NCJ Number
220723
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 13 Issue: 12 Dated: December 2007 Pages: 1319-1338
Date Published
December 2007
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This article examines a Chinese woman’s lived experience of father-daughter incest and dating violence and strategies of resistance.
Abstract
This article contributes to the understanding of women’s resistance to victimization in power relationships. In Meng Xi’s case, in the face of abusive situations she uses different strategies to resist and to regain power, thereby putting herself in a more advantageous situation. The article offers the new perspective of studying resistance through the interplay of body and linghun (intelligence soul). In the father-daughter incest, when her body was powerless, Meng Xi used the split between body and linghun to save her body. In her dating relationships, her body shook off the feeling of insufficiency and guilt and became gradually more powerful. In Mainland China, there is a lack of public awareness of and systematic research on dating violence and incest. This article fills a gap in the research in this area by examining how a young Chinese woman (Meng XI) responds to the experience of father-daughter incest and how she makes sense of her dating experience. References