The Dark Side of Sunlight: Campus sexual contact looms large over students

By Peggie Zhong, Annie Zhang, Christina Deng, Will Wei, Stella Wei, Zeng Xuanyi

“I’ve already taken the morning-after pill twice in just this year.”

The phrase, which was written in an 18-year-old girl’s WeChat Moments posted on Sep.19, 2020, reveals the girl’s unwanted sex experience with one of her classmates during the high school period.

Sexual assault among students is far closer to us than we think. According to the girl’s post, the boy being openly condemned was enrolled at UIC this semester through the College Entrance Exam, while she was yet to recover from the painful memories, suffering severe depression as well as PTSD.

According to a survey conducted by the All-China Women's Federation among 15 universities in Beijing and Nanjing, 44.3% of the 1,200 college students has reported to experienced sexual harassment. Students are increasingly drawn into the shadow of sexual harassment by the tide of times.

Low-ageing of sexual behaviour

“Many of my peers and I don’t take the 18-year-old boundary too serious. We just start our first intercourse when we think it’s the right timing,”

said Yu Zhang who first had sex at 17, after being with her boyfriend for more than a half year.

GUYU Data, an organization focusing on big data under Tencent News, released the 2020 survey report on “Sex and Love” which collected 31,186 valid samples among Chinese young people on Aug. 24, 2020. The report shows that adults born after 2000, who were 18, 19, or 20 at the time of the survey (in their final year of high school or their first year of college) had a significantly higher frequency of sex, with 80.5% have had sex and double the number of those born in the 1990s.

According to the White Book on Prosecution Involving Juveniles released by Supreme People’s Procuratorate on June 1, 2020, the number of rape cases has risen by 101.85% from 2016 to 2019 and rape is now accounting for 21% of all juvenile crimes.

The investigation group has carefully reviewed all 2315 available sexual assault court cases from 2018 to September 2020 documented in the PKULaw legal information databases. In the context of common law, Article 236 and 237 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China has defined sexual assault to any crime in which the offender subjects the victim to sexual touching that is unwanted and offensive.

Maria Fabrizio for NPR

According to the independent data analysis by the reporting group, 701 cases’ victims were under the age of 18, which account for more than 30%. Only 37 out of the 701 underage cases happened at campuses or educational institutions, and 7 cases’ victims aged between 14 and 18, establishing two rape charges, four indecency charges, one administrative punishment. None of those happened between schoolmates.

As of the perpetrators, only 12 of which were minors; and two out of three cases happened between acquaintances.

“Having sex earlier than 18 might result in two extremes in adulthood: sexual exclusion or promiscuous sexual relationships,”

said Yue Jihui, a psychiatry doctor from the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai, address on the long-term wound to the youth after being sexually harassed.

Strive for limited access to get help

“I just want to know, if a man touches a girl without her consent in this country, will he face legal liability?”

said Xianzi, a former intern from China Central Television, who accused the famous TV host Zhu Jun of sexual harassment during her internship period.

Xianzi was 21 in 2014, still in college, when she confronted 50-year-old Zhu Jun. Not until Dec.2, 2020, Xianzi versus Zhu Jun case finally began its first trial in Beijing Haidian People’s Court.

On December 2, 2020, Xianzi cried while speaking to supporters outside the Haidian District People’s Court. Photo by: Andy Wong/AP/Dazhi Video

Being regarded as a milestone of China’s #METOO movement, her struggles with the legal process provide a microcosm into the oppression that students are in a vulnerable group towards all kinds of sex-related offences.

Difficulties in obtaining adequate evidence for filing a case is the most challenging part in handling sexual assault cases involving minors, especially without timely reporting, according to Li Qing, the deputy director of the Seventh Procuratorial department of Yinzhou District Procuratorate, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province said in an interview with Zhejiang Legal Journal in April 2020. “In many cases, minors will inadvertently wash their bodies and clothes, which leads to the lack of objective evidence such as biological materials for the verdict,” said Li.

When reviewing carefully over the 37 campus-related sexual harassment cases in recent three years, the reporter found the most frequently seen incident sites are teachers’ private office, empty dormitory, equipment room, reading corner and stair corner. The spots where cases occur are relatively hidden, and it isn’t easy to get direct evidence such as on-site monitoring and eyewitnesses afterwards.

Chinese women, inspired by the #MeToo campaign, have come forward with their own stories. Photo by: SCMP

Among these 37 campus-related cases, one defender's rape accuse was denied by the court. The case, which victim was a 17-year-old girl surnamed Zhang, was brought to the hallway near the stairwell and raped by perpetrator Li Shuhua when attending a party on Jan. 21, 2018. Li has kissed and touched Zhang's breast forcedly, despite the victim had tried to resist his touch; the perpetrator then further conducted sexual intercourse with the victim forcedly and ejaculated extracorporeally.

Li Shuhua has defended himself by claiming sexual intercourse was conducted under the victim’s consent, and further argued the rape accuse should not establish since his genital didn’t insert into the victim’s vagina.

At the judge, the court considered the evidence that Zhang provided were not solid enough to prove that she clearly refused the defendant’s act. Especially when the victim had sexual experiences before, she was regarded to have cognition over sex and should resist or call for help if she was unwilling to have sex with the defendant.

Such a typical case has shown how a hidden spot and lack of resisting evidence could block unwanted sexual experience from being considered as rape in the court.

