A law professor from Tsinghua University, China is under a lot of heat when he made a sexually-discriminative statement about rape culture.
Professor Yi is director of the Centre for Evidence Law at Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious universities in the country. His statement relates to the ongoing trial against a 17-year old boy accused of taking part in a gang rape of a woman in Beijing.
This is what he had to say:
“To emphasise that the victim is a bargirl doesn’t mean it’s OK to rape a bargirl. It only means that a bargirl is more likely to agree to a sexual act. Besides, even if it is a rape, to rape a bargirl does less harm than to rape a good woman. “
When his comment didn’t get the reaction he expected, he reiterated his point again:
“About the last point, I made the follow revision: It does more harm to rape a good woman than to rape a bargirl, a dancing girl, an escort or a prostitute. “
His statement caused an uproar among netizens. One of them commented: “A law professor from one of China’s best universities think it’s less harmful to commit crimes against one group of people than the other. Now we know why some convicts live but others die for the same kind of economic crimes. This is our reality.”
When Professor Yi was given the opportunity to defend or explain himself, he decided to encourage more anger among netizens. He told reporters:
“The internet is a paradise for the mob, and when necessary, China can shut it down”.
He eventually apologized for his comment, but he stated in an interview that he refused to delete his post as he believed that deleting it would be admitting he was wrong. Truth is, no one should ever be a victim of rape, no matter what their background or profession may be.
[Source]
