Netizens Discuss If Reporting Rape Jeopardizes Wedding

牛奶@咖啡 (Milk@Coffee). Picture from: http://ent.sina.com.cn/y/2008-04-14/18291986657.shtml (through Google.cn)

From Mop, “Friend Was Raped, Who Can Tell Me What To Do?“:

I have a good friend, a girl, who is to be married on October 1st. However, just before her wedding, this unfortunate incident occurred:

The night before the Mid-Autumn Festival, when everyone was basking in the festive mood, my friend was raped. The vicious man even used his phone to take pictures of my friend after she was violated. My friend tried to take his phone to delete the pictures but was unsuccessful – she was even beaten really badly.

The same night, she told me what happened over SMS and my first thought was to call the police. However, there is a lot to consider:

  1. She is getting married in October, if this incident is made public, it is very possible that it will affect her future.
  2. The police chiefs of nearby police stations in the area are either colleagues or friends of her future father-in-law; if she reports this incident, her father-in-law will definitely find out. Whether or not her public servant father-in-law (who is a very traditional man) can accept a “shamed” daughter-in-law is unknown. Indeed, gossip can be malicious.
  3. She is afraid of hurting her husband and how the incident will cast a shadow on their relationship.

If we don’t call the police, the criminal remains above the law and this will also be a worry:

  1. It is very possible that this criminal will continue harming other girls, and nobody would want their loved ones to be the next victim.
  2. The criminal has pictures of my friend.  Maybe in the future when her life is stable these pictures might surface and be used for extortion – after experiencing such trauma and finally being able to move on with life, nobody would want to get hurt a second time.
  3. If she remains silent about this incident, she will always remember this incident everytime she looks at her husband – even if she is the victim.

Dear Moppers, please don’t take this incident lightly as an unhappy love affair; because it truly is unfortunate. This didn’t happen to your loved ones so of course it’s easy to take it lightly.

Please think about how to handle the situation to alleviate her pain~~ All of you who visit Mop please don’t be perverts!

Asian girl alone in bathtub. Picture from: http://hi.baidu.com/shuigeju/blog/item/9ccb192cdef30ee98a13992f.html (through Google.cn)

This story was first posted on Mop about a week ago. There are over 1800 comments on Mop. Here are some:

Call the police

The person involved is the writer of this post. She plays around and then spins a yarn on Mop to gain sympathy and even tries to be righteous, bitch!

If she doesn’t call the police, it’ll be even worse when her father-in-law finds out!

Call the police, and she must be honest with her husband. If he doesn’t accept you, it means that he doesn’t love you as much as you think he does. If he comforts you and accepts you, then you really can be with him for life.

Must discuss this with her husband
Let her husband decide, it’s better to explain now than it is later. The husband then discusses it with his father. Let them decide if they want to call the police.
I’ve already said, not reporting this can lead to a situation.
He might want your money after you get married.
Preposition you with sexual favours
It’s possible that when you give him the money he will rape you again.
You might satisfy him this time but he might want more money in the future.
Rape again.
An endless cycle; until you call the police or one of you drops dead.
My understanding so far…

Must call the police, don’t hesitate.
Just have to consider that she is a woman, must definitely call the police or she will be helping the rapist escape punishment.
If her husband loves her, he will definitely understand her and love her.
If he doesn’t love her then she might as well not get married.
Don’t bear this by yourself and let it become a lifetime burden.

Hire a contract killer
Being reasonable in this society is useless.
You can only survive by being more ruthless than others.

To be honest, when I see posts like this I can’t be bothered to comment. A large number of women and their various inattentions in daily life have given lechers ample opportunity. If they really care about themselves, their family, they should learn how to protect themselves. Since this has happened already, I believe the most viable option is to discuss it with her boyfriend, and the call the police. Don’t be afraid, because true colours are revealed in difficult times, if you remain silent, you won’t be able to face other repercussions in the future. A man who truly loves you will bear this burden with you, and let that criminal face the consequences he deserves.

Life is just like rape, since you can’t fight it, you might as well enjoy it. lz, what do you think?

