Here’s why Vietnam needs to embrace #MeToo – right now, the fine for groping a woman is about the cost of a pizza
- More sexual harassment cases are coming to light because of CCTV use, but sexual assault is not always considered a criminal offence in the Southeast Asian nation
- One activist says the law is ‘impotent’ when it comes to protecting women
Last year, another man was given exactly the same fine after forcibly kissing a woman, also in a lift.
Do Chi, a 25-year-old who works in a logistics company, said she escaped two men on a motorcycle who directed inappropriate remarks at her and attempted to touch her on a poorly lit street. But she felt that reporting it to the authorities would be pointless, so she shared her experience in a private, women-only Facebook group – like many of the other 15,000 members, comprising local and foreign residents of Ho Chi Minh City, who have revealed their experiences of sexual harassment.
I didn’t report it to anyone, not even the police station, because I know nothing will happen
“To be honest, [the experience] made me feel more unsafe than I already felt,” said Chi, who at the age of 14 was physically and sexually abused by a male tutor.
“[He] beat me up at first, manipulated me, called me stupid and made me believe it … then he used his finger to touch my private parts, but not too deep to actually take my virginity”.
She said the assaults, which lasted for two years, put her through episodes of depression and suicide attempts in subsequent years, during which she counted on her loved ones for support.
One in 10 women have experienced one or more kinds of sexual harassment in Vietnam, according to the National Study on Violence against Women in Vietnam in 2019 by the United Nations Population Fund, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency.