“I’ve been warned not to talk about it,” the woman wrote, before revealing snippets of the day she says she was arrested for publishing gay erotica.

“I’ll never forget it - being escorted to the car in full view, enduring the humiliation of stripping naked for examination in front of strangers, putting on a vest for photos, sitting in the chair, shaking with fear, my heart pounding.”

The handle, Pingping Anan Yongfu, is among at least 8 in recent months which have shared accounts on Chinese social media platform Weibo of being arrested for publishing gay erotic fiction. As authors recounted their experiences, dozens of lawyers offered pro bono help.

At least 30 writers, nearly all of them women in their 20s, have been arrested across the country since February, a lawyer defending one told the BBC. Many are out on bail or awaiting trial, but some are still in custody. Another lawyer told the BBC that many more contributors were summoned for questioning.

  • Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 hours ago

    As much as I like to stan China for how they treat their billionaires and corporations, this is wrong. Sex work, in all its forms, is a valid, lucrative, and old line of work across the world. China is one of the most developed nations on Earth. They should also be the most progressive when it comes to this. Smh

    • IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      it’s valid to support some policies in some places without it making you a fervant supporter of everything that state does.

      like I love how china actually invests in infrastructure, including housing and public transit and walkable cities.

      I dont like what they do in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

    • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com
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      9 hours ago

      They should also be the most progressive

      The tankie government that denies Tiananmen Square doesn’t have much regard for individual rights?

      • thanks AV@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        More like porn is illegal, just like in half the US. Give it two years we’ll hear much worse about gay erotica artists being arrested in Texas and held without trial

    • Corn@lemmy.ml
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      10 hours ago

      Weirdly they are more progressive when it comes to prostitution; prostitution isnt illegal, but soliciting it is.