Gavin Chong says he was touched inappropriately by masseur in Vietnam; Shane Pow received explicit pictures of men online
The duo, who star in a new Singapore drama about a police team investigating sex crimes, spoke of their own experiences of sexual harassment.
A masseur in Vietnam got a little too close to a private area and it left Malaysian actor Gavin Chong feeling uncomfortable. The Singapore-based actor is in a new drama Unforgivable, where his character is part of a police team investigating sex crimes, and shared about the incident in a recent interview.
Talking with 8world, the actor revealed that he had been sexually harassed before. It happened last year when he was in Vietnam for a vacation with friends, and got a masseur who was a little handsy.
He recalled, “In the process of the massage, I felt him touch a more private part of my body. I have had different massages before, but he touched places that other masseurs had not touched.
“I felt uncomfortable at the moment, but I didn't want to assume that I had been molested. I thought I might have been overthinking, so I just endured the whole process. Later, I really felt something was wrong, so I reported it to the store owner. The owner eventually refunded the full fee to me.”
Explicit photos of men sent to co-star Shane Pow
Chong’s co-star Shane Pow, who recently starred in the local film Good Goodbye, also received unwanted attention from strangers.
Pow told 8world that persons online have sent him explicit photos of male privates, accompanied by provocative text.
He said, “Maybe because this is the online world, people are bolder and think they won't be caught. The person who sent the photo may have also sent it to many people at the same time and is seeing who responds. I just treat it like a scammer and ignore it.”
Both Chong and Pow felt that in the past, society was simpler, and so their parents didn’t teach the boys how to protect themselves. Instead, they were taught that men and women are different, and they shouldn’t ‘fool around’ with the latter.
Pow shared that he tries to avoid alcohol when attending public events and cautioned women to be mindful of their safety, even if it’s among friends or a partner.
“Drinking might cause troubles,” he said.
He has also encountered a situation where a woman was in trouble, and he had to step in to help.
“Some people may be too enthusiastic and fail to exercise proper control, accidentally crossing the line. If it's not convenient for me to come forward, I will ask other people to come to the rescue and pull the person away.”
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