1.3 Psychological violence ('cold' violence)
1.3 Psychological violence ('cold' violence)
After examining the term 'domestic violence',we can see that both British and Chinese definitions point out that domestic violence usually refers to physical,psychological or emotional,sexual and financial aspects (Guo,2000;Hague &Malos,2005;Herring,2004;Hester et al.2000;Huang,2002;Lee &Stanko,2003;Pickup,2001;Walby &Allen,2004;Wang,2003;Williamson,2000).Psychological violence,among these forms,is very common (Horley,1988;Kelly,1988;Mooney,2000;Smith,1989;Yan,2004).In China,psychological violence,a newer term or notion (Wang,2004),is also called 'cold' violence (Guo,2004;Hu&Zhang,2003;Huo,2006;Yi,2007) because this violence is the opposite of 'hot'
violence (physical violence) (Li,2003;Lie,2003;Wang,2007).Comparing 'cold' and 'hot' in Chinese,the former usually links with moon,water,cool,darkness,passivity,indifference,inferiority,while the latter links with sun,fire,heat,lightness,activity,friendly,superiority,and power (Rydstrøm,2003).Accordingly,'cold' violence impacts on victims invisibly,without causing a wound or without bleeding but 'hot' violence apparently impacts on victims visibly,causing a wound or blood (Chen,2007;Yi,2007).'Cold' violence is likely to be neglected because victims may find it difficult to tell their stories to others.Perpetrators use such behaviour in relation to non-communication and indifference to abuse their partners.Its harm will leave psychological scars on victims (Kirkwood,1993),which cannot be healed (Mooney,2000:33).
The phenomenon of psychological violence appears to be widespread in China:according to the Police Report Centre in Dalian City,70 or 80 per cent of cases,among 834 cases of domestic violence,dealt with psychological violence (Tang,2003).According to the survey by the China Law Society,65 per cent of husbands did not communicate with or neglected their wives (Cui,2002;Yang,2004).From the 1990s until now,the phenomenon of extramarital love or the 'third party' [5] appears again although it has been officially abolished/prohibited for over a hundred years in Chinese law (Langfeng,2006;Liu,2002;Xu,2002;Yi,2004).For example,China Marriage Law (2001) stipulates:'Cohabitation of a married person with any third party shall be prohibited'.In this phenomenon,women were the main victims because most of the cases in other Chinese investigations are from husbands bringing in new 'third party' partners and not from wives doing so (Wang,1998;Wang,2001).Therefore,such violence has been a heated topic of debate and a new study trend in China.
Chinese academics separate psychological violence from other forms of domestic violence and explore it in different ways.This is in contrast to the research conducted by UK scholars and practitioners.Chinese academics do this because of the Chinese legal and cultural context.For example,prohibition of domestic violence was stipulated firstly in Marriage Law only in 2001 and that law contains only a non-explicit definition of psychological violence.This may influence the Chinese people's awareness of what is psychological violence and perpetrators may not know that their abusive behaviours such as non-communication,gestures of threats and dirty language and so on to their partners in the home are psychological violence,while victims may also not know that they are experiencing psychological violence.
Moreover,as discussed above,cases of such abuse are reported increasingly between wives and husbands (Yi,2006).Academics therefore need to pay more attention to researching such violence.Whereas this field in the UK has developed for over thirty years,giving British academics a tradition and a legacy of systematic theory within which to work,their Chinese equivalents have been looking at the subject within a Chinese context for just over a decade.As their introduction to researching domestic violence,Chinese people have been gradually aware of a wide range of its types not only at the physical level but also at the psychological or sexual levels.So how is psychological violence defined by Chinese academics at present? Let us examine this below.
