DSpace at VNU: At the intersection of gender, sexuality and politics: The disposition of rape cases among some ethnic minority groups of Northern Vietnam

SOfOUBN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia Vo! 23, No (2013), pp 132-51 DOI: 10.1355/sj28-le © 2013 ISEAS ISSN 0217-9520 print / ISSN 1793-285B electronic Research Note At the Intersection of Gender, Sexuality and Politics: The Disposition of Rape Cases among Some Ethnic Minority Groups of Northern Vietnam Nguyen Thu Huong How is rape perceived and handled by members of the Dao and Hmong minority groups in Lao Cai, a northem provinoe of Vietnam? How are cultural notions relating to sexuality, female virginity and marriage interpreted, played out and contested among victims' family members, their wider kin networks, and the authorities responsible for upholding the law at the grass-roots level? In particular, how is the social notion of honour used as a patriarchal tool in influencing decisions about whether or not to press charges against rapists or not? The results of fieldwork in Lao Cai during 2007 are reported Keywords: gender, sexuality, rape, ethnic minorities, family honour, prosecution, Vietnam During my fieldwork on rape in Vietnam's Lao Cai province in 2007, local officials, mostly members of the majority Kinh' ethnic group, often told me: "Well, they will talk to you They have no qualms I'm sure you can it." "They" here refers to members of two ethnic minority groups, the Dao and the Hmong Already aware of popular tales of "free love" among Hmong and Dao youths of both sexes, I was, typically, told by an informant, "these [Dao] girls not know At the intersection of Gender, Sexuaiity and Poiitics 133 whether they still have it [their virginity] or not".^ The implication was that a young Dao female is entitled to unrestricted sexual freedom Another informant said, "Young Dao people are just like Westerners If they like each other they just it as long as the girl doesn't get pregnant They not care much about their future spouse's sexual history."^ The general opinion was that, in such an environment of "sexual freedom", there was no room for rape There seemed to be a causal association between the extent of sexual freedom among Hmong and Dao youths and the apparently rare cases of rape The apparent absence of value traditionally placed on women's virginity and chastity among members of these two ethnic groups — a topic that will be explored below — led to the belief among such informants that they did not view rape as a serious matter This all seemed a far cry from the experiences that I had had when conducting research on rape victims among Kinh people in Hanoi My peers and colleagues had in fact expressed doubts as to the feasibility of such a project in that latter context, because sex and especially rape are taboo subjects among the Confucian-oriented Kinh people (Nguyen Thu Huong 2012) This research note explores the ways in which some members of the Hmong and Dao peoples in Lao Cai province, a northwestern province of Vietnam, perceive rape and manage its consequences Cases considered demonstrate that local understandings of rape are played out among victims, family and kin members and local cadres — the law enforcement authorities at the grass-roots level In examining cultural notions pertaining to marriage, sexuality, and especially female virginity among these ethnic groups, I point out that notions of family honour and economic considerations are prominent in the management of the consequences of rape Their prominence is manifested in the ways in which a victim's family decides on whether or not to press charges against the rapist Method and Sample This note draws on an ethnographic study of a limited number of respondents using open-ended interviews, life histories, and participant 134 Nguyen Thu Huong observation The study formed part of my doctoral research in 2007 on rape among both the KinhA^iêt majority and some ethnic minority groups in northem Vietnam The cultural and social stigma attached to rape among the Kinh meant that I approached prospective participants through a counselling office, which provided a contact address in the flyers distributed at the start of my research The flyers highlighted the purpose of the research, stressing the confldentiality of personal information, the voluntary nature of participation and the free counselling services of a non-governmental organization whose main activities at the time focused on child sexual abuse In conducting the fleldwork among members of minority groups in Lao Cai reported here, I relied on the assistance of a student who had helped in the distribution of flyers for my pilot study of rape victims in Hanoi in 2003 As luck would have it, in 2007 she was working in the Lao Cai provincial cultural bureau and had close contacts with members of different ethnic groups in the province I asked her to hand out flyers among local people when she travelled to various districts in the course of her work Through her contacts I was able to cover five cases of rape, four of which involved women and girls from three different Hmông and Dao villages and the flfth case involving an adolescent Kinh girl Involvement with participants from ethnic minorities posed new methodological problems First was the language barrier, since the two Hmông participants did not speak Vietnamese Since I myself not speak Hmông, an interpreter was needed Second, these participants lived in an area officially referred to as vùng sâu vùng xa (Vn.: deep and remote area'*) near the Vietnam-China border Those who wished to visit or carry out research in such areas generally required prior permission from local authorities I used a "top-down" approach to secure authorization to conduct ñeldwork in this sensitive area Having obtained an official letter of introduction from my home university in Hanoi, I contacted the person in charge of Lao Cai province's Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who then made necessary arrangements with district-level officials These latter then instructed the commune-level cadres to facilitate my fieldwork At the intersection of Gender, Sexuality and Politics 135 A middle-aged cadre of the internal affairs section of the district People's Committee was assigned to accompany me throughout the fieldwork, even though I had originally suggested that my former student then working at the provincial cultural bureau would help me out with the local scene The local authorities told me that this cadre, a Kinh himself, was best qualified to help me He was both knowledgeable about rape cases in the district and himself in fact involved in delivering govemment support to "children in specific circumstances" [Vn: trè em co hoàn cành âàc biet], including sexually abused children.