This article was published on March 11, 2019

1.8M Chinese women deemed ‘BreedReady’ by creepy new database


1.8M Chinese women deemed ‘BreedReady’ by creepy new database

An open database in China has been found to include the personal information of over 1.8 million women.

It was discovered over the weekend by Victor Gevers, a Dutch internet expert from the non-profit group GDI.Foundation. In Gevers’ Twitter thread, he tweeted screenshots of the database including women’s information including their phone numbers, age, sex, addresses, and their “BreedReady” status.

Gevers’ Twitter thread also includes a screenshot of the database showing the youngest girl with “BreedReady” status is just 18 years old. Although it’s not yet been confirmed what the “BreedReady” status actually means, many observers in the thread noted the “BreedReady” status is a Chinese translation of a girl or woman who is of child-bearing age — which is still a creepy way to categorize a human.

The database, which was taken down late on Monday afternoon local time, includes women at the average age of 32. According to The Guardian, almost 90 percent of included entries were described “single” and 82 percent were listed as living in Beijing.

Alongside women’s personal information, the database also included fields labeled “political” and “hasvideo” with links to Facebook pages — which is blocked in China.

The real purpose of the database hasn’t been confirmed but Gevers’ thread has been labelled the “prologue to the Handmaid’s Tale” —  a book and TV show where women were forced to have children.

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