A Chinese writer sentenced to 10 years of jail for writing a pornographic novel filled with gay sex incited fury and debate across all forms of Chinese social media.

The female writer penned the novel – named “Occupy” – back in 2017, which managed to sell 7,000 copies online; this soon caught up with her however as producing and selling pornographic content is illegal in China.

Her work followed the forbidden romantic affair between a teacher and student, the novel being labeled as “filled with graphic depictions of male homosexual sex scenes tinged with violence” by a television station.

As punishment for her indecent sexual fantasies, the writer was handed a jail term of 10 and a half years, sparking anger across Chinese social media as many soon pointed out that cases of manslaughter and rapists (only liable to serve a jail term of between three to 10 years) have received less severe sentences.