Record the public opinion. The trending topics for three consecutive days are #Sichuan University responds to online rumors of a female subway student being expelled#, closely followed by #Sichuan University female student suspected of being terminated from Tencent internship contract#, and public opinion shows no signs of cooling down.
Although when you click into the trending topics to read the details, neither the school nor the company explicitly stated that they have implemented these penalties, but the news headlines are a form of expression. What they want to show is that the female involved’s studies and work will be affected.
This is a public display of the female group, and its purpose is to show a consequence. If you make accusations without ironclad evidence, if you make any mistakes during the accusation process, then you will pay losses far beyond the scope of the law. These losses and cyber violence are difficult for ordinary people to bear.
Yes, the new era of cyber witch hunts is all-encompassing. Not only on Weibo, but also on my phone’s push notifications, and various websites, are constantly pushing the real-time dynamics of this news to me. Now, even my elderly parents, who don’t often go online, have talked about this matter.
This is what public opinion wants, and they have achieved it. Now the public doesn’t know about things like secret filming and theft, doesn’t know about the industrial chain, doesn’t know about chasing after perverts, but the public has a vague impression that there have been many women falsely accusing men recently.
It is conceivable that after this carnival, those women with milder personalities and a tendency to avoid conflict, in the future when they suspect they are being secretly filmed, will recall these huge threats, and they are more likely to give up seeking evidence, give up conflict, and swallow their anger.
In many cases, we question why women don’t resist, why they are like a steamed bun. You tell me why?
What they want is precisely the intimidation brought about by this social death. When a woman makes a mistake, when the punishment of the law is not enough to satisfy them, violence appears.
Originally, this matter was very simple. The parties involved had reached a settlement, and the information released by the police did not identify the female involved as constituting any illegal facts or crimes.
However, the violence did not stop, and the so-called “Does an apology work?” and “What if the person involved doesn’t accept the apology?” have become a form of condemnation. Behind these questions, a frenzy to force the female involved to death is revealed.
If the law stipulates that this degree of error only requires a public apology, and the person involved has also accepted the apology, how can those who are waiting to hunt witches be satisfied?
They pretend to stand up for the person involved, to plead for the middle-aged uncle who is portrayed as honest and humble, and give him more emotional and background stories to give their killings a sense of justice.
This is the gap. I have never seen those who have been convicted of secret filming and theft, sexual harassment, and sexual assault receive such treatment.
This year alone, in so many cases and news, which media has followed those men on such a scale, to see if they have been expelled from school after receiving legal punishment, whether they have been dismissed from their units, and which company has re-employed them? Does anyone know?
I often hear such remarks in public opinion:
“He has paid the price he should have paid, why bother not letting him go? Don’t you want to affect others for a lifetime?”
“A capable scholar and teacher has been wasted like this, it’s a pity.”
“Private morality is private morality, talent is talent…”
Not to mention social death, the public simply pities these men who have gone astray and extends a hand of warm return to them. This is the gap.
These events make us clearly see that the forces that maintain the operation of this society, in addition to the law, also include social moral judgment, cultural power, and the momentum of public opinion. They often go beyond the scope of the law and have a huge impact on people.
And all morality, culture, and public opinion have the shadow of patriarchy and the component of misogyny. The right to speak that the two sexes hold in them is completely different.
By analogy, many male parties who have been convicted, when facing public anger, not only will not be afraid, but also claim to sue netizens and self-media, because these people are beyond the scope of legal punishment, giving him additional attacks and losses, so he rightfully demands legal protection.
In fact, many male parties have done so and succeeded. In the end, it is the netizens and the media who compensate and apologize. To the point where feminist bloggers are very cautious in their wording when condemning in public, making people feel stifled.
Comparing these recent news again, the mother and daughter who cut in line, the academic Daji, the middle school boys who fabricated rumors about female students secretly filming and teachers covering up, and this subway incident, which time is it not that the female involved is being doxxed, their names are flying everywhere, their images are being violated, rumors are rampant, and even cyber violence calls, and even many media are involved, condoning and letting it go.
What about these female parties? Have they come out to protect their legitimate rights and interests? Do they dare to come out to protect their legal rights? They dare not. In the overwhelming witch hunt carnival, most of the parties involved have adopted a cold treatment.
This is the gap. On the one hand, there are male parties who have been found guilty by the police, and on the other hand, there are female parties who are only considered to have minor errors by the police, but their experiences are completely different.
In this case, if you and I discuss what is right, saying that but she is wrong, I can only sneer. It’s disgusting for a man to say this to me, and it’s a fool for a woman to say this to me.
Public opinion records also have to mention speech control. Recently, feminist bloggers have been under tremendous pressure, and many accounts have disappeared silently. Just discussing the subway incident, several of my friends have been banned, but I can’t help it.
This is an unfair battle. We are tied up and confronted, and there is not much space left. It all depends on the spontaneous awakening and speaking of women.
While seeing the difficulty of the battle, we must also see hope. The almost crazy counterattack now is precisely because we have woken up. In the process of standing up, we have to bear the pressure. Using hooligans to deal with the good, and using violence to stop women’s legitimate demands, these tricks are not the first time, nor will they be the last time, that women gain power.
It doesn’t matter. The so-called general trend, what we need to do is not to get too entangled, nor to fantasize about persuading the male group. Language is pale in the struggle for power. What we need to do is to continue to awaken our group, let more women see our situation, understand the operating logic of the patriarchal society, reach more and more solid consensus, and express our social demands from the perspective of women.
Don’t be discouraged, don’t be anxious, it’s all just beginning.
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