After the extensive research I have done within the past few days, I have learned so much about violence against women in China. One main thing I have learned is that not much research has been done regarding women at all. For example, my topic is regarding suicide rates for women in china, and there is not much data on why this is happening, rather only just the few statistics that have been concluded. I also found that a lot of research regarding sexual assault and such also has very little data. Considering this lack of research, shows just how much women are really cared about in this country and makes me personally feel lucky to live in a country where violence against women is getting a lot of attention.

Although there has not been many studies about this issue, some studies have been done. From a study done in 2004, it was measured that about 19% of 2000 people have recorded a male on female violence within their own relationship, while 15% of women had admitted that they had been hit in this relationship (Parish et. al 2004). One other statistic I found interesting from this study was that about 75% of men said they had drank alcohol in the last year and within those men, about 43% had been drunk (Parish et. al 2004). Considering these statistics, it would be likely to assume that alcohol is a main cause for violence against women in China. Overall, the main reasons for sexual violence in China, alike most other places, include low female contribution to income, alcohol consumption, patriarchal beliefs, etc. (Parish et. al 2004)

However, sexual violence is not the only violence women receive. Due to the present patriarchal system in China, they are also abused to keep them in a lower position compared to men. According to Ko Ling Chan, in his journal “Sexual Violence Against Women and Children In Chinese Societies”, he claims that many men have said they had used physical or emotional abuse to force their partner or child into a dominant position. He also claims that due to this patriarchal system, it is hard for women to get the help they need to leave this abuse. Women in this country also have a hard time leaving their abusive relationship as divorce is not a common option for them. In China, divorce has been controlled by the government for a long time, this meaning that a women can not leave their marriage for something as common as violence (Chan 2009). This control of women lives by the government is what makes it hard for any women to seek help, in which makes it hard for people to research violence against women in China, as they are too scared or not comfortable enough to talk about or seek help.

After all this being said, this trauma is also intergenerational. This meaning that all of this abuse keeps occurring through each generation. Partially do to men seeing how their fathers treat their sisters or mothers and in return, act in that way when they have a wife or daughters. As it was mentioned in our 4.1 lecture this week, this intergenerational trauma can also take place from a physiological point. So if a women was abused for many years, she may treat her child differently or may even partner with someone who will abuse them (4.1 lecture). This takes a part in challenging biomedicine as it puts a focus on mental health and how damaging outside events can change our mental health and brain.

Further more, reframing violence against women and trauma issues as health issues in China would challenge their understanding of women. In other words, if women’s violence was seen as a health issue, rather than a social issue, more women would seek help for the trauma they are going through and more men would be punished for inflicting this trauma. As there is not much help women can receive for domestic violence in China, there would not really be much more reinforcing than challenging. This is because, as I had mentioned before, these women have a hard time getting out of these abusive relationships as the government closely regulates divorce, making it harder for the women. There are also not many resources readily available for these women to seek help like women’s shelters, help lines, or centers for victims of violence. Overall, If the biomedicine recognized these issues as health issues, it would be chaotic, since this system is really only good at solving ‘easy’ problems, like problems caused by individual causes rather than mental health issues or issues like sexual violence.

Works Cited

Chan, Ko Ling. “Sexual Violence Against Women and Children in Chinese Societies – Ko Ling Chan, 2009.” SAGE Journals, 2009, journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1524838008327260.

Parish, W., Wang, T., Laumann, E., Pan, S., & Luo, Y. (2004). Intimate Partner Violence in China: National Prevalence, Risk Factors and Associated Health Problems. International Family Planning Perspectives,30(4), 174-181. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/stable/1566491

“Violence Against Women, Trauma, and Resilience As Health Issues.” Women and Health, 23 May 2019, anthropology.msu.edu/anp270-us19/lecture-videos/violence-against-women/.