^ Moreover, I was told, it would not be wise for two women to travel among the ethnic minority groups in a frontier area often seen as nhgy cam [Vn.: sensitive] and ñiU of phúc tap [Vn.: complicated] problems, both social and political This man turned out to be an excellent "research assistant" as well as a reliable motorbike taxi driver without whom I could not have reached my research destinations At the Hmong village, I found an excellent interpreter in the person of a retired chairwoman of the People's Conimittee of the commune who was proficient in Vietnamese My fieldwork in the two Dao communes was less challenging because my interviewees there both spoke Vietnamese I relied on the help of experts on ethnic minorities in Hanoi in my analysis of fieldwork data on the rape cases involving members of the Hmong and Dao ethnic groups These included a senior scholar at the Institute of Anthropology, a Dao himself, who went through the transcriptions of my Vietnamese-language interviews with the Dao informants Morals and Customary Law: Family Honour and Bride-wealth among the Dao In Vietnamese jurisprudence, rape is defined as an act committed by someone who, by means of violence or of the threat of violence or by taking advantage of a victim's helplessness or by other means, forces a victim to have sexual intercourse against her will It carries 136 Nguyen Thu Huong a punishment of imprisonment for two to seven years (Article 111, Chapter 12 of the 2009 Penal Code) Convicted offenders are barred from taking up any positions of responsibility or performing certain kinds of jobs (including some involving education and medical treatment) for a subsequent period of one to five years Terms of up to twenty years or even life imprisonment may be imposed in severe cases, as when victims suffer grievous bodily harm, perpetrators are known HIV carriers, or victims die or commit suicide as a result of rape.^ However, in real-life situations, fear of social disgrace resuhing from public knowledge of rape can be so great that a victim's family often shows a reluctance to contact the authorities or tries to treat the incident as a private matter What is at stake is the idea of "family honour", which is inextricably tied to a young woman's eligibility and desirability as a marriage partner This idea obtains even in a context in which virginity is not an important social factor, as in the case of Dao people in Lao Cai An example is the case of "Yen", a fourteen-year-old Dao girl, whose brother-in-law raped her and then killed himself later on the same day.' Yen's father also suspected that her elder sister was abused by another son-in-law later on As the father told me We didn't report [the second rape to the authorities] This would only create trouble [That's what] I told my wife She also agreed we wouldn't it Better to protect her honour If this becomes known when she grows up she will have difficulty fmding a husband.^ Yen's father added, however, that if his son-in-law had not killed himself, apparently out of shame, he would have taken him to the police The incident happened around noon at the perpetrator's house, after Yen had dropped by for a visit She suffered severe injury, ran home and was taken to the nearest hospital by her neighbours, since her parents were away at the time Yen was treated for serious vaginal laceration with heavy bleeding The case became known to other villagers, but because of the suicide of the perpetrator there was no prosecution At the intersection of Gender, Sexuaiity and Poiitios 137 When confronted with another rape in this family of many daughters — involving Yen's unmarried elder sister and yet another brother-in-law — soon after the first, the father was trapped between the need to seek help for his daughter's physical injuries from the rape on the one hand and the desire to hide another scandal on the other He decided not to report the crime, realizing that this second rape was too much for the family to handle He would, that is, never be able to find suitable husbands for these two daughters, and the shame and dishonour would stay with them as long as they lived This case leads to the question of whether there is in fact no emphasis placed on or "traditional value" attached to women's tiêt khu-úp tiêt khơt [D.: virginity] among members of the Dao ethnic group or in Dao society Researchers on Dao society, those who have studied the two sub-groups of Dao Do and Dao Tuyén investigated in the present research in Lao Cai (Pham Quang Hoan and Hung Dinh Qúy 1999) and elsewhere (Ly Hành Sorn 2003), have reported that whether a girl is a virgin has little bearing on her eligibility and desirability as a prospective bride Put differently, mien chàng mien xiá [D.: premarital sexual relations] are not seen as shameful among members of these sub-groups, and thus the virginity factor does not play an important role in decisions concerning marriage.' My fieldwork nevertheless suggests that Dao girls generally behave according to certain local norms of morality [D.: hi-iu diêm nhân long] Ly Hành Sorn, an expert on Dao culture and himself a member of this ethnic group, has told me that local customs condemn mai ton gôi [D.: out-ofwedlock pregnancy] and that if this occurs the boy and the girl concerned will have to get married [D: ép nàn buaphây thô-ô] Dao youth are thus not so casual in sexual relations as it might seem to some outsiders They may indulge in "free love", but this behaviour is often based on a conscious choice: girls are picked for their skill in weaving and embroidery, while boys are chosen for their good character and physical attributes The next step is to "officialize" the situation by arranging for the two families to meet to assess whether the boy's and girl's ages are compatible according to the locally used 138 Nguyen TTiu Huong horoscope Age compatibility is a sine qua non for a