An online poll on “celebrity personalities with whom you would most like to have a one-night affair” has caused controversy as the results included a volleyball player from Kazakhstan who is only 17.
Taiwanese Internet portal Yahoo released the results of the poll on the eve of the Qixi Festival (七夕情人節), also known as Chinese Lovers’ Day, on Saturday.
Teenage volleyball playerer Sabina Altynbekova of Kazakhstan was voted No. 2 in the online poll.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
A member of the Kazakhstan national volleyball team, 182cm Altybekova came to Taipei late last month to play in the Asian under-19 championships and the media and obsessed fans followed her every move on the volleyball court. Local media reported that Kazakhstan coach Nurlan Sadikov had complained it was too much of a distraction because all the media attention was focused only on Altynbekova and not the rest of the team.
Japanese porn star Yui Hatano topped the poll, with Altynbekova followed by South Korean actress Jun Ji-hyun, Taiwanese electropop diva Jeannie Hsieh (謝金燕) and entertainer Cheng Chia-chen (鄭佳甄) — better known as “Chicken Cutlet Girl” (雞排妹).
Female respondents voted their top five as South Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun, Taiwanese-Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城武), retired singer Jimmy Lin (林志穎), Taiwanese-American NBA star Jeremy Lin (林書豪) and Hong Kong singer Shawn Yue (余文樂).
“Sexual fantasy is a very private matter, and conducting such a poll is quite banal and meaningless,” gender issues campaigner Liao Yu-hui (廖玉蕙) said of the poll, pointing out it was inappropriate as Altybekova is only 17.
Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare secretary-general Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said Altybekova is tall with a good figure, so she is bound to attract male attention, while few would realize that she is actually underage.
“The poll is used for commercial purposes to create news topics. I just hope people can take note of a celebrity’s talent and the professionalism of their work,” Yeh said.
Psychiatrist Yang Tsung-tsai (楊聰財) said netizens only have sexual fantasies by looking at pictures of celebrities, “so I would think the poll is mostly harmless, it will not put pressure on the celebrities.”
Cheng Tzu-leong (鄭自隆), a professor at National Chengchi University’s Department of Advertising, on the other hand, was highly critical.
“Sabina came to Taiwan as a student athlete, she is not a public figure and she is only 17, an underage female. Now she becomes a figure of ‘sexual fantasy,’ not of her own free will. The media should extol an athlete’s talent and professionalism. If not, then society is judging people based on their appearance,” Cheng said.
A Yahoo spokesperson said that the choices of celebrities in the poll were made by netizens, adding that “people can complain, but we did not receive any complaints about Sabina being nominated in this poll.”
According to the Internet portal, more than 70,000 Taiwanese took part in the poll.
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