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Outrage after Chinese university tells female students not to wear ‘overly revealing’ clothes
- Safety guide slammed on social media for its dress code that suggests women are responsible for sexual harassment or even assault
- ‘Don’t wear low-cut dresses or expose your waist or back, to avoid creating temptation,’ it says
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A Chinese university sparked widespread outrage at the start of the academic year this week as female students discovered that they were not supposed to wear anything deemed overly revealing on grounds that it could arouse “temptation”.
On August 1, Guangxi University in southern China published a 50-point safety guide for incoming first-year female students, including a dress code that suggested that women were responsible for sexual harassment or even assault.
“Don’t wear overly revealing tops or skirts. Don’t wear low-cut dresses or expose your waist or back, to avoid creating temptation,” the guide said.
Reuters confirmed on Wednesday that spaghetti-strap tops had been banned in the university library.
The university also advised girls to avoid wearing high heels in some circumstances.
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#MeToo in China: a journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin speaks out against sexual harassment
#MeToo in China: a journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin speaks out against sexual harassment
China’s nascent #MeToo movement scored a small victory this year after the country’s parliament enacted legislation that for the first time defined what constitutes sexual harassment. It also holds schools and other organisations responsible for preventing and handling such harassment.
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