In 2018, Xiaoxuan determined to share her traumatic expertise on the favored Chinese language social networking web site WeChat. ({Photograph}: AP)
A Chinese language courtroom on Wednesday is listening to a landmark sexual harassment case in opposition to one of many nation’s strongest TV hosts, almost six years after the incident occurred.
Zhou Xiaoxuan, 27, sparked a storm on social media in 2018 when she accused tv host Zhu Jun of forcibly kissing and groping her whereas she was working at state broadcaster CCTV as an intern.
Denying all wrongdoing, Zhu Jun filed a defamation swimsuit in opposition to her for damaging his repute and psychological properly being, BBC reported. “I’m very nervous,” Xiaoxuan advised AFP, hours forward of the listening to. “However whether or not we win or lose the case, it has which means.”
Learn| From chatroom to courtroom: China’s #MeToo movement takes legal turn
A big crowd gathered exterior the Haidian individuals’s courtroom forward of the listening to, carrying posters with ‘#MeToo’ plastered throughout them. In keeping with studies by native media, the police tried to persuade the group to disperse and even appeared to forcibly take away a minimum of one international journalist masking the listening to, The Guardian reported.
Supporters of Zhou Xiaoxuan, identified on-line as Xianzi, holding banners exterior Haidian Folks’s Court docket forward of her listening to. Two years in the past, she accused a outstanding CCTV host of sexual harassment, sparking a web-based storm. pic.twitter.com/Iog3OnfZMi
— Beiyi Seow (@beiyis) December 2, 2020
In 2018, impressed by the slew of girls who took to social media to accuse now-beleaguered American producer Harvey Weinstein of rape and sexual misconduct, Xiaoxuan, too, determined to share her expertise on the favored Chinese language social networking web site WeChat.
Learn| Asian entertainment industries grappling with #MeToo issues
Xiaoxuan’s 3,000 phrase private essay shortly went viral on social media after her pal, an NGO employee named Xu Cha, shared it on her Weibo account, BBC reported. She mentioned that when she complained to the police and tried to report the case, she was advised that her allegations would spoil the repute would spoil the repute of the state broadcaster and damage the emotions of Zhu Jun’s followers.
Whereas China’s first-ever civil code, which was handed earlier this 12 months, expanded the authorized definition of sexual harassment, ladies are nonetheless reluctant to return ahead and additionally it is uncommon for these circumstances to succeed in courtroom. “I hope my case will assist progress China’s authorized system,” Zhou advised AFP.
“These [experiences] make you’re feeling like your existence may be very insignificant,” she advised AFP. “Even when I needed to expertise this another time, I don’t remorse it. I feel all of that is nonetheless significant.”
