Crossing the line between jokes and sexual harassment could exact a heavy price

Khanh Dương

The global entertainment industry was recently rocked by the allegations against rapper and music mogul P. Diddy, who is facing numerous sexual assault lawsuits from women.

In Vietnam, a Generation Z rapper has been in the spotlight for several days after he made a controversial statement suggesting that “you don’t have to go to school, but you can still be famous,” along with incidents of sexual harassment in Vietnam social network.

Negav, the stage name of the rapper, a rising star due to his appearance on a current TV show, is also said to have made other controversial comments on celebrities’ Facebook posts a few years ago, when he was less well known.

Netizens found the comments vulgar and disappointed many of his followers.

In addition, Negav is also an administrator of the 3,000-member Facebook group “Wet Tissues,” where since 2020 many posts have contained offensive, even sexually harassing content about young girls and celebrities.

The most active Facebook user in the group was Negav himself.

Many members of the group – including music idols of the younger generation – reacted to his posts, left comments and joked about the obscene and sexually suggestive stories.

Negav’s fans – most of whom belong to the same generation as him – consider the “jokes” to be normal as they still hear the “jokes” frequently and even use them in regular conversations.

The fans continue to stand by Negav, offering him support and protection. They show compassion by saying that it was just a mistake because of his youth.

Lawyer Diệp Năng Bình from the HCM City Bar Association said Negav’s comments and posts were considered online sexual harassment and were against the law.

The lawyer defined “online sexual harassment” as sexual activity on any digital platform that negatively impacts victims.

In fact, inappropriate comments are just one aspect of sexual harassment on social media. There are also many other acts that fall under online sexual harassment, such as sending dirty pictures and videos, altering other people’s photos with offensive information, or sending spam messages.

Many victims receive messages with coarse and derogatory language asking them to come to dinner or to meet each other.

Nguyễn Vân Anh, a Vietnamese gender expert and director of the Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women and Youth, said online sexual harassment is now a problem not only in Vietnam but also in many other countries .

“Many people confuse sexual harassment with jokes. They ignore the fact that it is against the law to post and comment in offensive language about gender and sex and think it is a harmless joke,” she said News from Vietnam.

According to the expert, the line between joking and harassment is quite thin and can be easily confused depending on many factors and contexts. Consent is the key factor in distinguishing these two concepts.

“Your humorous comments and posts in a group must be accepted by members and must not make anyone uncomfortable. It is considered harassment if even one person disagrees. The content of the posts must not be offensive or sexually suggestive,” she said.

“The act of members of a closed group of liking posts and making sensitive and rude comments is also considered complicity in harassment,” she said.

We can observe in our daily lives that jokes with sexually explicit vocabulary are common in everyday speech both online and in person. They are typically viewed as jokes in public settings such as offices and schools.

A friend of mine said that at her workplace there was a man who frequently made sexual jokes to everyone and used metaphorical language.

“It’s like his way of joking. Although the funny stories are not meant to be malicious and do not sexually appeal to anyone, I am annoyed myself,” she said.

How would you react if you were in this situation?

Would you laugh along to the jokes, be quiet, or both?

In this case, at least one colleague appears to disagree with the group’s jokes, which constitutes sexual harassment.

Many cross the line between jokes and verbal sexual harassment without even being aware of the offense.

Lawyer Nguyễn Tiến Hải Dương of the HCM City Bar Association said joining groups with sensitive content shows that some artists are unaware that this behavior can have serious legal and social consequences.

Negav has to pay a heavy price for his mistakes.

Several brands he represents have terminated their contracts with him, and the rapper is also postponing his entire performance schedule.

Young singers who are idols to thousands or perhaps millions of young people can learn a valuable lesson from the Negav case: be careful when making public comments online.

However, this doesn’t just apply to famous people.

It teaches each of us the value of being able to differentiate between verbal sexual harassment and jokes.

We should not become enablers of offensive actions, but rather raise our voices against harassment.

If done by one person, then two, three, etc., it will create a positive trend in our community. —VNS