If there’s too much consideration, it’s simple, was she a virgin before the rape?
If calling the police is a must, then you’ve already delayed enough.
If not, why bother calling the police.

1: Call the police and ask the black society for help (What’s important is to find the pictures)
2: Break up with the boyfriend! (The boyfriend and his family don’t want to live with the shadow of her incident). Also, how was she raped? Please choose:
A: She ran into a bad person after finishing work at night! (Worth sympathising)
B: Was she raped by someone she knew? (That’s not good)

Let her think it through, Writer
Lots of rich men’s wives still go for male prostitutes, just take your friend as a prostitute.
She fucked a guy for free, so…
I don’t think it’s wrong.

Use violence to deal with violence, it might not be any use to call the police…
It might cause more trouble.
After all, the police in real life aren’t as responsible as the ones you see on television

I’d rather you really tried to resist
What I’m trying to say is, a man who truly loves you does not care about your virginity, but you women will never understand.

Ask someone from the black society to get rid of the rapist…

She can hide if no pictures were taken
But if pictures were really taken I suggest she call the police immediately, or else two days later it will be all over the internet.

Call the police!
If you call the police, you might lose your husband, and everything in the future. If you believe you can hide this for your entire life and not call the police, can you really do that? The pictures are in someone’s hands, you won’t know when he’ll come looking for you!

I suggest not to call the police, even if you do call the police there isn’t much you can do, you’d also be kicking up a fuss. To the police, these trivial cases aren’t important because even if they solve the case they won’t get much credit.

Call the police. Traditional values will be the death of you.

The main thing is her husband’s attitude, if he is understanding then it’s alright to call the police.
The family should be secondary. She was raped, the wrongdoer was the rapist, it’s unavoidable and I think it is understandable.
If I was her father-in-law I’d let her call the police.

She should first tell her future husband because what he thinks is important. Good job, Writer!

1. Calm down, don’t call the police, look for evidence (if any) and retain it.
2. Tell your husband, because of no alternative reasons, postpone the wedding to avoid her husband accusing her of lying to him.
3. Call the police when the rapist surfaces again, or you could directly seek him out with the help of others, beat him to a pulp, and then call the police to catch him.
4. Be honest with your husband, see what he thinks and then decide if you get married.

Get married first.
The rapist is a stranger, so it will be hard to find him in a short time. Never tell your husband, bear the pain yourself, don’t let your husband be affected by your incident during the happiest time of his life. Find some other way to find the bastard and use violence to deal with violence!

You didn’t call the police immediately after it happened so forget about calling the police.
The days will pass.
It’s no big deal even if your luck is good.
I’m guessing you can’t convince your friend either.

Sad, I’m so sad.
Why is it always women who get hurt~~~
Physically
Psychologically
Customary values dictate that women are victims.

Believe me~ If you call the police, not only will you not catch the bastard, you will also expose your personal tragedy, and at that time you will be paying double the price for your actions.

Looks like only the black society can handle this, if you’ve got money, anything can be done!

If she totally doesn’t know the rapist, then don’t call the police. Even if she calls the police they won’t be able to find him, so what’s the point? It happened so long ago already.

Call the police. It’s better to be honest than to live a lie for the rest of your life. It is also a test for her man.

Secretly hire a contract killer, ask for a professional, don’t leave any traces, don’t have an aftermath, finish the job neatly, happiness for life!

Prepare to break off your engagement~~! Call the police, if the guy doesn’t understand then don’t get married~! This involves your life, think over it carefully.

Simple. If there weren’t any threats from the guy then forget it. If he didn’t threaten you it’s no use calling the police.

Get married, get pregnant and then call the police.

You were forced to make a mistake once, don’t make another mistake. Call the police, be honest.

Looking forward to seeing these pictures on the net…

The original topic was later updated with the following:

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. My friend has chosen to forget and let go. She is determined to walk out of the darkness of this incident. I admire her strength and courage.

At the same time, I would like for everyone to take the high road and not discuss this incident further.

