An upcoming documentary will attempt to overturn traditional attitudes in Taiwan concerning sexual harassment and encourage the victims of sexual assault to speak out against any unwelcome sexual advances.
The War of Roses (玫瑰的戰爭), to be released at Eslite Bookstores in Taipei on Jan. 12, documents four cases of sexual harassment in Taiwan, three of which have taken place in the workplace and the other on a school campus.
"The War of Roses is about to begin. We want to encourage women to become a prickly rose, to fight against a culture of sexual harassment and to resist any unwanted and unwelcome sexual advances," said director of the documentary Mickey Chen (
In an interview with the Taipei Times yesterday, Chen said he hesitated on whether to take up shooting of the film when the women's rights groups, which have campaigned for social awareness of the issue of sexual harassment, proposed the idea to him.
"Being a man, I felt it would be difficult to have the victims speak to me about their ordeals. But the more I talked to them, the more sympathy I had with them, Chen said. "As a long-time gay rights activist, I have subjected myself to endless struggle for rights. And when I found these victims were also going through similar experiences as I did, I felt obligated to do it."
The first part of the film is a story of a female manager of a detergent company in Taiwan, who was sexually harassed by a senior official of another detergent company during an official trip to South Korea.
She brought her case to the Detergent Association after her return to Taiwan, but was very much frustrated by the attitudes of the male-dominated association and the perpetrator's company.
The company then gave the man an undisclosed sum of money and asked him to leave. Nevertheless, the victim felt it was far from a real punishment as the man was about to retire at the time.
Also included in the film is the story of a nurse at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (
Chen said a positive side of the case is that the nurse has collected solid evidence against the doctor and that she's had strong support from other nurses at the hospital, some of whom have also been a victim of the doctor's harassment.
"In cases of sexual harassment, the most difficult part is obtaining evidence. A case such as that nurse's is rare and thus we feel it's necessary for the legal system to have an alternative procedure in handing such cases," Chen said.
The other story in the documentary is that of a female worker in a Taoyuan factory, who complained to the Awakening Foundation (婦女新知基金會) -- a women's rights advocacy group -- about her experiences of being peeped at in the toilet in her factory by a male colleague.
"This case in particular has triggered my concern because of the peculiar situation of the victim in question. She has such a strict idea about chastity that she has been in extreme distress ever since the incident," Chen said.
"Ever since, she has constantly imagined killing the male worker -- the peeping tom -- whenever she sees him in the factory. But sadly, she could do little about it because she cannot afford to lose her job," Chen said.
The fourth part of the film concerns the story of a female college student who was sexually assaulted by a professor at National Taipei University of Technology (
The documentary highlights how the school resisted taking action and failed to sack the professor until the Control Yuan intervened.
Chen said that these cases illustrate that there is indeed resistance in the male-dominated society to punish perpetrators of sexual harassment, which he said not only discourages the victims to speak up but sometimes encourages a culture of sexual harassment as well.
"It's a culture that has to be fought against. We're hoping the film can at least show a clear definition of sexual harassment, for the purpose of preventing and fighting against the offense, " Chen said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source