Chinese art college handbook accused of blaming sexual assaults on women’s behaviour
- A handbook for first-year students lists ‘factors within women’ as causes of attacks
- Hangzhou academy says personal safety guide was taken out of context
A prestigious Chinese fine arts university said a handbook for women students was misread and misunderstood after critics accused it of blaming victims for sexual assaults.
In screenshots of the Chinese Academy of Art’s safety handbook for first-year students posted online on Thursday, the college listed a number of “factors within women” as “causes of sexual assault”.
The factors include a “focus on looks and material enjoyment”, “a beautiful appearance and frivolous lifestyle”, “cowardliness and an inability to defend oneself” and “a weak mind and inability to resist temptations”.
It said sexual assaults could occur at night and in summer, and in classrooms, laboratories and dormitories.
Under “prevention of sexual assault”, the academy in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou said “women’s dormitories pose a safety issue” and it recommended that women students not stay in the rooms on their own.
Women students should also “take major roads at night, not talk to strangers, and not wear clothes that expose too much”.