Alone in the dark by the window. Picture from: http://hi.baidu.com/scssi/blog/item/56a8b00a37045e1b95ca6b8e.html (through Google.cn)

Images: These images were found on Google.cn and are not directly related to the original post.

Share This Article

82 Comments

  • Some HTML can be used to format your comment.
  • Add a picture to your comments with Gravatar.
  • Our Comment Policy.
  1. Hmm, I think we are both projecting onto each other. But, I promise you that I’ll read what you have written properly. Not today though.

  2. <i?Maybe you didn’t phrase your question in a way that would’ve resulted in the reaction you wanted to illicit from me, but do take my word for it.

    Just oversimplifying because I am getting lazy, is all.

    I am sure if you want we can continue this discussion on Facebook or email :p

  3. @Derrick
    While it’s off topic from the above few posts.. I don’t hate Wolfram, in fact I respect him a great deal. I enjoyed reading ANKOS and to me, at the time, it was definitely enlightening. CEO was a physics prof @ courant and during a discussion (in which I was acting like a fanboy I’m sure) opened my eyes to a lot of Wolfram’s thievery, I (cbf :D) will let you do the research if it’s of any interest…which I doubt it really is.

    In mentioning genius being a flaw in of itself was not to say directly that genius _is_ a flaw, but, indirectly, often carries with it a burden of anti-socialism which..well, regardless of what you ‘create’, can lead to social suicide and unhappiness. It’s not just employability, and that was just a representation of one of the negative facets which often go along with the territory.

  4. @ Derrick:

    I quoted your words as much as possible to avoid projecting on to you. As I already said, I’m pretty confident you’re not actually so extreme, even if your words have come across that way. Moreover, you’ve acknowledged that you’ve oversimplified and, to me, that balances out the comments you made that I took issue with.

    I know what you’re getting at, I simply thought you were getting really black and white, and thus overstepped the lines of what is reasonable, rational, realistic, and sensitive. At the end of the day, this girl was raped and is being forced by the realities of society to make tough decisions between right and wrong, good and bad, advantageous and disadvantageous. That sucks. It is important to acknowledge that.

  5. @ USTCer:

    Opting to not change your last name after marriage is not limited to China. All you need to do is look to Hong Kong and Taiwan to know that “not changing your last name” is not necessarily a ubiquitous Chinese custom much less invention. There’s no need to make such silly assertions here. More importantly, I’m not sure how that and the fact that female Chinese athletes performed better than their male counterparts actually addresses what Derrick said. Chinese society (along with the vast majority of human civilization) has traditionally valued the male over the female. Is there a need to argue this or would our time be better spent changing it?

  6. @ USTCer:

    You’re again trying to throw in some sort of accusation against “the West.” Yes, “the West” has a Biblical story where woman came from the rib of man. In “China” we had Confucius telling women that they were obligated to obey their husbands just as a son obeys father, student obeys teacher, and the people their emperor. It was the hierarchical order of things, and ultimately for the social stability of the country, right? Giving your man shit was paramount to inciting chaos! Yikes.

    So, please, come on, misogyny has been around for time immemorial, probably since the day men noticed they’re usually physically stronger than women. Isn’t it a bit petty always trying find an excuse to make “the West” sound worse than China? Doing so isn’t going to prove the Chinese are better or the Westerners are worse. It only proves how utterly petty you can be.

    Gee, “don’t be so CNN,” right?

  7. They should enlist the help of triads to take care of the matter…but that’s only an option available to the rich and powerful

  8. Firstly it doesn’t matter if she is a “good girl” or not. If there is no consent, it is rape.
    Why would it jeopardize her marriage? I don’t get it. If she was raped, she is a victim.

  9. @ EJ:

    It would jeopardize her marriage because of the notion of “spoiled goods.” It sucks, but its a real phenomenon, not just in China, but around the world. Not many people are comfortable with their future wives or daughters-in-law having been raped. She is the victim indeed, and few question that, but the stigmitization of rape victims is a complex thing.

