Flirting eyes' to be banned in China

By AFP Mon, 04 Dec 2006

Lawmakers in a northern Chinese province are considering a sexual harassment law that bans looking at women with "flirting eyes", state press said on Monday.

The Shaanxi provincial congress is studying a proposal that would define sexual harassment, with "casting flirting eyes at women" listed alongside actions such as using inappropriate language, the China Daily reported.

In an editorial, the China Daily ridiculed the efforts to control how people look at each other, but nevertheless said the Shaanxi lawmakers' work was a welcome attempt to establish much-needed sexual harassment laws in China.

"The discussion in Shaanxi could set an important national precedent in encouraging women to protect themselves by legal means," the paper said in an editorial.

Sexual harassment is mentioned in China's national laws, but they fail to specify what constitutes such behavior.

The city government in Shanghai, China's biggest city and premier financial center, is also mulling what could be the country's first comprehensive sexual harassment laws, state press reports said in October.

The city government is reviewing a bill that would outlaw sexually suggestive language, even if used in jest, and the emailing or text-messaging of explicitly sexual pictures.

The bill would also ban unwanted advances and public groping, as well as address the issue of domestic violence.

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