Prevention of Sexual Harassment Subcommittee Event

Panelists:

Anna Marie Bautista, Lecturer, Gender Studies and American Studies, HKU

Jacey Kan, Advocacy Officer, Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women

Gina Marchetti, CGED Chair and Professor, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU

Moderator:

Aditi Jhaveri, Lecturer, Centre for Applied English Studies, HKU

Date: 3 May 2022 (Tuesday)

Time: 5:00 PM Hong Kong Time

Delivery: via Zoom

In October 2022, the #MeToo movement will mark its fifth year. It was in 2017 that actor Alyssa Milano sent her viral tweet asking those who had been sexually harassed or assaulted to share stories or just reply “Me too” with the aim of raising awareness about the prevalence of sexual violence and create change. In the wake of the pandemic, Hong Kong organizations such as RainLily (a rape and assault crisis centre) and Harmony House (a shelter for abused women and their children) reported an increase in the number of victims of sexual violence despite their continued fight against the culture of shame and silence that surrounds the issue. In this discussion, panelists will assess whether there have been perceptible shifts locally in attitudes towards sexual harassment because of the #MeToo movement, examine the degree to which digital media and online activism strengthen it, and envision the movement’s future direction in Hong Kong, with a particular focus on gender equality and diversity.

Panelists:

Dr. Anna Marie Bautista is Lecturer in American Studies and Gender Studies at the University of Hong Kong. Her teaching and research interests include various aspects of film, television and popular culture studies, particularly in representations of gender.

Ms. Jacey Kan is an Advocacy Officer for the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women (ACSVAW). Since joining ACSVAW, Jacey has advocated against image-based sexual violence, and for the legal reform of sexual offences and improvement of sexual assault crisis centre policy.

Professor Gina Marchetti teaches courses in film, gender and sexuality, critical theory and cultural studies at the University of Hong Kong. She is the author of Romance and the “Yellow Peril”: Race, Sex and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction (University of California, 1993), From Tian’anmen to Times Square: Transnational China and the Chinese Diaspora on Global Screens (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006), The Chinese Diaspora on American Screens: Race, Sex, and Cinema (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012), Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s INFERNAL AFFAIRS—The Trilogy (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2007), and Citing China: Politics, Postmodernism, and World Cinema (Hawai’i, 2018).

Moderator:

Dr. Aditi Jhaveri teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses as a Lecturer at the Centre for Applied English Studies in HKU. She also serves as the Programme Coordinator of Graduate School courses and contributes to the operation of the Digital Literacy Lab at the Centre.

This event is co-presented by the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Subcommittee of the Committee on Gender Equality and Diversity (CGED), Faculty of Arts, The University of Hong Kong, and the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women.