  10. Umm..She should report the rape. It doesn’t matter if it occurred months ago or yesterday, she should report it. This Chinese thing about not bringing embarrassment on your future family. What a load of crap. Even if the police doesn’t catch this guy, at least his profile will be known to law enforcement. It might prevent future crimes by this sadistic man. For those of you who says she should keep this private, think about having a daughter. Would you want your daughter to keep this thing private. Shit like this doesn’t go away. It will effect her emotionally for the rest of her life.

    By the way, she’s marrying the guy, and not the parents. If her future husband can’t handle this news, then he’s not good enough for her.

  11. I am an American, married to a Chinese woman, living in China. I think the most important thing is that the woman should tell her husband, because otherwise dark secrets will be the norm of this relationship. Better he should reject her and she is alone, then live a marraige founded upon a lie.

    I simply do not trust police in any country, especially China. They would not solve the problem. However, if she didn’t go to them, she would have a tough time explaining why she didn’t go to the police if the pictures come out

    The pictures are crucial. Nothing could be worse than the secret coming out through the pictures. If the husband were a man, and were a clever one at that, he would find a rational way to get the pictures back, even if it meant paying for them. Violence could be employed to reach that end, but not for violence. To that effect, maybe the mafia-related responses have a good point. You know what? Maybe hiring those secret detective agencies to track down the perp might work, that’s slightly less gangsta.

  12. That first picture… it’s definitely the band milk@coffee, right?

    This whole idea of “shame” in the traditional sense is quite outdated. Not that it was valid before, but nothing should hold innocent people back from attaining justice. We need to change the mentality of people so that they value women’s rights over face.

  13. Hi Chan,

    Yes, it is milk@coffee. I wrote it as the alt description.

  14. Seems like lots of dumb guys answering this post. I’d like to know about rape reporting stats in china – how often does it go unreported in china and why, or am I dreaming that there’s even a figure out there for this? Have any social science people done a study?

    And I’m interested in the whole Chinese marriage thing to. Like some people have said stuff like …if the husband really loves her, or if they really love eachother, then he should support her and their love will overcome all etc.

    But it seems that in some parts of china (and the rest of the world too!) marriage is not always an act of love where two people come together because they mutually love and adore eachother. Sometimes it can be a financial security thing, or a way to step up in the world. So, in this case, I don’t think love is relevant.

  15. She needs to call the police and come clean with her husband. She will also need alot of medical help as God knows whether that guy has a disease or not. If she doesnt do anything, this will start eating her from the inside out. Who can gurantee that man would not blackmail her in the future?

  16. Maybe this is cultural difference… but if she can’t look to her fiance/husband to help her in this desperate time of emotional support/need, who can she trust? Rape happens because we live in a messed up world. We need the unconditional love from our friends and family to get us through difficult times. If she can’t look to her future husband for help, then she’s entering a very oppressive, unfortunate marriage.

  17. I would like to apologize right now for the length of this post. I realize many of you do not have time and/or inclination to read the entire thing.

    Please trust that this is actually me being brief, but my first priority is to avoid oversimplified generalizations and ultimately that denies me brevity.

    @Bryan: There is no ‘posse comitus act’ protecting Chinese citizens… when they “rise up” they get squashed by PLA tanks.

    Add onto that the heavy censorship which prevents nearly all attempts at organization, and you can begin to understand how 1.3 billion people can be made so docile.

    And that’s not even to mention the years of what was effectively brainwashing at the hands of the CCP and the mental health issues their legacy leaves behind.

    Every year since 1990 there has been a rally in Hong Kong on June 4th, yet it has been mentioned in mainland China only once, in 2007, when it was described as a memorial for the earthquake victims. The massacre seems to have been completely excised from Chinese memory and I bet many mainlanders would be shocked to learn the truth.

    @Kai: I may not always agree with your positions or your assumptions, but I do respect and admire the thoughtful and concise manner with which you present yourself.

