“I’ve been warned not to talk about it,” the woman wrote, before revealing snippets of the day she says she was arrested for publishing gay erotica.
“I’ll never forget it - being escorted to the car in full view, enduring the humiliation of stripping naked for examination in front of strangers, putting on a vest for photos, sitting in the chair, shaking with fear, my heart pounding.”
The handle, Pingping Anan Yongfu, is among at least 8 in recent months which have shared accounts on Chinese social media platform Weibo of being arrested for publishing gay erotic fiction. As authors recounted their experiences, dozens of lawyers offered pro bono help.
At least 30 writers, nearly all of them women in their 20s, have been arrested across the country since February, a lawyer defending one told the BBC. Many are out on bail or awaiting trial, but some are still in custody. Another lawyer told the BBC that many more contributors were summoned for questioning.
The background of the matter transcends conflicts over gender concepts. In recent years, many local governments have been unable to cover their expenses, resulting in a phenomenon known as “distant sea fishing” (远洋捕捞), which refers to “profit-driven law enforcement,” aimed at plundering money from other places. These female writers are just a tiny fraction of the victims. There are also well-known entrepreneurs who have lost their lives due to such extortion.
But .ml communities promise meChina has mote free speech than the West! How is this possible?
/s
Clearly, the BBC made it all up. Because it contradicts them. /s
Literally the newest top-level comment right now.
You don’t even have to be charged with anything before ICE grabs you off the street at throws you in a van in the US…
And I assume you wish the US to keep doing that because China is doing that and it’s clearly working?
Yeah, unfortunately the US is becoming more and more like China in this regard.
Yes it’s fucking horrible, I have the misfortune of living in the US but the same goes for China, North Korea, Russia and I could go on.
Which is true for China as well
Che Guevara, from Desalinas PFP, was also rather homophonic. I wouldn’t make it a point of purity testing. People in the past did things according to their time (not saying its justified).
The .ml crew has enought to criticize today. Big part them being a different flavor of impiralism
Che Guevara, from Desalinas PFP, was also rather homophonic
Which other word did he sound like?
Wdym?
This isn’t a purity test. This is me making fun of the tankies on .ml
It’s really weird and kinda reddit-like to see a human rights violation and twist the story to be about some online community.
“some” = the one that’s the basis of and technically closely tied to the one you’re using right now
This isn’t about some online community as much as it is a comment on tankies.
Yes, that’s exactly what they’re talking about and you’re being extremely weird in making it a priority of discussion on something at best tangentially related.
It’s just a straw man writ large because you’re miffed at another online argument you had somewhere else.
Yeah well you support a genocide, so you are the last to point fingers at China and anyone else.
These authors are being accused of breaking China’s pornography law for “producing and distributing obscene material”. Writers who earn a profit could be jailed for more than 10 years.
The law targets “explicit descriptions of gay sex or other sexual perversions”.
Jesus I thought there might have been some bullshit pretense, but apparently it’s just straight-up illegal there.
China is not the West, haha. There’s a reason we’re suspicious of them.
This will eventually be the U.S. if we don’t stop the erosion. Right now they are going after trans, brown people. They will turn attention after to others.
This article has nothing to do with the United States and did not need a US centric comment.
This article serves as a warning against authoritarianism and should be discussed in every context.
This will happen in your country as well if you are not aware of it’s typical process and spread.
“The Chinese government wants to promote traditional family values and liking danmei novels is seen as a factor in making women less willing to have children,” Dr Ge explains.
Man, it’s wild to see them go from one-child to this in a single generation.
Overcorrection in policy is not uncommon in authoritarian regimes. I’d imagine because policy carries the threat of imprisonment, not just guidance.
The machine needs meat
I generally want to have sex with my husband after reading erotica. You know, because it’s arousing. How did this not occur to them?
How many straight men do you know who have a sound grasp on women’s sexuality?
Ah yes, this is the democracy some people talk about
Authoritarians gonna authoritarian regardless of economic model.
Don’t be silly, democracy is only when private companies do all encompassing AI powered surveillance.
If you’ve left a comment on a YouTube video, a new website claims it might be able to find every comment you’ve ever left on any video you’ve ever watched. Then an AI can build a profile of the commenter and guess where you live, what languages you speak, and what your politics might be.
According to the developer, they’ve provided the tool to cops in Portugal, Belgium, and “other countries in Europe.” They told 404 Media that the website is meant for private investigators, journalists, and cops.
Now we only need to find a source of how many lgbtq+ fiction writers have been arrested in those same countries and we can proceed with the comparison.
Don’t Chinese private mega corporations do this too?
Chinese corporations do only what government allows them to do, any more and the CEO “takes an extended vacation”.
Well yeah and the government really wants to pry into every aspect of your life. So you’ll have the same shit
You forgot to put quotes around democracy.
bbc
yeah, probably not.
I know nothing about Chinese child care, but reading that the government wishes for more child rearing, might it be that there are other systemic problems like no access to child care facilities, a culture that doesn’t value women and people exhausted by long work days? I might have read that this is part of the root cause in korea. But sure, some gay novels might also be the reason for significant numbers. Overall the Chinese are somewhat known for pragmatic approaches, why chasing illusions in this case? The total number of readers and writers can’t be that huge can’t it?
This reflects a typical right wing approach to “increasing birthrates”: Reinforcing “”““traditional family values””“”, vilifying defiance of gender norms and addressing anything but the root cause.
Overall the Chinese are somewhat known for pragmatic approaches, why chasing illusions in this case? The total number of readers and writers can’t be that huge can’t it?
Probably enlightened despotism giving way to regular despotism. Facing economic problems, and having shed all pretense of being socialist, the Chinese ruling class likely needs a scapegoat for the country’s troubles.
Sounds plausible, crazy how that always works
The future is here.
Weird. I was told state atheism was the hallmark of human rights.
