Rape laws should cover male victims - expert

Sexual aggression occurs with someone in power and another in relative disadvantage. When a much bigger person bullies a smaller one sexually, it is a manifestation of physical power. More frequently, it is a less tangible form of power, such as when a teacher harasses and assaults a teenage student. The student - whether the victim is a male or female - feels the pressure to comply because the adult has the power to give bad grades or mete out other penalties. The same applies to dynamics between a superior and a subordinate in any organization.

If the person who sexually pesters is in a position of less power relative to the one being pestered (e.g. a fan and a celebrity), it will stay at the stage of stalking unless the former takes physical action and attacks the latter. When a self-delusional fan made every attempt to approach superstar Andy Lau with the intention of marrying him, Lau was clearly the victim, but it did not develop to the phase of sexual assault. The female fan did not get that chance.

Sometimes I ponder the complications when different dynamics are thrown into the same equation. Say, when an 18-year-old male student, who is big and strong and known for sexual aggressiveness, and a 24-year-old woman teacher, who is small in stature, accuse each other of sexual assault. Who is more likely the victim?

Let's throw in other parameters like looks and circumstances. Or maybe we can reverse the genders and see whether the same reasoning would hold. What if one side was manipulating public perceptions and the law by making the other look like the perpetrator?

Again, I repeat I'm not discounting the seriousness of sexual assaults on women and minors. But the world offers myriad possibilities and revising the Chinese Criminal Law to protect men from sexual assault is a small step toward equality for all.

The writer is editor-at-large of China Daily.