Wu Aoxue, a student in Hong Kong, recently said that she was subjected to sexual violence by the police during the anti-extradition movement, including male police officers slapping her chest and female police officers watching her go to the toilet.
Text: Womany Jiaqi
On October 10, Wu Aoxue, a student at the University of Chinese of Hong Kong, recently told President Duan Chongzhi about the sexual violence he encountered at the Kwai Chung Police Station at a teacher-student dialogue meeting.
According to Hong Kong 01 and Stand News, the content she mentioned included: When the male police officer arrested the buckle belt, he slapped her chest hard, "At that time, I was immediately frightened and my mind was blank, and I didn't dare to resist." Later, when she went to the toilet at Kwai Chung Police Station, two policewomen looked at her and looked at her sexual organs.
In addition, Wu Aoxue also pointed out that six sexual victims, who are still anonymous, are considering whether to come forward, saying that they were sexually abused by the police in San Uk Ling, and even men were sexually assaulted.
According to the live video of the day, starting at 2:26, she personally mentioned this accusation:
Do you know that if the police want me to go to the side, I will go to the side, enter the black room when I enter the black room, and remove the shirt if I remove the shirt.
Do you know that there are people in my land who have to be re-examined when they are beaten with a stick?
Did you know that the search room in Xinwuling is completely black?
Do you know that I am not the only one who has been sexually violated? The other survivors were sexually assaulted and abused by more than one police officer, regardless of gender.
"Compared with other arrested people, I don't know whether the lottery is good or not, I am not a real estate company, I am not a big burden, I am not a big burden. If I don't even want to make a noise, do I know that someone will make a voice?"
According to the Liberty Times, she told the principal during the meeting: "Do you know that the police want us to go to the side, go to the black room when we enter the black room, and take off our clothes when we take off our clothes? Did you know that some of us were beaten by Athlon and still have to be re-examined?"
"Did you know that the search room in San Uk Ling is completely dark? Did you know that I am not alone in being subjected to sexual violence? Other arrested persons have been sexually assaulted and abused by more than one police officer, regardless of gender."
However, despite the accusations she has made and clearly stated what happened, Wu Aoxue has been subjected to countless attacks that have nothing to do with the facts, including online doxxing, assault and personality shaming, and at the same time, many sexual stigmatizations. For example, the post "Counting Wu Aoxue's Ten Deadly Sins" indicates that she is "resident on a dating app", "has done a helping relationship", and "is easy to get on", implying that her private life is chaotic and she is trying to seize power through sex in social movements.
Sex as a political tool: how can a victim become a weapon of attack
At the same time, in Hong Kong, there is a situation in which victims of sexual violence have become weapons used by the police and protesters against each other.
In the past few days, many angry netizens have used Wu Aoxue's news to attack Hong Kong hurdler Lu Liyao, accusing her of speaking up for herself during the #MeToo sport a few years ago, but now she "didn't speak for Wu Aoxue". (Extended reading: "The coach touched me with an excuse for massage" Lu Liyao #METOO public experience of being sexually assaulted)
Here, too, there is an absurd argument that individual suffering exists and strives for the sake of a larger community.
Li Ming, a lecturer at the Education University of Hong Kong, pointed out the danger of this "sexual victimization" becoming a "political tool" on Facebook:
If Wu had not been a protester, or had not suffered sexual violence from the police, how much support and understanding would have been left for her? This is an unimaginable scenario, but the answer no longer needs to be imagined - Lu Liyao's FB has gone from being full of questioning and abusive messages from netizens to being forced to ask if she, as a victim of sexual violence, will stand up and support the victims of sexual violence by the police.
The same society, showing unprecedented support for one victim, is at the same time extremely harsh and cruel to another.
Some people say they are concerned about gender-based violence, but what are they really concerned about? Should sexual violence be the protagonist of the problem, or should it simply use the grief of individual cases to increase the depth of the issue?
The danger of making sex a political tool is that it makes us think more narrowly about sexual victims. In the end, it is likely that only victims who meet political needs are "good victims", and other harm will not be seen or even smeared.
He Shining also mentioned, "When the umbrella was moving, a girl was accused that she attacked the police with her breasts and was convicted and imprisoned. It's all in the news internationally. Women are also considered to be if you want to take power through sex. But you think ...... I don't know. It's not impossible for girls to use sex to seize power, but that is very costly. You think that's going to work? But often you are the first to suffer."
Many times, some people will misunderstand that the achievement of #MeToo so far is to enable women to "seize power through sex" - as if with the #MeToo movement, how many people use false accusations and pretend to be pitiful to achieve personal goals - but in fact, from Wu Aoxue's case, we can see that just standing up and talking about your experience is exhausting, and you have to pay a great price, and no one necessarily believes you.
You think you can take power through sex, but often, you are the first to suffer.
The Named Dilemma of Sexual Violence: Isn't My Story Unreal Without Coming Forward?
A few days ago, it was also pointed out that the other six victims mentioned by Wu Aoxue did not speak by name, and only Wu Aoxue dictated that the parties were sexually assaulted and abused regardless of gender." So, did the so-called "Xinwuling sexual assault" happen?
Perhaps, given the current volume of information, we still cannot "prove" whether it "happened" or not.
But this issue definitely highlights the named dilemma of reporting sexual violence.
Once the accusation is named, it is likely that the social context in Hong Kong today will usher in endless stigma, cyberbullying, and even affect family and friends. For the parties, it is undoubtedly a secondary injury.
And once the accusation was made anonymously, it was falsely accused of spreading rumors, just like now. It also makes it difficult to go down to the level of "false news" and "misleading truth", and it is difficult to give appropriate assistance to the parties.
In this regard, we can bear in mind that there is never a "perfect victim", and it can also allow us to have more empathy for the victim. As a victim, you have to be very brave to speak out about these experiences, and behind Wu Aoxue, it is likely that there are countless victims who are unable to show their faces because of these threats. (Read more: Interview with He Shining: #MeToo No matter how long the incident has been, the victim is qualified to speak out about the pain)
Can gender issues become the main body one day?
Dawn also pointed out in the aforementioned post:
Whether our movement will lead us to a more democratic and dignified tomorrow depends of course on a number of factors, and one of the indispensable factors is: Can individuals, especially those of minority groups, no longer merely mean carriers of strategic benefits for sports, just as "Chinese" are to the "Chinese dream" or "a screw" is to the "socialist revolution"?
Perhaps, from the endless issue of sexual violence in Hong Kong, we can also see that a society that truly cares about gender issues may not yet come.
It is only when the individual is no longer seen as merely a member of the group's interests, and gender is no longer a subordinate subject to any issue, that it is possible to create a society that knows how to protect the dignity of the individual.