A college in Northwest China is receiving a backlash after they tried to commit their female students to signing a chastity pledge.
The school in the city of Xian, China passed out “commitment cards” during a No Regrets Youth Class declaring that the female students will remain chased until their wedding day according to the China Economic Daily website.
“I promise to myself, my family, my friends and my future spouse and children that I will refuse all kinds of premarital intercourse before I step into a lifelong monogamous marriage,” the card reads with a space for the students to sign their signature underneath.
These cards may be somewhat common in Christian schools across the U.S., but are very rare in China.
The online response has been overwhelmingly negative stating the college’s approach is “outdated.”
“It’s hard to imagine that this would brazenly appear at a college in the 21st Century,” wrote a critic on the Sina Weibo microblog site.
“Whether or not to have premarital sex is for adults to choose as they please. Why should anybody promise? For a university to do this is really unsettling,” wrote another critic.
Even those who supported the measure were screaming sexism over the fact that men were not asked to sign.
“This is a simply wonderful provision, but why does it not include boys?” another critic commented. “Men should sign – isn’t this sexist?”
