Women's rights all but invisible in Dongguan's crackdown on sex trade
Chang Ping says even those protesting against authorities' vice sweep care little for gender equality
Welcome to the Year of the Whores!" This subtitle mistakenly appeared two weeks ago on a BBC news programme reporting the start of the Year of the Horse. Now China's social media users are praising the broadcaster for its "vision".
As it turned out, on the first Sunday after the holiday, CCTV broadcast an "exposé" of the sex industry in Dongguan, in a departure from its usual fare. Hours later, 6,000 police officers raided nearly 2,000 saunas, karaoke lounges and other places of entertainment in the city, while authorities announced a sweeping three-month crackdown on prostitution.
Actually, Dongguan's flourishing sex trade is well-known; hardly any investigation was needed for CCTV to get the "news", and the authorities can stop pretending they were shocked into action. Still, the dramatic "exposé" was useful as a public campaign, to help the city's law enforcement officers strike fear into the hearts of the lawless. Many sex workers and their customers were duly filmed in secret or during the police raid, their "ugly" and "degenerate" lifestyle displayed for all to see.
The Chinese blogosphere promptly erupted. Long under the thumb of the censors, netizens saw their golden opportunity for mockery and protest. "CCTV is ruthless, but the world is full of love; let's work together, so cheer up, Dongguan!" "Dongguan, don't cry. Stay strong!" "We're all people of Dongguan tonight!" These and other slogans were wildly circulating on Sina Weibo.
These are, of course, expressions commonly used on mainstream microblogs to rally public support in times of disasters.
Notable lawyers and opinion leaders were tweeting alongside ordinary citizens. There were three common views.
First, many thought that by showing the faces of the sex workers and their customers with no technical editing, CCTV had trampled on the human dignity of the powerless in society. Second, with its track record of reporting lies, CCTV has sold its soul to the devil - conduct far worse than prostitutes who sell their bodies for money. Third, CCTV was shameless to have used sex scandals in an earlier campaign to vilify influential microbloggers.
