Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #600

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‘SoftcoreHarassment’ ChinaLive-streams Let Remote Control Toys Lift Women’s Skirts
By Zoey Zhang
A new trend on China’s social media platforms that allows users to lift the skirts of young women dur- ing live-streaming, is causing widespread concern.
A simulated beach setting with sand on the floor, a virtual sea, and palm trees in the background, includes barefoot women hosts wearing skirts or tight trousers.
The women are sit- ting on beach chairs and are surrounded by toy vehicles, such as excavators and road rollers.
Mainland reports
revealed that viewers can download an app that allows them to remotely control the vehicles during the live-streams – so they can move them around, operate the arms and use them to dig in the sand.
A live-stream account called Xianshan Remote Control Centre, posted on its social media account: “We want to show- case our self-devel- oped system, allow- ing people to enjoy the fun of remotely operating an excava- tor.”
However, some view- ers move the excava- tors so they are touching the women hosts’ legs and stom-
achs, and some even attempt to lift their skirts.
One online user said there is also a first- person perspective, which makes them feel as if they are sit- ting in the driving seat of the toy vehicles. The live-streams can attract up to 3,000 viewers at a time, according to NetEase News.
Despite being harassed by the view- ers operating the excavators, some female hosts continue to interact, patiently correcting the “naughty” vehicles by repositioning them on the sand.
“It feels quite comfort- able when being
grabbed, like being tickled,” one female live-streamer said.
There were also reports of “gift-giving” interactions, in which a female host does a 10-second split on the sand if a viewer sends a virtual rocket gift worth 1,000 yuan (US$140).
The bizarre form of entertainment has sparked criticism on mainland social media for its potential to exploit women.
“These young female live-streamers are absolutely being exploited – it’s soft- core harassment. These accounts should be banned immediately,” one online observer said.
“The frightening thing is that the women are allowing the men to control the toy cars and touch them. They have become numb to being exploited,” said another.
Such accounts have been permanently banned from live- streaming, and the relevant apps have been removed from social media plat- forms.
In recent years, live- streaming in China
has grown dramati- cally, with millions of aspiring hosts joining the lucrative industry.
Statistics show that the market size of the country’s live-stream- ing industry exceeded a staggering 200 bil- lion yuan (US$28 bil- lion) last year.
Hosts seeking quick profits are using sex- ually suggestive audio for videos or narrating stories with explicit language dur- ing live-streams to entice viewers to click on porn site links.
China has been mak- ing efforts to crack down on such con- tent.
This year, the coun- try’s popular short video and live- streaming platform Douyin has reportedly helped police arrest 11 people and banned more than 2 million accounts for including pornography or using offensive lan- guage.
In 2022, Kuaishou, the second-largest live-streaming plat- form in China, also helped police arrest 148 people for redi- recting live-stream viewers to porno- graphic content.
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