Drugged up 17-year-old guilty of group licentiousness
I first came across this story on eChinacities.com:Li Jie was officially charged with having committed “group licentiousness” and the first hearing of the case and arraignment was held on May 27th. During the preliminary arraignment, the court has heard statements from both the city prosecutor and from the defendant.
A worker with the court has disclosed that there will be a second trial and hearing soon, but because the defendant is still a minor, the trial will still be held behind closed doors for protection of delicate details and privacy of the defendant.
Li Jie's father has expressed disbelief when interviewed about the case, saying that his daughter had been a victim who had gone to the police to report a crime but had then been charged, arrested, and arraigned to appear in court as a defendant – a totally “bizarre” turn of events that has been difficult for him to comprehend. “The whole thing has left me in shock,” a distraught father of Li Jie has said, refusing to make any more comments about the case until after the final sentencing.
There is actually a picture that I assume was a still frame from the video of this girl in a k-hole. Basically, then, there is a picture on this news site of a 17-year-old girl getting raped.
The China Daily account has a few more details:
Li's case became public after a video showing her engaging in sex with three male students was posted on the Internet in late February.
Once authorities at Li's school became aware of it, she was asked to quit or transfer to another school on March 1.
Li's father then took his daughter to Houjie branch of Dongguan public security bureau in search of help on March 9.
Li was detained for organizing group sex parties on March 15. She was released on bail, pending the trial, after being held in detention for 25 days.
There's no report of any of the men/boys involved in the orgy getting in trouble for it. Either they aren't being held responsible for their actions or they are getting punished, but somehow it isn't newsworthy.
How is it that this girl goes to the police to report a crime and gets arraigned for it? Even dead sober, she's still a child. And even if she willingly, soberly participated in group sex, she's a child. What kind of legal system is set up to punish the victims of a crime and children?
AIDS on the rise among students in Taiwan
Incidence of HIV among students is on the rise, reported the China Post.This is probably a direct result of the perceived relationship between "loose morals" and STDs. Taiwan and the mainland have attitudes toward sex like something out of the most nefarious parts of the 1950s American suburbs, without the whitewash of Christianity. It's just bad girls and bad boys do bad things and get in trouble for it. Good girls only have sex for love, not like those bad girls who do it because they think it's fun. And isn't love the best protection against HIV?
Taipei not as expensive but still too expensive
Taipei is the 85th most expensive city in the world, well behind Shanghai and Beijing, reported the China Post. The ranking is based on the results of the Cost of Living survey conducted by human resources consultancy ECA International. There's a jab in there about the capital of Taiwan being a cheaper place to live than Beijing or Shanghai, but it seems the rogue province is dealing with similar problems. Single workers in Taipei have to spend more than half their income on rent, though if they move into the city's environs or into southern metropolises, that percentage drops to about a third. If they can't afford the high cost of living, cheeky experts suggest they find roommates or move somewhere else. Thanks, Einstein, but Taipei has bigger problems: New births are reaching new lows. In 2009, only 9,997 baby boys and 9,406 baby girls were born in the capital. The figures represent a 6.22% decline in the birth rate from 2008. The Taipei government is considering subsidies to help young couples who find the financial responsibilities of parenthood overwhelming. Maybe they should just take in boarders.Soccer widows get a life
I can muster a lot of sympathy for rural women in China facing an oppressive patriarchy, but less for accomplished women in urban centers who are forced to get their own lives while their husbands and sons watch the World Cup. Some have even banded together in "Sex and the City"-like (you see the role models you are exporting, America?!) tribes to do stuff to entertain themselves. They've even written a survival guide on how to enjoy yourself when your husband or boyfriend is not being an endless source of entertainment."We call it a survival guide for the sake of humor," said Wang [Wang Xuemin, 27-year-old married office worker]. "In fact, it turns out the World Cup is a good opportunity for women, especially married women, to experience and enjoy alternatives past-times...
"Many of us are now staying at home or going to bars with loved ones to watch the games," said Wang. "Some of us still find it boring but the experience itself is rewarding - our boyfriends and husbands tend to become more agreeable afterwards."
(Maybe while those women are out living it up like Carrie Bradshaw and company, this crazy Beijing chick can crash their...
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Last of the women with bound feet
Reuters had an interesting piece about an elderly Chinese woman living in Malaysia who had her feet bound when she was young.
Picture from reuters.com
A shop in Malaysia catering to the country's large Chinese population still makes special shoes for these women, though more of them are being sold to tourists today as foot-binding has gone out of fashion.
Picture from reuters.com
It was a cruel practice to break and mold women's feet to a tiny 3-inch stub that made it difficult and painful to move. It was banned in 1912 and to my knowledge is no longer in fashion and therefore no longer done.