    @comments about genius: I have an IQ of around 140. (Anywhere from 137 to 151 depending on my level of intoxication at the time of the test.) I do not say this to boast, simply to qualify the following:

    I do not have many people in my life that I would consider friends. This is not because I can’t get along with others, it is simply because the things that occupy my mind are boring or bothersome to so many people and I do not go out of my way to force myself upon them.

    As for employability, I also struggle with it. They say “it is a fine line between genius and insanity” and this is largely true. Because I refuse to accept the things which I can not change I am consumed with (for example) trying to figure out how to stop George Bush from fucking over the entire free world, so much so that I just can’t care whether or not the fucking fries are done.

    To put it more succinctly, I am very aware of exactly how terrible life on this planet can be, and even though I am powerless to change the world I remain overwhelmed by such considerations.

    @protection of women: I think those two have been arguing the opposite sides of the same coin. The idea that a particular man is responsible for the protection of a particular woman is very different from coming across a stranger in danger and feeling obliged to help.

    That is the difference between being a samaritan and a husband/brother/uncle/whathaveyou. One aspect is based on a (somewhat misogynist) concept of… well, not quite ownership but at least stewardship. (“That is MY woman and none shall defile her.”)

    The other is based on either empathetic concerns for all people and/or selfish rationalizations. (“I must help, because simply by my proximity I am made responsible.” or “I must help because I would want someone to help me.”)

    @LZ It is very difficult to ascertain the true circumstances of this incident. Not enough information is provided. Many unscrupulous women use claims of rape to justify infidelity and in this case I feel that it is possible that what began as consensual sex was only later called rape to protect the woman against the possibility of pictures (dated just a few weeks before the wedding) turning up.

    However, what is clear, is that saving “face” is far more important, as always, than doing what’s right. The woman, the future husband, the father-in-law, hell the entire society as a whole would rather shun or blame the rape victims and ignore the problem instead of admitting that such things can happen to anyone, any time, in “harmonious” China.

    As for the police… what exactly could they do now? It has been so long that the likelihood of semen and/or injuries being evident is almost nil. That makes this another case of “he said/she said” which would almost certainly result in more damage to the woman’s reputation than the man’s.

    It’s not fair, and it’s not okay. And it doesn’t matter how many years it took Western countries to improve treatment of rape victims, this is something that all Chinese, hell all people, should care about.

  18. Whoa, someone said I was “concise.”

    *mashes Print Screen button*

  19. @Kai:

    Concise: free from all superfluous detail While your posts are often long, you rarely belabor your point. You move through the issues in a very logical way, raising relevant details for your readers’ attention and moving on.

    I especially enjoy the way you remain humble and gracious, pointing out similarities as often as differences. Most people can’t pull it off.

    (What is the state of philosophy in China today? You seem unconcerned with class warfare, so I couldn’t call it diamat. I’d guess the Socratic Elenctic style, with a good bit of Confucian rhetoric for flavor. Or a very good business communications class. :p So which is it?)

  20. @ jayman:

    Holy shit, any more ego-stroking and my head is going to explode!

    Either we operate on a similar wavelength or you’re pulling my chain because I’m pretty certain my posts (especially those I don’t proof-read) are potpourri mixtures of stream-of-consciousness and eclectic asides. While I personally think everything I write is me subconsciously establishing nuance to my position (you know, to preempt those who would dare find fault with my arguments), others feel I’m belaboring my point, being repetitive, and rambling. I can empathize.

    That said, I try to remain humble and gracious but I’m pretty certain quite a few fellow commentators here would disagree given my penchant for trying to rip apart or verbally overwhelm those I find, quite simply, “idiotic” (which is subjective).

    Now that I’ve tried to “graciously” accept and appreciate your compliments, I hope you’ll stop complimenting me because I’m one of those people who squirm when being praised.

    Also, I can’t pinpoint any specific foundation for my “rhetorical style.” Therefore, I suppose your labels are probably as good as any.

  21. @Kai

    Fair enough. Next post I’ll be sure to throw a few insults against you to make you feel more secure.

