Pinky Cheung was a Teen Rape Victim
Pinky Cheung (張文慈) has had enough of her past getting dug up again by the media.
On August 4th, the former ATV actress posted a thousand-word statement on her official Facebook account, urging the media and its consumers to stop reporting about a sexual assault that she had experienced nearly 30 years ago.
“Ever since I joined TVB last year, a certain media outlet wouldn’t stop reminding everyone about this old story,” she wrote. “When I was photographed shopping with a friend, they mentioned it. It wasn’t just once, but constantly. It was even to the point where they used a screenshot of me crying in a TVB interview to report about the things that had happened decades ago. When others see the report, they would think that I was talking about the incident, but none of that ever happened. I never said a word.”
When Pinky was 17 years old, her boyfriend at the time drugged and raped her. Though she was a victim of rape, there would be negative comments directed to her whenever that incident was brought up by the media.
The 45 year old said at the end of her statement that she plans on getting married in the future, and doesn’t want the horrifying incident to be consistently reported by the media. “I am now working really hard to walk every step, and I love my body! I don’t have any more wishes, as I do plan on getting married in the future. I just hope that, when my boyfriend and I get photographed in the future, those old stories won’t be reported again! I’ve already lost the first half of my life. Please write with your conscience, and discontinue such hurtful reporting!”
Source: Eastweek
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Why does victim-shaming occur so often in HK?
@anon Isn’t it because HK is still a patriarchal society that still favors men over women? I mean, if you just watch TVB series in general, they’re constantly preaching how women should put up with their cheating husband and always forgive them because that’s just how men are. They practically tell women that education and career should not matter to them as much as breeding and being able to cook and cater to their husbands. It’s pretty sickening and backwards in this day and age.
I totally understand that Ms. Cheung does not want to be defined by the horrible experience she went through in her past, but I’m also sad that their society would make her feel that she can’t get married or be happy because of something that she was subjected to against her will.
@anon I agree – it’s disgusting. This girl was drugged and raped and somehow she’s the one in the negative light. What about the man who committed an crime?! It’s disgusting that the HK media would try and paint her in a negative light when she is obviously the victim. Sometimes I have faith in HK’s efforts to keep up with the times (e.g. I found that Legal Mavericks touched up on a lot of social issues that are usually rather sensitive in Asian countries), and other times, articles like these prove that unfortunately there are still many people who are insensitive to these issues. In situations like these, I would personally love to see other celebrities or influential people speak up and support her. Anyway, I wish her all the best.
@melia880 Unfortunately, LM only “touched” very lightly at the surface. They probably think they made a breakthrough or made something extremely outthere. Ugh, cop out.
Back on topic, it’s sickening that media keeps rehashing negative incident. More sickening that there’s readers. Where there’s demand, there’s supply. SMDH.
@jjwong Haha your comment about LM is so true. They are only just beginning to talk about transgender issues, physical and mental disabilities, etc. And, there is still a lack of support for gender equality… that one is always a cop-out in dramas because TVB dramas have so much subtle sexism everywhere. When compared to other parts of the world, they’re actually far behind.
@melia880 ViuTv had a reality program called ‘Tagger’ (對不起 標籤你, you can find all 10 episodes on YouTube) that kind of deals with social issues, stereotyping and discrimination. There are episodes that specifically dealt with gay, lesbian and transgender people. The show itself is alright, still a bit ignorant sometimes in how they present the issues or people involved but honestly I’ve expected worse, it’s still entertaining but manages to make some good social commentary about the HK culture.
@melia880 Yea, why can’t they have female lead over male. A fem char who actually saves the male and who has no flaws with awesome skills like how they kept portraying male lead. Every series has always been male “kee” female.
One of reasons I rly liked M-club. Sure, it had male-dom embedded but it focused on the female casts, their struggles, their changes, etc.Eric Tsang did a good job directing and script was solid. They should ask him do more instead of Wong Jong rubbish current and other one with Liza. How is he still relevant? How can people, mainland or HK, still think his scripts are any good? It’s worse than watching reality shows, loke Jersey Shores, Housewives, so forth. Ugh.
@anon Part of it too is the HK media has a propensity to emphasize the negative and focus on “scandalous” stuff when reporting on celebrities because they think that’s what audiences want. In their minds, no one wants to hear that a celebrity is living an ordinary, boring life, paying rent, eating and sleeping and going about their work like the rest of us. Sure, other media do similar things too, but HK media is known for being particularly harsh on its own celebs. The late Leslie Cheung said it best when he commented in a speech many years ago how shameful it is that the HK media, unlike media in other countries/territories, chooses to deliberately hurt and destroy their own artists through their constant negative reporting. Jacky Cheung also talked about this too back in the 90s when he famously united with the other 3 Heavenly Kings at an award ceremony to condemn the hostility and negativity being played up by the media at the time. Unfortunately, this is one thing about the HK entertainment industry that has never changed over the years and probably never will….
@llwy12 I think a bigger part of the problem is that the public perpetuates it by consuming their stuff. I’ve witnessed first hand in Hong Kong how someone was showing an Apple Daily video to one of his friends while saying how stupid it is. Why don’t they just stop giving these scum ‘news’ channels views? Don’t they realise they can only exist because there is a market for it? It’s not like they don’t have other news options either.
I think this girl put it best: “香港人睇人仆街最開心”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crOqWD9O2EI
Sigh.
By the way, for people that might be interested: ViuTv had a reality program called ‘Tagger’ (對不起 標籤你, you can find all 10 episodes on YouTube) that kind of deals with social issues, stereotyping and discrimination. There are episodes that specifically dealt with gay, lesbian and transgender people. The show itself is alright, still a bit ignorant sometimes in how they present the issues or people involved but honestly I’ve expected worse, it’s still entertaining but manages to make some good social commentary about the HK culture.
@llwy12 Actually rewatched the eps with 4 Heavenly Kings recently
Annoying papaz at it again…smh
Wish Pinky the best! Maybe I’ll tune in to TVB again to watch her.
I feel so sorry for Pinky to have to put up with such awful and negative media stories! There should be articles written about women who are rape victims (especially Pinky) on the courage sheer willpower to face such scrutiny in a POSITIVE PERSPECTIVE. ie. completing University Degree, finding a job, or sharing their stories to encourage others to get help (motivational speakers).
Pinky is so brave and so open to the public. This courage should be admired and praised rather than covered in a negative light. She also previously mentioned how she’s going through menopause now and can no longer have children even though she really wants one. I applaud her valor in never fearing in revealing details of her experiences. It exposes her vulnerabilities as a human and I’m sure thousands of other women out there have experienced the same issues, but they never get media attention. Because the bumps in her road isn’t glamorous, they get shushed. It’s shameful that while we have one woman willing to step forward with these incidents, they chastise and taunt her instead. What kind of dbags do this. This is harrassment
Best wishes for Pinky hope she films more for TVB need more artist that can act for the station!!!
Pinky has gone through a lot of hardships in her life.
She was the target of a bullying group growing up, so she face constant bully, not only emotionally, but, physically. I’ve heard some of the interviews talking about the bully and it made me cringe.
Then, when she came out to work, got raped.
She has also gone broke once and the kind Angie Cheung lent her money.
I was a fan of Pinky in her ATV days. I love her in the MDWAV series. So, I always took notice of her news when I saw it.
She gave a telling interview not so long ago. I can’t find the youtube link now. Lots of crap videos on youtube now that she has join TVB and HK media started to pay attention on her. I’ll post it after I check my bookmark link.
Here’s the interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwz9IfyVna8