A college in Beijing is located in the center of Public Fury after it was reportedly asked a student to prove that she was out of her period to be eligible for sick leave.
A viral video, filmed in what seems to be a clinic and is being placed on social media this month, shows a young woman who asks an older woman: “Does every menstrual girl have to take off his pants and show you before they can get a sick note?”
“In short, yes,” the older woman replies. “This is a school rule.”
Local media identified the location of the video as a clinic at the Gengdan Institute University College, which later said in a statement that her staff “had followed the protocol”. But users of social media have described the meeting as a serious invasion of privacy.
Neither the student nor Gemgdan Institute immediately responded to the requests of BBC News for comments.
Both the student’s video and the explanation of the school seem to have been deleted, although screenshots and fragments have been recived online, also by state media.
In his statement of 16 May, GGGDAN Institute reportedly said that the videos of the incident that circulated online were “distorted” – and that the institution had the right to take legal steps against those who “spread malicious untrue videos”.
The statement also said that the staff had followed the correct procedure during the meeting, such as “Initiating clinical work after obtaining the student’s permission”, and did not use a tools or conducted a physical examination.
In the video, the staff member did not answer when the student asked for written proof of the school regulations to check the menstrual status of students. Then she asked the student to go to a hospital instead.
On social media, the incident caused an outpouring of anger and sarcasm to the rules of the school.
“My head hurts, do I have to open my skull and call it a day?” wrote a user of social media.
“Let’s take the sanitary path out and stick it on the sick note,” said another Weibo.
An employee of the GGGDAN Institute told Local Outlet Dute News that the school may have created the rule about the evidence of menstruation to scare students to fulfill periods to get sick notes.
But that argument is Hollow among users of social media.
“If they are worried about students who use their menstruation as an excuse several times a month, why not just make a record of it? It is not that complicated,” wrote a person on Weibo.
Staatsmedia are also robes in the debate.
“Menstruation is already an intimate subject for women. Rules like these will feel very uncomfortable and even have a negative influence on the psychological well -being of students,” reads an opinion piece of China’s national radio.
GGGDAN Institute is now joining a list of tertiary institutions throughout the country that have been brought under fire for what many see as prescription and hamfist attempts to control their students.
Last year, some universities were criticized for banning the use of bed curtains in their dormitories. The curtains are often used by students for privacy in shared rooms, but school authorities said they were fire and security risks.
In addition, during the popular holiday season of May Day last year, some universities spent strict guidelines for students who were planning to travel. These include avoiding solo trips, road trips or cycling trips for safety – that many saw as the institutions that exceed their authority in the private lives of students.
On social media site Xiaohongshu, a user said to be a student at the Gengdan Institute, “the clinic of the school deserves all the criticism it gets”.
“I heard from some older students that things like this have been going on for a while. Some girls spoke earlier, but nothing was done,” the user wrote.
“I am happy that this time it made the trending topics. People did not remain silent.”
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