The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday filed a complaint with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters, requesting it investigate DPP Taichung City Councilor Ho Wen-hai’s (何文海) alleged sexual harassment of NPP Taichung city councilor candidate Wu Pei-yun (吳佩芸), who said Ho suggested that she show her breasts in her campaign poster.
At a banquet in a Taichung restaurant on July 28, Ho asked her: “In your poster, you are wearing a swimsuit, so why did you not show your body?” and emphasized his point with hand gestures meant to draw attention to the breasts, Wu told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
“He made the remarks when we were standing next to the main table. About 10 people sitting there all heard it,” she said. “It was an awkward situation. Although I felt very uncomfortable, as a public figure and with so many people watching, I just smiled, but when I went back home, I still felt deeply uncomfortable and offended.”
Photo: Su Chin-fong, Taipei Times
In the poster, Wu is standing in a swimming pool and resting her arms on the pool wall, which blocks the majority of her body from view.
Wu on Tuesday wrote about the incident on Facebook and provided more details and thoughts in another post on Wednesday.
“I ask all of you to think of the meaning of the #MeToo movement, that, regardless of your gender, any victim of sexual harassment or sexual assault has the right to tell what happened to them,” she wrote. “If victims keep it a secret and blame only themselves, we can never put an end to sexual violence.”
In an interview with the Chinese-language Apple Daily published on Wednesday, Ho said he was merely passing on election advice from residents and denied mentioning Wu’s breasts.
He only said that her face was too small in the poster and suggested that she also include her body, Ho added.
“I sincerely apologize to Wu and members of the public, as my inappropriate expression has caused her to feel uncomfortable. As a city councilor and public figure, I need to be responsible for my words,” he later said on Facebook.
Wu yesterday said that Ho’s apology was disappointing and unacceptable.
“His attempt to justify it by saying it was advice from a member of the public was adding insult to injury. As a senior councilor, is that the best example he can set for young politicians?” she said.
“So far, DPP headquarters has said nothing about the incident. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has said that freedom and democracy cannot be compromised, but so should gender equality,” NPP Legislator and Taichung chapter head Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
Following the news conference, Wu, Hsu and NPP Secretary-General Chen Hui-min (陳惠敏) visited DPP headquarters to file a sexual harassment complaint.
They demanded that the party announce the name of the committee responsible for the probe and issue the result within two months, but a DPP staff member promised to issue a formal reply within the legal time limit.
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