What the explosive story of ‘Sister Hong’ reveals about sexual repression in China

Hundreds of men were filmed during intercourse without their consent

Originally published on Global Voices

Throughout China, spicy headlines surrounding “Nanjing Sister Hong”, 南京紅姐, have gone viral this July, triggering discussion about gender inequality, sexual repression, toxic masculinity, and new forms of sexual violence in the digital era.

The story begins with a crime announcement made by police in Nanjing city: a 38-year-old man, surnamed Chao, using the online pseudonym “Sister Hong”, was arrested for privacy infringement. According to the police's accounts, for years Chao had been allegedly posing as a woman, offering free sex with men, recording the interactions with hidden cameras, and selling the videos for profit online. 

The Nanjing police have thus far identified 237 male victims, but people believe that the exact number could be much higher, as Chao sold over 1,000 videos through private chats with her fans and followers. 

While the obvious victims should be the men whose private lives were exposed without their consent, they have not received many sympathetic comments on social media; instead, they were doxxed and shamed for having consensual and unprotected sex with “Sister Hong”. Judging from the circulating videos, Sister Hong’s visitors come from all walks of life, and they would often bring her small gifts, such as fruit, oil, milk, and vegetables, to express their gratitude for the sexual encounter.

While some of these men may have been aware of Hong’s gender, a few of them are young and seemingly inexperienced, letting Hong take the lead during the intercourse. Many of the online comments are shaming the young suitors.

Sexual repression

Chinese YouTuber, Mr. Marmot, believes that widespread sexual repression in China partly propelled the male victims into Hong’s sex trap. Citing his own experience, Mr. Marmot said that China had very limited sexual education, and the majority of men, including himself, are forced to learn what they can from online pornography.

Many online agreed with this assessment. A relationship blogger wrote on Weibo:

答案是现在的男的真的就这么饥渴，因为真的太性压抑了，在中国社会这个大环境里。女孩没钱是真的约不到的，四五十的大妈是真的卖得动的[…] 而报酬则是拿点小零食，牛奶，大大降低了男的心理对于女人约会预期渴望达到的需求，什么521什么1688什么玫瑰花什么看电影什么开高级酒店，根本不需要！你只要出根艹我就行！所以红姐「卖得动」

The answer is that men are really that thirsty and desperate because the Chinese society is really too repressive regarding sex. You can’t find any girls to have a date without money, but you will manage to buy some mature women in their forties or fifties. […] Now that you merely need to bring some snacks or milk as rewards, the men’s expectation of the sex date will fall to a very low level. Hong does not ask for love and fortune, nor a movie date and an expensive hotel arrangement; all you need is a cock. That’s why she has a market.

A Beijing-based writer explained that within mainland China, there is a culture of demonising and criminalising people’s sexual desire and needs. 

China has launched several rounds of “anti-pornography and illegal publication” (掃黃打非) campaigns in recent years to tighten its ideological controls over online and offline media content. The most impactful campaign was the 2014 “Clean the Web” movement, as the authorities successfully forced all major social media and content platforms to remove all sexually explicit and implicit content, including literary erotica, through fines and suspension of operation licenses. 

In addition to online content, the authorities have started cracking down on sex work, including solicitation and monetary exchanges for sexual activities. Since 2018, anti-prostitution efforts have been integrated into neighbourhood grid management, which means grassroots party branches and residents have been mobilised to monitor and report on prostitution in their communities. Beginning in 2025, the authorities have begun using AI tools to detect and analyse coded images and voice messages that invite sexual transactions via social media. 

This might explain why Chao did not demand money for sexual services, as such practices can lead to legal charges related to prostitution. Instead, he profited from selling sex tapes. 

Toxic masculinity and revictimisation

Gender inequality and a strict adherence to heteronormativity that emphasises “traditional masculine” relationship roles have exacerbated sexual repression in Chinese society.

China’s 2020 National Census shows that there are 34.9 million more men than women in the country. Even those who have a comparative advantage in the dating and marriage markets, like some of Sister Hong’s sexual partners who are handsome and young with decent jobs, the assumed male role would generate enormous psychological stress and depression, as pointed out by Ben Lam, an overseas Hong Kong blogger on Facebook.

男性仍需在競爭中不斷證明價值，承擔「養家」重擔。這種高壓環境使得健康、平等的親密關係難以實現，情感需求被壓抑、商品化。紅姐的「低成本、無壓力」情感替代品因此應運而生，成為「黑市」中的熱門供應商。

Men have to prove their worth through endless competition and bear the burden of ‘supporting the family’. This high-pressure environment makes it difficult to achieve healthy, egalitarian relationships, and emotional needs are suppressed and turned into a commodity. As a result, Sister Hong's ‘low-cost, no-pressure’ emotional substitutes have emerged, and he has become a popular supplier on the ‘black market’.

The bigger problem is that, although the videos were being peddled for a considerable period, no one reported the crime to the police. In some ways, the bystanders and consumers were co-conspirators in the crime, said Chou Wah Shan, a socio-psychologist who runs an NGO in Hong Kong. 

As the sex tapes were released to the public domain, Sister Hong, her room and a few male victims were turned into online memes. Some have spoken out against such collective bullying, arguing that it brings secondary injuries to the victims. One Hongkonger posted on Facebook:

南京嘅嗰班男人，可能你都唔識佢，覺得佢哋「抵死」，但你點知你身邊有冇朋友被偷錄過「裸聊」片段而活在惶恐當中？

如果佢睇到你嘅Facebook, 原來你係會對受害者落井下石，加以嘲笑嘅，咁佢中招時會唔會敢向你求助？

我希望成為嗰個令佢安心嘅朋友 ：「你知道你出事可以信得過我，我唔會judge你。」

在今日deepfake 技術普及同埋法律落後嘅情況下，我哋每個人都係下一個受害者。你嘅家人、你嘅同事、你嘅hater，輕易可以取得你嘅肖像。 可能「你的咸片」已悄悄存放在某人的電腦中。

我哋可以做嘅，係營造一個安全嘅空間同埋文化，到我哋愛嘅人出事嘅時候，我哋可以一齊應對。

Maybe you don't know the men in Nanjing and think they ‘deserve’ [being mocked], but what if your friends have been secretly recorded chatting naked and are living in fear?

If they look at your Facebook page and realize that you are the one who will make fun of the victim, will they not dare to ask you for help?

I want to be the friend who reassures them: ‘You know you can trust me when you're in trouble, and I won't judge you’.

With the popularity of deepfake technology and outdated law, we are all the next victims. Your family members, your colleagues, and your haters can easily get your image. Maybe ‘your porn’ is already stored on someone's computer.

What we can do is to create a safe space and a culture where we can respond together when something happens to someone we love.