Charles Liu, A Beijing law court has released a study that is sure to draw ire from people around the world: there is “no doubt” that drinking, smoking, and other “bad habits” demonstrated by women are the “main” cause of rape, and allow themselves to be more easily raped than women who don’t have these “vices”.
Based on the statistics of 162 defendants in 151 rape cases spread out over three years, judge Guo Zhao in Haidian explained that victims who engage in “exaggerated and excessive” behavior risk becoming the target of rapists. Judge Guo said rape defendants have confessed that they often decide to commit rape upon the sight of a young, pretty woman wearing revealing clothes.
There are other vices that can get women in trouble. According to the study, staying out late is another bad habit that can lead to rape.According to the study, staying out late is another bad habit that can lead to rape. The study said 60 percent of rapes occur between 9pm and 3am. At this late hour, women still out galavanting are more likely to “provoke and entice” strange men, and don’t take the first opportunity to protect themselves. Furthermore, another reason women get raped in China is because they are too “bold” and are willing to go to dangerous places that ordinary women have the sense to stay away from.
The Haidian court also explains victims usually know their rapists. In 45 percent of the rape cases analysed, the relationship between the victim and the rapist is either as co-worker or friends.
In short, the court study seems to be saying rapists are men who can’t control themselves and can’t be blamed if they are enticed by women with “vices”.
The study says the main reason a man commits rape is because he is young with exuberant, but repressed, physical needs. They usually work by themselves in a foreign city and are separated from their wives (if they are married), and rape because their physiological needs can not be met.
Mostly aged 18 to 30, the majority of rapists have no stable income, are poorly educated, and have a low awareness of the law. As the study says, their anti-social tendencies are manifested by going online to indulge in perverted fantasies that eventually lead to rape.
In another study conducted by the United Nations, the Study on Men and Violence in Asia and the Pacific found that a fifth of male respondents in China admitted they have forced a woman to have sex with them, 86 percent of which cited sexual entitlement as their motive while 53 percent said they raped out of boredom. Fifty-four percent of men and women agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “If a woman doesn’t physically fight back, it’s not rape.”Fifty-four percent of men and women agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “If a woman doesn’t physically fight back, it’s not rape.”
Of course, Xinhua, who reported on the story, isn’t exactly helping matters by including photos such as this one in their report.
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