Some feminists try to draw a parallel between modern Western women wearing high heels and Chinese women with bound feet, but it's hardly there. Sure, both are symbols of beauty and a crappy pair of heels will give you a blister, but unless your mother was an idiot you weren't forced to wear them before you were old enough to make an autonomous decision. High heels do impair your ability to run, but unless you're a stripper, you can take them off in the middle of the party and have a laugh with the other women there. There is the whole argument about whether or not any attempt to improve your looks is merely kowtowing to the patriarchy, but my jury is still out on that one. I just think it's not fair to the genuine suffering women with bound feet have endured to compare it to a long day in your Manolos.
"[When] I was young I was very free, because when I was naughty my mother couldn't run fast enough with her bound feet to catch me and beat me," says author Yang Yang, whose mother had bound feet.
Shrek 4
I lined up to watch the first Shrek movie when I was in college. At the time, I loved that Fiona wasn't your typical fairy tale princess, that through her the film made a point about not waiting for Prince Charming to come and change your life, that she was an active agent in her determining her future, that her true form was that of an ogre but that she was happy. In the second film, I liked how handsome Prince Charming turned out to be an ineffectual, selfish brat and a "momma's boy." But I just caught up on the third movie to watch the fourth one, and I have to confess I am heartily disappointed. Fiona is still tough and independent, but as a character she's merely swapped one stereotype for another. In the third movie, when she tells Shrek she's pregnant, he descends into a spiral of self-doubt and confusion. The entire movie is basically about his crisis of identity: Will he be a good father? Is he ready to be a father? In the end, it's pregnant Fiona who is not only a reservoir of strength and commitment, but she organizes the women into the fighting...Read More!
Naked marriages are good for the environment!
I really love that this article from the China Daily uses the word "cockamamie" in the first sentence. You just don't get enough cockamamie these days.The so-called bare marriage or naked marriage refers to a desire to hold one's wedding without ceremony, a photo shoot, honeymoon and, sometimes, even no wedding ring, house or car. The cost of the cheapest bare marriage is just 9 yuan, with the fee going to the marriage registration office of the Department of Civil Affairs.
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hell hath no fury
Okay, last bit about this douchebag, Sparrow. While googling the Asian Sex Gazette the other day to find out just want kind of disease I was dealing with, I found one of his articles posted on another website. Like I said, I really don't want to provide any direct traffic to the Asian Sex Gazette, but I will link to this article because it's on a different site.Sparrow, who has obviously never managed to uphold his end of an intelligent conversation with anyone who considers him/herself a feminist, wants to point out to rabid, angry, modern, Western feminists that their "dissatisfaction" with the plight of their Asian "sisters" is misplaced. Sure, sometimes women in Asia are treated "deplorably" but things are never what they really seem; many Asian women call the shots in their relationships and have a lot of opportunities for personal success. The truth is -- that sly Sparrow is winks at us now -- Western feminists actually have more to learn from Asian feminists, who are more "delicate" in their approach and "don't want to upset social order and harmony." They never forget that women have "societal [sic] and religious roles" to uphold.
Excuse me, I just barfed a little.
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specious means
What really kills me, however, is the reasons they believe they have been successful.
- Dong Mingzhu, president of Gree Electric Appliances, China's top air conditioner maker, said: "Women are always looking at the positive aspects of issues, which makes them more stress-resistant than men. That's very crucial during periods of economic uncertainty."
- Li Yifei, chairwoman of Vivaki, part of the Publicis Groupe Greater China, suggested that women entrepreneurs would be better choosing sectors in which they have a natural advantage, such as media, advertising and fashion. .
- Xia Hua, chairman of Eve Enterprise Group, a Beijing-based haute couture company for men, said: "Women bosses listen and observe more. That is crucial to a business's success because it means more understanding of the needs of staff and customers."
- Li Jing, managing director of JP Morgan Chase, said: "Female entrepreneurs have no weaknesses in their judgments of macroeconomics and sometimes they have more comprehensive views than men. However, they might lack a bit of courage when making decisions."
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Ban on visas to foreigners with HIV/AIDS lifted
A more progressive understanding of HIV/AIDS transmission led the Chinese government to lift its ban against granting visas to applicants with the virus. In a statement recently released by the State Council, the government acknowledged that the ban did little to impede the spread of HIV in the country and only resulted in more paperwork for officials. The prohibition has been removed temporarily in the past when the country was hosting large-scale international event such as the 2008 Olympics. The ban was lifted in time for the Shanghai World Expo 2010, which officially begins on May 1. Of the 70 million visitors expected at the six-month event, five million will be foreigners.HIV/AIDS patient advocates supporting people living with HIV (PLWHIV) voiced their praise of the measure. "Previously, China viewed HIV/AIDS as an imported disease related to a corrupted lifestyle. But now the government handles it with a public health perspective," said Qingdao University professor Zhang Beichuan. According to government statistics, there were 740,000 people living with HIV in China as of November 2009.
It’s easy to condemn the Chinese government for its stance on issues like homosexuality (or even sexuality… sending sexy text messages, or “sexting”, is criminal in...
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