BEIJING â€" Women in China experience less sexual harassment in public places than women in India, two Asian nations with similar sized populations and fast economic growth which I compare, in terms of rape, in today’s Female Factor Letter.
A host of cultural and sociological factors probably account for that. And though the relationship between sexual harassment and rape may also be complex, researchers say rape is as big a problem in China as anywhere else.
According to The Hindu newspaper, Indian authorities first published data on rape in 1973, when life in China was still distorted by the Cultural Revolution which ended around when Mao Zedong died in 1976.
There are widespread, often anecdotal, reports of forced sex during that largely lawless decade, often carried out by power holders upon the powerless. Women wanting to escape poltical exile in the countryside, get an education or just survive may have parlayed sexual relations in which they were largely unwilling participants into advantage - a gray area when the power relationship is so unequal. It’s a factor that continues to figure today in discussions with feminists or researchers of rape in Chinese society.
Take the case of Li Tianyi, also known as Li Guanfeng, 17, whose father is a prominent army general and singer, detained last week in Beijing for allegedly taking part in a gang rape in the city.
According to Beijing News, the police this week denied widespread online reports that the victim, who has not been named, dropped charges against Mr. Li and four accomplices in exchange for financial compensation including an apartment, job and legal residence in Beijing. (Every Chinese has a “hukou,†or residence permit, which determines his or her legal residence and influences their life opportunities, and this woman was reportedly from out of town.)
!“Criminal cases are brought by the prosecutors and cannot be withdrawn by the victim as they please,†the newspaper said, citing “official†sources. The case, which has attracted widespread attention in China, is still in the investigative stages “so one can’t even talk about the victim revoking the accusation,†the Beijing police were quoted as saying.
