BEIJING — On a sleepless night last summer, her siamese cat Star at her feet, Zhou Xiaoxuan, a 25-year-old screenwriter in Beijing, took out her cellphone and began writing furiously about the day that had haunted her for years.

In 2014, as a fresh-faced intern at China Central Television, the state-run broadcaster, she was asked to bring fruit to the dressing room of Zhu Jun, a famous anchor. It was there, she said, that Mr. Zhu began forcibly kissing and groping her. (Mr. Zhu has denied the accusations.)

Ms. Zhou’s essay about the experience, which she posted online in July, was an impassioned plea for women’s rights in China — and a daring rebuke of the status quo.

“It’s important for every girl to speak up and say what she has suffered,” she wrote in the essay, which totaled more than 3,000 Chinese characters. “We need to make sure society knows that these massacres exist.”