Vulgar and sexist banners were asked to be taken down at the South China Agriculture University. (Photo : Wikimedia)
Girls' Day banners with slogans deemed by netizens to be forms of sexual harassment and disrespectful to women were ordered to be taken down in a Guangzhou-based university on Monday, as reported by the Global Times.
On Monday, South China Agriculture University announced on its official WeChat account that it has banned the hanging of vulgar banners on campus without authorization from the university administration, citing its own regulations issued in 2008.
In Chinese universities, boys making banners with the intention of pleasing girls has become a common practice every March 7, which is known as Girls' Day, a festival that is an offshoot of International Women's Day celebrated on March 8.
However, the slogans are starting to feature messages with sexual connotations in recent years, according to a Monday report from ifeng.com.
"The spring breeze has no way to compare to sleeping with you," was the message on one of the banners that hung from Guangdong Medical University, as seen in a picture posted by Sina Weibo user Women Awakening.
Another banner at Tsinghua University read, "Goddesses! Don't play with A-bombs anymore, but come home with me."
Some of the slogans that make it on Girls' Day banners are "vulgar, dirty or commercial, which bring a bad influence to the campus," according to the announcement by South China Agriculture University.
"From the boys' point of view, the slogans might be entertaining, while for girls they are humiliating," said the announcement, quoting an unnamed student.
Another student was quoted as saying, "The festival was set up to respect women, instead of being an excuse for males to release androgen."
According to Chen Lan, founder of a nongovernmental organization that advocates the prevention of child abuse, systems of assessment and resource allocation disadvantage women, leaving males to get more opportunities.
Chen added that the social division of labor continues to give women an inferior and subordinate position compared with males.
