Foreign PSA Under Fire for Warning Women Not to Dress ‘Too Sexily’
A sex-education leaflet that basically equates promiscuity and “dressing too sexily” — strictly on the part of young women, of course — has been the topic of derision on Facebook ever since someone who spotted it and took offense and posted it there.
“I can’t believe it’s the year 2017,” wrote Kitty Hung about the campaign, by Hong Kong’s Department of Health, in her Wednesday post, which has since received more than a million and a half reactions and 700 shares.
Hung’s post and its 100-plus comments are all in Chinese — as is the sex-ed poster, the original publication date of which is unclear — but translations, including those by the English-language Hong Kong Free Press, point out that it offers the following bits of sexist, outdated advice regarding sexual risks and safety (with illustrations showing that it’s the women who are being spoken to here): Adolescents should avoid premarital sex by “not dressing too sexily” and by “avoiding being alone in a room together or meeting in a dark place”; and “the best way to prevent sexually-transmitted diseases is: don’t be promiscuous.”
The Department of Health removed the post of the leaflet hours after the Facebook criticism began to pour in, according to the HKFP, which also noted that Hung, a writing instructor and editor of a literary magazine, was critical of the above points in her post, particularly the promiscuity part.
“A single partner or sexual intercourse is also an opportunity to become infected with venereal diseases!!!!! The most effective way to prevent STDs is safe sex!” she noted. Further, regarding the advice that young women avoid being alone with a man, Hung asked, “All sexual offenses are a woman’s fault?”
This blame-the-victim stance is a dated and misogynistic element of what we know now to be “rape culture” — which also trivializes sexual assault, defines “manhood” as sexually aggressive and “womanhood” as passive, and assumes only promiscuous or scantily clad women get raped. It’s not what one would expect to be part of any official campaign, but there you have it. Hopefully it’s gone for good.
Related:
High School Revokes Dress Code Policy That Targeted Girls
Parents Call for Yoga Pants Ban to Be Lifted at Wisconsin Middle School
Western Dress Blamed for Mass Sexual Harassment in India
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