Sugarcoated pedophilia.
Interestingly, the arrested or jailed pedophiles don't really gross me out. Most jailed ones had committed unconsented sexual activities with minors, or had appeared at least in a harmful way that traumatized the minor on the spot. Last summer I worked with quite a few of them with my supervisor in the public defender office.
But some pedophilia, sugarcoated by romance and the adult’s good looks, would not only escape others’ notice, but also be mistaken as some ultimate romance..
For example, recently, a piece of sensational news from the Chinese media has been spreading out. I don't think this news is widely known in the US so I feel obliged to spread it out.
Back in 2012, Muyi Zhang, a 24-year-old singer from mainland China, publicly declared his romantic relationship with Akama Miki, a 12-year-old child model born in Canada. By then, it was rumored that they had already been dating for a while. It turned out that Muyi has been her music coach since Miki was 8, and they had been publicly flirting on social media for some time.
The “intergenerational relationship” made some shockwaves, and then the waves died down, replaced by other sensational news.
Until very recently, six years after they had declared their relationship, the two of them made headlines again: Muyi Zhang and Akama Miki are getting married.
Soon after their wedding was announced on social media, waves of best wishes swarmed in. Within two days, the wedding announcement post had received over 20,000 comments and 18,000 shares. They had also became the most-searched names on China’s local search engine. The hashtag #Zhang Muyi and Miki Akama Getting Married# had received more than 85 million views.
Many people (mostly girls) sent them best wishes, saying that they were “meant to be together” “cutest couple ever” or “true love.” Classic comments include “Okay, you guys make me believe that true love does exist” or “Wow, the reason I'm single is because my future wife is still in kindergarten!”
Do you find those comments interesting? At least I don't. It's disgusting.
The reason Muyi has received approval from his fanbase is that most of his fans are teenage girls as well, being frustrated with their strict parents, stressful schoolwork and bland repetitive life. Isn't Miki living the kind of life these teenage girls are dreaming of? Dating a pop star, showing off her sweet relationship, and dressed up in fancy clothes, etc. To thousands of rebellious teenagers, Miki is living a lIfe that they can't even dream of, yet they admire her lifestyle, which seems to go against what conservative Asian parents expect from a daughter.
They met each other when Miki was only 8 years old. Muyi was Miki’s private music coach. They allegedly grew closer and fell in love.
To me, the essence of the relationship is nothing but pedophilia in disguise.
I'm not the only one to recognize the true color of the relationship. Amidst the best wishes, many people have voiced their disapproval, saying it’s not a healthy relationship; it is about an adult male teacher in power seducing a young girl who has never seen the world.
What disgusts me more is how this relationship has shaped the mindset of the young Miki, now barely an adult. She was angry at all the people calling their relationship “pedophilia.”
From my view, however, the lengthy post she wrote in response to the controversy has confirmed that she's still an inexperienced girl who has fallen for the charming music coach, probably the first young adult she has known personally.
There are people who are changing our story and are using the fact that I was 8 years old, and in doing so, are harming us and our loved ones.
When I was 8, I met Muyi and he was my music teacher, teaching me how to sing and teaching me self-confidence.
By the time I was 12, many of my friends with the same age as me had started reaching puberty and I also started to think about who I liked. I could talk to Muyi about everything. He said that when I would reach the age of dating, he would help me check them out. He said he would not let me date bad guys, because it is very easy for people to get hurt.
Looking back now, Muyi was also young at that time, so I told him that if he did not want me to get hurt in the future, he should just marry me. At the time we were just joking around. With that uncomplicated promise, I grew up with him on my side. [1]
To sum up, the main idea of Miki’s posts are:
I was 12, but I knew damn well about love. You adults do not understand.
We are in a pure and consensual relationship.
It's none of your business, so fuck off.
I was once a rebellious 12-year-old, so I know only too well how easy these kids could be manipulated and carried away by superficially charming figures. After all, a 24-year-old can do a lot of things the fellow 12-year-olds cannot. To start with, a 12-year-old guy can't even take her to a fancy dinner. So, apparently this 24-year-old guy has almost unlimited bargaining power. Whatever relationship that has been established between them is fundamentally unequal and unbalanced in power.
For most people, at 12, an inconvenient time, their sexuality has been awakened. Physically, they could possess burning sexual desires, and they may be capable of reproducing already; psychologically, they do not have the capacity for future-oriented thought; practically, they are insufficiently educated to make informed decision on sex.
Now, a teenager and a guy in his twenties hanging out alone for a significant amount of time, I'm not sure how possible it is to remain pure for six years.
It's indeed none of my business if you guys really believe you're made for each other and dated in private.
However, it has already ceased to be your business at the moment you make it public, especially as public figures. This clearly demonstrates that even as an 18-year-old, she knows little about assuming responsibility and handling consequences.
Everything a public figure chooses to share will have a consequence. Now, what Muyi and Miki have done would lead to several possible consequences:
Some prepubescent girls would think it's cool to date a 24-year-old guy who could provide everything.
Pedophiles would feel validated. The news is sending them approval to their sexual desire.
Some young parents, while still kids inside, might think it's okay if their daughter in elementary school is intimate with an adult man.
Some manipulative pedophiles would be inspired and starting to make similar plans to seduce kids.
Finally, according to an interview, it is actually Muyi, the adult guy, that made the first move. His English name is Mission.
What kind of guy would give himself the English name Mission?