Two levels of psychological violence are conceptualised by Western writers.One is the effect of physical abuse on victims' emotional state.Another is 'pure' psychological violence without physical behaviour/injury (Kirkwood,1993).The former means that physical violence leaves emotional scars for victims,and can cause anxiety and a range of other psychological symptoms and difficulties within relationships.Victims can thus experience emotional abuse and threats in addition to physical violence (Horley,1988;Hague and Malos,2005).However,the latter indicates that such violence does not always accompany physical violence.Psychological abuse is in contrast an attack on victims' (usually wives') personality rather than on their bodies.This type of violence is enacted at a purely emotional level,such as verbal insults and emotional deprivation (Kirkwood,1993).
Similarly,in China Lan and Jin (2002) argue,psychological harm can sometimes be caused by physical violence or by threats of physical violence.Although the latter does not cause family members physical injury directly,the harm may cause a series of problems to them,from mental problems to suicide.Their explanation of psychological violence is at two levels:physical violence plus emotional scars and non-physical abuse.
Zhou (2002) and Li (2003) point out that psychological violence includes:that one partner of a couple threatens,intimidates and abuses the other,which leads the other to having mental illness;that one partner threatens another,destroys furniture,hurts animals,batters and intimidates children,which leads the other to anxiety and feelings of insecurity and safety;that one partner often maliciously depreciates,criticises,humiliates,scoffs at,ridicules and hurls insults at another publicly or privately;that one partner often makes things difficult for,interferes with,doubts,prevents or restricts the personal freedom of another,which negatively influences the normal work and life of the other partner.Finally,psychological violence may include the phenomenon of one partner openly bringing a new partner:the 'third' party to the home and cohabiting with the third party,thereby humiliating the spouse.
Zhou (2002) and Li (2003) are specific and exhaustive in defining the various forms of aggressive psychological violence used by perpetrators.At the same time,they also describe specific impacts on victims.The impacts or harm deal with health,normal life and work,personality and self-esteem.According to their definition,we can see that it is applied narrowly and is gender-neutral because it does not indicate who is a perpetrator and who is a victim.It emphasises the violence occurs between wife and husband.
According to Chinese legal academics,psychological violence means that one partner violates another partner without physical violence,but with non-physical violence including indifference,looking down,estrangement,calumniation and humiliation (Yang,2004).This definition illustrates that such violence of psychology can be seen as at the 'pure' psychological violence as Kirkwood (1993) defined because perpetrators do not batter their partners and achieve control over them with non-physical abuse.
Li (2004) and Song (2001) argue that 'cold' or psychological violence means that one partner uses non-physical violence when there is conflict between the partners.One partner uses methods of indifference,belittling,non-argument,estrangement and hurling of insults to the other.The obvious features of 'cold' violence are neglect or lack of concern about the well-being of the other,stopping communication,stopping or limiting of a sexual activity,and neglecting housework.'Cold' or psychological violence can have the quality of concealment and permanent harm,and is very destructive.The violence hurts family members severely,women in particular,and can lead them to mental collapse.
Li (2004) and Song's (2001) definition reveals that perpetrators take an indifferent attitude towards the victims through different forms such as non-communication,non-sexual activity,and so on.Such behaviour of perpetrators indicates neglecting the victim's existence.Such abuse harms the mental or psychological health of victims.This violence can be seen as 'pure' psychological violence because of nonphysical abuse by perpetrators.
After generally examining the Chinese definitions of psychological violence,we can conclude that Chinese researchers define this term very specifically in the behaviour forms used by the perpetrator because they want to raise the awareness of psychological violence for common people.Such violent behaviour is divided into two types:physical violence plus scars and non-physical violence.The former may be seen as mixed abuse because victims suffer both physical and emotional injury,while the latter may be seen as pure psychological abuse because victims experience only emotional harm without physical abuse.The definitions all emphasise the impacts suffered by victims (usually women) in terms of mental problems.Psychological violence may lead victims to the point of psychological collapse or breakdown.At the same time,according to these Chinese definitions,we can see that these concepts are gender-neutral,positing that they can be inflicted by a person of either gender on another.