The Woman Warrior 1/2

Maxine Hong Kingston

            My first reaction to The Woman Warrior was shock and horror because of how women were treated in China, and how that treatment transferred to America when the Chinese immigrated. I wondered to myself, “Is rape still common? Do the victims of rape suffer silently? Is the language we speak degrading towards women?” I only hope the answers are pleasing.

            The narrator’s aunt swells with pregnancy while her husband is away, and brings shame to her family. Come to find out, the aunt was raped. “Women in the old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil. I wonder whether he masked himself when he joined the raid on her family.” (6) Unfortunately, rape occurs in America as well. A 2011 U.S. survey proves that rape is still common; nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped or sexually assaulted.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/health/nearly-1-in-5-women-in-us-survey-report-sexual-assault.html

            The aunt’s suffering does not stop at pregnancy, though. “She kept the man’s name to herself throughout her labor and dying; she did not accuse him that he be punished with her. To save her inseminator’s name she gave silent birth.” (11) Now the statistics worsen. According to Roger Williams University, “Only 1 out of 10 rapes are actually reported. Rapes by someone the victim knows are the least likely to be reported.” This statistic shows that the aunt did not protect the father out of love, but possibly out of fear or shame, or worse.

http://www.rwu.edu/campus-life/health-counseling/counseling-center/sexual-assault/rape-myths-and-fac

            Women are further degraded by the language they speak. “There is a Chinese word for the female I – which is ‘slave.’ Break the women with their own tongues!” (47) The English language contains the same kind of insulting connotations. An essay on coursework.info argues that women are degraded by the English language. One cited example is the difference between the two words “spinster” and “bachelor.” “Spinster” gives off a negative image of an aging woman with a dull lifestyle, while “bachelor” indicates a carefree younger man with an exciting and enjoyable lifestyle; but both words signify older singles.

http://www.coursework.info/AS_and_A_Level/English_Language/Language__Context__Genre___Frameworks/_The_English_language_systematically_deg_L113471.html

The difference between "spinster" and "bachelor."

            It appears that borders and time do not matter. Rape appears in all countries, and although cultures evolve over the years, barbarism will continue to exist. At least time has made some dent in the decreasing of rape and degrading language, but not much. Hopefully more time will give better results, because the current and older results sicken me.  

Time heals all wounds.