In February this year, a professor of philosophy at the Faculty of Education was accused by students of using his teaching power for many years and interacting with a number of female students at the same time. At least 1 female students were suspected of being sexually assaulted in the process. As the case floats on the table, we realize that public opinion's evaluation of the success or failure of #METOO events is often judged by the conviction or not of a powerful sexual assault.

But in fact, before sexual assault occurs, we are often forced into a relationship of unequal power. Love should be a "consensus", not a "hypothesis" given unilaterally.

Where is the problem with the powerful sexual assault in the campus?

On February 1 This year, at the Dcard Forum, a professor of the Department of Philosophy of Furen was accused by students of using his teaching power while interacting with a number of female students, and the female students had no knowledge of each other. According to a weekly report , at least 4 female students have been identified as having been associated with the professor, and at least 1 people have been suspected of sexual assault in the process.

As more and more powerful harassment cases are put to the public domain for discussion, we would like to say that when there is a proliferation of power harassment cases, we are also beginning to see the limitations of #METOO movement. The most important of these is the evaluation of the success or failure of public opinion on #METOO events, often judged by the conviction or not of powerful sexual assault. But in fact, before sexual assault occurs, we are often forced into a relationship of unequal power. It seems that as long as the name of "Love", all coercion will be easily rationalized.

It also means that there are too few words we can use about #METOO, and there are many things to talk about.


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What have we talked about #METOO?

Seriously speaking, since October 2017, the #METOO movement has been more than a year, but we find that the vocabulary that can be used is not much. From the Lin case, the Ito poetry weaving case, to the NIU Chengze case, #METOO the most frequently mentioned orientation, is still "powerful sexual assault." (and even if victims have been brave enough to speak out about sexual assault, it is still difficult to get attention.) Extended reading:#METOO interview with Itochu Weaving: breaking the Japanese sexual assault silence, I bet who will believe me )

This makes the narrative, which has been said #METOO, gradually become similar.

However, we cannot help but wonder whether the #METOO does not involve sexual activity. Also let some victims of power harassment feel that I have not been sexually assaulted, I am only harassed, a little uncomfortable, or even often flashed doubts, I myself this is the category of gender violence/#METOO victims?

But of course it is.

You or the friends around you may have heard of such experiences.

Some professors because a female student is often late for class, about eating alone, said to interview the schoolwork situation. The location is chosen in the Italian restaurant. The girl appointment, found that during the meal did not talk about what schoolwork, he just throughout the whole chat to the girl private life, bragged about the teaching of students now famous, can introduce for her.

Is this sexual harassment? may not be structured, but it is indeed rooted in a relationship of power that is not equivalent to coercion. And this matter is often seen as the other side's temptation, the victim's unknown how to react, but also often regarded as acquiescence by the perpetrator.

There are also male executives who love to play equality games with heterosexual subordinates. The Office has repeatedly stressed that although we are directly on the subordinate relationship, but the heart is peers, is a friend, to learn from each other. In private of course also alone about female subordinates outing, in the middle of the night spread line chat. When questioned, the best shield is: "Because we are friends." 」

Is this sexual harassment? may not count, but the same is the same person to use the power of the wrong relationship, for their own profit behavior. In the article "the desire of the seducer and the violence of Civilization ", Kang Tingyu, a professor of political great communication, has described how the unilateral "false consent" has been shaped in the harassment of power:

I even feel that not all sex, which takes the theme of seizing each other's autonomy and innocence, is bad sex, but there is a high-powered person who uses the asymmetry of information and weapons to seize it. The seizure seemed agreeable, but it was a "false agreement." (middle) The hunters shouted at this social phobia when they were criticized. They were outrageously wrong. We are not afraid of sex, we are afraid of the resource location is not equal to the sexual agreement. The name is the agreement, which is coercion.

And with these events, we find that the so-called false consensual relationship is usually accompanied by a number of characteristics:

(1) False equality: declares to the weak party that each other is a peers, a friend, and has an equal relationship. But in fact, if viewed from the structural side, of course not.
(2) Pressure: usually do not tell the weak side, you have the right to shout and stop independently, without suffering emotional and power punishment.
(3) Coercion: When the weak party tries to refuse, they will express or imply that you may lose or reduce certain chances of survival because of his power.
(4) Declares out of love: when coercion occurs, even to the weak, these baseline moments act out of love, out of "You are special".

In this way, the seemingly ostensibly developed relationship, in fact, lacks sufficient legitimacy. None of them may be sexual coercion, but it is definitely a matter of coercion. But in #METOO movement, we want to describe the words that are still only powerful sexual assault.

In fact, long before the "sexual assault" behavior occurred, we were forced into this series of unequal relations.

Most of the desirable SOP is also only in sexual behavior

Modern women's foundation has been interviewed by women fans (extended reading: interview with the Modern Women's foundation: girls have very little sexual language, even say refreshing is very difficult, how to say to be violated? ) has mentioned that:

As long as you think back to life experience, you will find that girls have very little sexual language. It is difficult for us to talk about our desires, to talk about where we are comfortable, to talk about ourselves in fact do not, to talk about sex has a deep sense of shame.

This is true in sexual behavior, and the relationship is of course the same. When a woman can describe the language affected by power is still very few, she was the teacher tofu, by the boss harassment, she only know that she is not comfortable, she does not know how to describe their discomfort. She's not even sure she's going to be believed by the world.

The feminist community has come to realize that society does not only need new language of sexual solicitation to confirm "consent". Not only should we emphasize the "right to positive consent" (only yes means yes), we say that sex is like inviting each other to drink, and the other person has the right to refuse at any time. (Extended reading: no rejection is willing? 18 diagrams to make you aware of the right to sexual consent )

Similarly, society needs new language to describe the unequal relationship of power. Let more victims understand:

Even if you are not sexually assaulted, you are still the victim of power harassment. You have a right to say it.

Love is a consensus, not a unilateral assumption.

As a feminist, I'm not really totally against teacher-student love, office romance, and I even understand that this inequality is sometimes the cause of love. Love, though, should be a "consensus," not a unilateral "hypothesis" of love.

Needless to say, the society at this stage also needs a more clear way, so that more different experiences of the #METOO narrative can be said frankly. After all, not only the weak side, the strong side is often at a loss. They are confused, a seemingly good relationship, how to become a one-way power to harm the structure?

And as for the specific approach, it is necessary to open more stories, so that the core of #METOO movement-the structure of unequal power, because these different angles of dialogue slowly emerge:

I. To tell more new stories about #METOO, not only the victims of sexual assault, but also the stories of power harassing victims, perpetrators, and even watching third people.

2. Use more new words, such as power harassment, false consent, and the context of sexual freedom, to clearly describe these situations.

"The world is too new, a lot of things have no name, you have to reach out to point." "Garcia Marquez wrote in" Hundred Years of Loneliness. " But we understand that the world of power harassment is not new at all, it is stale, it is sinister, it is often innovative. It is only in history that no one has ever tried to name them on a large scale.

In his work " Hidden campus sex crime ", the Japanese journalist Chi Guxiao mentioned that the solution to #METOO problem was never to execute the single perpetrator, but to change the system.

We believe that changing the system does not mean blaming the historical co-industry as much as possible, and no one bears it. But the way to do this is to help us understand the system and make a difference by opening up all kinds of sexist narratives and seeing phenomena as much as we could.