“As a lawyer, I could only read the pieces of evidence that one submitted to the court. If the client can’t produce a certificate issued by the hospital, there is little we can do when facing inadequate evidence.”

Zhou Junhong, a criminal lawyer from Shenzhen who has dealt with several sexual harassment cases, agreed that the lack of evidence is burdening victims to find proper legal resources.

Social consciousness lagging

China’s legislation took one step forward when the term “sex education” first appeared in China’s freshly revised Law on the Protection of Minors.

Adopted with a vote at the 22nd Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress on Oct. 17, 2020, the adaption will come into force in next June.

However, the long-time silent on the subject making it hard for parents and schools to conduct sex education over children.

“I never thought of mentioning sex with my children, it was too hard,”

said Yue Jihui, the psychiatry doctor from the Fifth Affiliated Hospital. He mentioned that as a father, he felt weird to talk about sex protection towards his 5-year-old daughter, despite he is a professional doctor who undergone long-term medical training. The situation could only be worse in traditional families.

“I have been pointed at my nose by my parents, shouting desperately over me why I became a slut,” Qiqi, a victim of campus sexual harassment recalls the messy days in her family after she stood out to reveal the sexual harassment she faces. Her conservative family did not support the way she spoke up publicly calling for help, and regarded it as a shame.

Feng Caiqin, a psychiatry doctor from Guangdong Second Provincial Central Hospital, indicated that it is hard to distinguish sexual harassment from emotional dispute for victims who had sexual affairs with the assaulters. “Sometimes, patients’ characteristics lead them to find psychological sustenance from others, especially those from devoid of family care. Without patients to express explicit reluctance during that time, it’s hard to define,” she said.

The media agencies also downplay reports of on-campus sex harassment cases.

“We do this kind of case cautiously because nowadays there have been so many reversals on the Internet,”

Hai Yang, a journalist from The Beijing News, explained why he and other journalists are unwilling to cover similar cases. “I would say in fact these cases are so commonly seen in the campus of Chinese high school; but for the reaching of justice, the victim has to stand out to grab the public’s attention or collect all the evidence by herself, which is almost impossible for an underage girl—and we can’t report that.”

An icon of campus sex crimes victim speaking up for justice is Stanford sex assault victim, known as ‘Emily Doe’ in the court. She disclosed her real name Chanel Miller three years later through an autobiography Know My Name, whose powerful victim-impact statement to her attacker Brock Turner went viral. Her brave action also triggered a change in California’s sentencing law, with Biden commented: “You have given them the strength they need to fight.”

However, once victims step into the public domain to reveal their experiences, their whole life turn upside down and even the bravest action doesn’t necessarily get justice.

“I can’t sleep alone at night without having a light on because I have nightmares of being touched where I cannot wake up. For three months, I went to bed at six o’clock in the morning”, wrote Miller’s in her cogent explanatory statement.

Advocate for campus protection

A couple was hugging in UIC campu Photo provided by Jia Zijing

“As long as sex education is in the law, it is a positive sign, giving scholars, the media and people from all walks of life the right and space to publicly interpret, discuss and study it,” Liu Wenli, head of the sex education research group at Beijing Normal University said to The Beijing News on Dec.10, 2020.

“There are shadows behind the sunlight. We should not shy away from sex,”

Prof Mao Yaqing, Vice President of BNU-HKBU United International College, holds the same opinion.

In the “AIDS” theme activity called “Global solidarity, Shared responsibility” on Nov.30, 2020, Prof Mao said, “We want to arouse students’ awareness of precaution rather than spending serval times’ efforts after the sexual harassment already took place.” And a series of activities aiming at sexual education was carried out on the campus in early December.

Prof. Guo Haipeng, the head of the Whole Person Education Office, where it is specifically in charge of sex education, explained how a sexual harassment case would be processed in UIC. “When a student feels he or she has experienced sexual harassment on the campus, she can go to any teacher she trusts and the teacher will report to the Student Affairs Office immediately. After a certain procedure, it will be targeted for solving.” Guo said, emphasizing that the school departments will collect all necessary evidence to submit to the Student Disciplinary Committee (SDC) for hearing.

But the process Guo mentioned was adopted from the Procedures of Handling Sexual Harassment Complaint, which a select committee for Sexual Harassment Complaints (CSHC) has been established in handling the sexual harassment complaints against staff members. No policy or procedure can be queried upon cases among students on the school website.

“Indeed, there is no regulation dealing with students who have been accused of sexual harassment by his classmates so far,” Guo admitted, “it might be discussed separately by SDC.”

[Yu Zhang and Qiqi were pseudonyms in protecting the interviewees.]

[The reporting team does not encourage students to conduct extreme acts like suicide attempts when encountering any unwanted sexual contact. If you or your friend needs help, please contact via the following hotlines]

📍Hong Kong:

The Hong Kong Samaritan Association for the Prevention of Suicide Hotline: 2389 2222

Samaritan Hotline (Multilingual): 2896 0000

Life Hotline: 2382 0000

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Zhi Ruo Yuen Hotline: 18281

Caritas Xiangqing Hotline: 18288

📍Macau:

Caritas Life Hotline: 28525222 (Chinese) / 2852 5777 (foreign language)

📍Taiwan:

Suicide Prevention Guardian-An Xin Line: 1925

Lifeline Talking Line: 1995

Teacher Zhang’s special line: 1980

📍Mainland China:

Hope 24 hotline: 4001619995