Shanghai subway tells women to have ‘self-respect’

SHANGHAI, Jun 26 – A subway operator in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai has caused uproar by warning women not to wear revealing clothes to avoid being groped by the city’s “perverts”.

On its microblogging site, the Shanghai No.2 Subway Co posted a picture of a women in a see-through dress and warned: “If you dress like this on the subway, you will undoubtedly be harassed.

“The subway is full of perverts — women, have some self-respect!”

The warning, posted on June 20, has been forwarded more than 15,000 times and elicited nearly 7,000 responses, many expressing outrage and criticising the subway operator for “sexist” remarks.

“According to this logic, all men can harass women in swimming pools,” wrote one netizen.

“What I wear is my basic right, it does not deny the rights of others,” wrote a micro-blogger calling themselves SOY-BEAN-E.

But others voiced support for the warning and urged women to dress more conservatively.

A spokesman for the subway company denied the post was a justification of sexual harassment and said it was meant to be a “kind reminder” to women, the Global Times reported.

“As the city’s subway operator, we have the responsibility to warn women of the potential danger of sexual harassment on the subway,” the paper quoted the spokesman as saying.

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