#ChinaWakeUp a call to action as women expose Twitter accounts selling date-rape drugs, porn
- Russian woman started the hashtag with a tweet urging ‘English-speaking sisters’ to report users ‘that post videos of girls being drugged and raped’
- Twitter has since shut down some of the accounts and there are calls for a police investigation
Feminist blogger “Shaoxi” first heard about #ChinaWakeUp last week, after she was sent disturbing photos apparently showing Chinese women who had been drugged and raped.
A follower on microblogging site Weibo sent her the graphic images, saying Russian women were using the hashtag to expose Twitter accounts posting such photos to advertise date-rape drugs and pornographic videos.
The images showed unconscious women nearly or fully naked, accompanied by a message saying they were screenshots from videos, with a contact number for anyone who wanted “fresh updates”.
Shaoxi said she saw it as a call to action and, along with her friend and fellow feminist blogger “Guozili”, took to social media to raise awareness of the problem.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Guozili wrote in one post, in response to the “wake-up call” from Russian social media users. “We are waking up, please wait for us.”
Their Weibo topic had soon been viewed more than 10 million times.