  22. this post is pure BS. the girl ask for help in deciding a good 80-90% suggests her to call the cops. but rather she does the opposite.

    what does that tell you? it tells you that the girl already made her decision even before the post was created… she was just looking to validate her decision.

    losing face etc etc. i can understand it all. but this is still deception. its not so different as sleeping with another man before your wedding night the only difference is (if im the guy) i can understand if its an unfortunate event such as this rather than an intentional one.

  23. at least get some counseling, hire a private detective may be, pay the triads to take care of the situation.

  24. Chinese Police in generals are worse compared to their counterparts elsewhere…and probably just as corrupt as their counterparts.

    The girl definitely needs counseling. But the high road would tell the future hubby. However, if the girl needs financial assistance (poor family,) I understood her predictment(sp?) especially given the arcane and ludicous one(or two)-child policy currently implemented in China.

    I begin to wonder what happened to human decency and common sense in China and this will get worse as China continues to prosper…then again, the chinese approach is life isn’t worth that much in China anyway…

  25. Well, the sad fact is, proof is hard to obtain if there is no witness or forensic evidence.
    So involviong the police now is to late, it should be done immediatly to be effective.
    The only choices open, is as she has done, and move on.
    Alternatively….
    If she knows the person that did it, in some way can identify him, The hit man solution looks like an option, and additionally, very cheap in china, I would though suggest a good beating, and a male rape to be effective, Possibly regular intervals. with future indication, so he will always be looking over his shoulder, this is better than death, he can suffer for long time.

  26. I know and understand why she made her decision and why she doesnt want it discussed again.
    But I feel she chosen poorly, verginity is very highly valued in china so chances are she was a virgin before the rape. I’m sure her husband figured out on the wedding night that she wasnt a virgin.
    She shouldnt worry about her soon to be father inlaw,hes not the one she’s marrying should sit down with her fiancee and tell him what happened get it out in the open.If he loves her he’ll understand it wasnt her fault and be willing to help her through the pain,no matter how much she wants to put it behind her a rape victim never gets over the trama.Her husband needs to know coz it will eat her inside and not having someone to turn to will end up ending the marrige.I realize she’s proberbly marride by now but seriously need to think about telling him.Not telling could make things worse,and whose to say the pics wont show up later?

  27. Somehing needs to be changed in a culture who blames the innocent victim.

    But who knows, she could have done it by her own free will. He takes pictures and are afraid that they end up on Internet.

    The sad thing with many girls is that you can never trust them. If they report rape, incest etc. it can be anything from purely made up stuff to the real deal.

    • Agree wholeheartedly with you on this. There is another consideration also…even though my response is moot, as this incident occurred such a long time ago.

      If a womenhas been raped…her mind is fucked and marrying her will be a big mistake.

      If a woman has not been raped and she lies about it….her mind is fucked and marrying her will be a big mistake.

      Only if your currently married and this unfortunately happens is their a possibility that the marriage will survive…but the husband must really love the wife and be willing to work on her upcoming mental problems as a result. Mostly though, even if already married….it will ruin the marriage, because most men, including myself, will never feel better about the situation unless they get revenge on the perpetrator. Often times that does not happen and so the husband feels as though a stranger has just made a fool of him. YES I SAID HIM…in the mind of the husband, even though he may not say it publicly…he has been the one wronged!

      Best case scenario, especially in such a society as CHINA…Keep your mouth shut and seek your own therapy from a licensed doctor.

  28. Ask other female rape her husband, take picture, case close.

  29. Shame is tantamount to regret. Never regret. Catch him. If your husband leaves you, his future girlfriends deserve to know that he sees no worth in women, and should probably marry the rapist instead.

  30. Coming from a guys Point of view…
    If this happened to my fiancee i would stick by her side no matter what. i know it will be hard to face family and friends, but more importantly the culprit needs to pay for his crime. she should consider calling the police. when the police finds that douche, give the cops a little red envelope and ask for 10 minutes alone time with him.

  31. Screw everybody who accuses the rape victim. Don’t get married to people with that kind of mindset.

Personals @ chinaSMACK - Meet people, make friends, find lovers? Don't be so serious!»