Trigger Warning

A 20-year-old university student surnamed Wang questioned the lack of emphasis on sexual education in China.

She told AFP that when she was around six, she would often be duped into having sex with an older teenage neighbor from her village in the central Hubei province.

She only truly understood what happened after watching a film at an older age.

“I kept dreaming that he would look me up again… Television shows often depict those who have been raped as dirty, unable to get married and unwanted, and I never dared tell my family about it,” she said.

She was among some 94,000 people who posted under the hashtag “trigger warning” on Weibo.

As of Monday evening, the topic had been read 210 million times.

Another student surnamed Yu said Bao’s case made her recall her own experience with harassment — she was groped twice on public transport as a schoolgirl.

“I wanted to turn around to scold him but didn’t dare to,” she wrote in a Weibo post, adding that she remembered wondering if he would threaten her with a knife.

She told AFP: “I am just a student with no power and hope that the people who do, or everyone’s collective strength, can truly solve the problem and make society a better place.”

Celebrities also spoke up in support of minors who have been abused.

Award-winning actress Zhang Ziyi said in a Weibo post Friday: “Do you know why sexual assault of minors occurs again and again? They are exposed time and again but vanish each time… Without severe punishment.”