women commit the genile mutilations, feet bindings and infant murders every day. They help their daughters marry as young children so they can be legally raped after they received money to marry them off to an old adult man. Hello world!!!