Chinese feminists are speaking out in support of a woman who was sexually assaulted by a former Stanford University swimmer, posting photographs denouncing the attack on social media.



Images of Chinese women holding up messages of solidarity for the victim began circulating on Weibo, China’s Twitter, on Wednesday and are being gathered on the Facebook and Twitter pages of a group called Free Chinese Feminists.

“As Chinese feminist/queer activists, we can’t remain silent in this Stanford case,” the group wrote in a statement. “We know our solidarity pictures are small efforts. But our message is simple: the Stanford survivor and all the survivors who face injustice, you are not by yourself. We are in this fight together!”

The “selfies with solidarity” are being posted on social media with the hashtags #Solidarity4StanfordSurvivor, or in Chinese #征集照片声援斯坦福被性侵女生.

“Judge Persky, you help more rape!” reads one woman’s sign, referring to Aaron Persky, the judge who handed down a six-month sentence to 20-year-old former Stanford student Brock Turner.

“Punished [sic] a rapist according to the crime not talents,” reads another. A third sign reads: “He was sentenced lightly for the sake of his future. What about HER future[?]”

Zheng Churan’s photograph from the Free Chinese Feminists campaign page. Photograph: Facebook

In one photograph, Zheng Churan, a prominent Chinese feminist, holds a poster that says: “You can swim doesn’t mean you can rape.”

Zheng, known as Datu or Big Rabbit, said Chinese feminists felt outraged at the Stanford verdict.

“It is unbelievable that this kind of thing could happen in America which claims to be democratic and free,” she told the Guardian. “The first question I had [after hearing of the ruling] was whether the judge would have given the same sentence had the perpetrator been a talented black student.

“We want more people to know that it is unacceptable to condemn the victim and it is unacceptable to encourage sexual violence. We want the perpetrator and the judge to see that we women are united and that escaping the correct punishment is not so easy.”

Zheng has faced sanctions for her outspoken activism in China, where a severe crackdown on free speech is under way. Last year she was one of five feminist activists detained by police for more than a month after the group planned a peaceful protest against sexual harassment.

Hillary Clinton, who became an icon for Chinese feminists following a speech she gave at the UN’s Fourth Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, has accused President Xi Jinping of the “shameless” persecution of women’s rights activists.



On Monday the victim of the Stanford assault said she had been moved by the outpouring of support. “I’m worried that my heart is going to grow too big for my chest,” she said. “I’ve just been overwhelmed and speechless.”

Additional reporting Christy Yao