4.0　Introduction

4.0　Introduction

Researching psychological violence as a form of domestic violence is a new research trend in China (Wang,2004).As has been discussed in Chapters 1 and 2,the extent of psychological domestic violence is a matter of real social concern in both the UK and China.Psychological violence is both very hidden and very insidious and can take many forms.Aggressors may,for example,use verbal abuse,shouting,ridiculing,nicknames,humiliating,using foul language and so on,or non-verbal threats,including facial expression,gestures,and other non-verbal behaviour such as neglect,non-communication,turning a 'cold shoulder',isolation,deprivation,etc.

Both these verbal and non-verbal behaviours can be seen as psychological abuse.Such abuse may impact seriously on the victims,in particular on their mental health as Mooney's (2000) study demonstrated.Such violence can often results in permanent mental harm to the victims (Wei,2005).

It is common for women to suffer psychological violence,including 'language' abuse,in the home (Crighton and Towl,2005;Fang,2005;Wang,2001;Yang,2003).With regard to verbal abuse,when asked to choose the 'worst' type of psychological violence,51 per cent rated ridicule as the hardest to deal with(Hanmer et al.,2000).Such verbal humiliation leads victims to anger,shame,depression and a lack of self-confidence and loss of self-esteem (Goldstein,2002;Zhang,2005).Therefore,non-physical violence can be seen not only as a social issue but also one of mental health one (Dobash and Dobash,1992;Pahl,1995;Pryke and Thomas,1998;Yang,2003;Williamson,2000).

With respect to non-verbal psychological violence in China,one study (Yan,2004) found that 65 per cent of husbands in 3,500 families did not communicate with their wives or seriously neglected them when there was conflict in their families and their behaviour impacted on their wives' health.The majority of the abused wives felt a sense of grievance,loss of control,and loneliness (Liu,et al.,2004).They reported that this mental cruelty made them unable to sleep,and caused mental and emotional pain (Li &Zhou,2002).Why are women the main victims of verbal and non-verbal psychological violence? What causes the perpetrators to use such forms of violence against their wives? Is there gender inequality in verbal and non-verbal communications between wives and husbands? The principal questions addressed in this chapter are:

　• What are the effects of language and communication,and

　• Is there gender inequality in communications between wives and husbands?