Dao marriage to proceed In its absence, the boy and the girl are free to look for other spouses The open attitude about female virginity allows the leeway for them to start that search anew without affecting family and kin relations Generally, Dao womanhood is subjected to certain restrictions meant to protect the female's mai msiên [D.: reputation, honour] as well as that of her family Traditionally a Dao girl is considered a symbol of her family's dignity and social status — assets that her parents often use to attract eligible sons of local dignitaries, with an eye on substantial bride-wealth For most Dao groups, the marriage custom of bride-wealth has implications beyond simply the economic The size of the bride-wealth is an indication of how "valuable" or well bred the daughter is; it is her parents' emblem of honour for all to see On a more practical level, the timing of presenting and receiving bride-wealth may constitute a means of meeting and adjusting to labour needs Dao newlyweds generally live with the husband's family But, if the girl's family needs labour for agricultural activities or if the boy is poor, the girl's family would ask the boy to stay with them temporarily and thus prolong the prénuptial period It is worth noting that the boy and the girl are not regarded as truly married until the payment of the bride-wealth Only after the boy is accepted by the girl's parents and allowed to live under their roof is the couple officially given the approval to sleep together (Ly Hành Son 2003) Therefore, it is not uncommon to see couples with grown-up children holding their wedding ceremonies Apparently, this kind of practice is a burden to those who have many sons, and it is not uncommon to see parents start to save for the bride-wealth requirement as early as their sons' tenth birthdays Families with daughters need not worry about this economic burden (Ninh Van Do et al 2003) For this reason, even though the Dao have a kinship system similar to those of the Hmong and the Kinh, there is no discrimination against female children in Dao families (Do Ngoc Tân et al 2004) In the two rape cases among the Dao that I studied, the social notions attached to women's roles seemed to make their experience of At the intersection of Gender, Sexuaiity and Poiitics 139 rape more problematic because of their failure to meet the expectations of a proper girl Their sexual violation was different from premarital sexual relations in the sense that the incidents were not kept in the private sphere The case of Yen was public knowledge because of her need for hospital treatment for her grievous wounds and the suicide of the perpetrator As in the second case, reported in the next section, there was in Yen's case no pregnancy But both victims were stigmatized as girls who "have failed" The two girls therefore became mien xia tchâu quay mût tra-á [D.: devalued girls] Because of the rapes, their worth as ñiture brides was much reduced They were no doubt reprimanded (by their parents) for getting themselves into such a situation What is at stake here is the link between the traditional practice of bride-wealth and a relatively high value that Dao society places on female youth, which in turn has a bearing on the experience of tchôm mien xia châu tiêt [D.: rape] and its consequences Moreover, in Dao society the parents of a rape victim are often barred from communal ftinctions such as performing the rituals to launch a new crop season or representing the clan in negotiating prénuptial arrangements This downgrading of their social status, together with the economic loss in the form of reduced bride-wealth, is bound to affect parents' attitudes towards their own daughter That attitude might come to include resentment and bitterness As for the daughter, she might find herself subjected to nsa-ám tha-ám [D.: heavy stress] for derogating family mai msièn [D.: honour] and depriving her parents of a sizable source of income in the form of bride-wealth For instance, a woman who under normal circumstances would be worth some 120 silver coins (usually presented in the form of jewellery like necklaces, silver pendants, celestial crowns) might as the victim of rape be given away for free To return to the case of the unreported rape of Yen's elder sister, one can assume that her parents' efforts to keep the incident within the family were meant to prevent the compromise of yet another daughter's eligibility and opportunity for a good marriage, as there was already a "devalued" daughter (in this case: Yen) in the family 140 Nguyen Thu Huong As her mother put it, "We don't want to [report] it to protect our daughter's name Anyway she's at the marriage age.'"^ Another reason was the physical and economical weakness of the girls' father and his fear of revenge on the part of his son-in-law, the second rapist If I reported this to the police I'd have to assemble all the family members and tell them the whole thing Otherwise he might use violence Then I wouldn't be able to defend myself I didn't dare to challenge him He threatened to beat me What could I do? Look at my hands, they were crushed when a tree fell down on me Now I can't even catch a chicken for my wife, let alone fight against him." These circumstances obviously influenced the family's decision not to report the incident The mother was well aware of the fact that she might be blamed for the rape of her two daughters because, in Dao society, it is expected that a respectable woman should know how to raise her daughters properly (Ly Hành Son 2007) Given the potentially overt lún va doa-á [D.: blame] that might come after the disclosure, the mother preferred to deal with the abuse informally rather than to seek external intervention It was decided to keep silent about the incident to protect not only the victim but also other family members (mainly the other daughters) from the tu-ú va doa-á [D.: social stigma] of rape The case affirms the role of Dao mothers in making important family decisions It is in line with the views of Mary Douglas (1991) and Ann Stoler (1989), according to which women are made responsible for policing the moral-physical boundaries of their families, in particular when it comes to women's and girls' sexuality Data from my fieldwork show that the notion of "family honour" and economic considerations (relating to bride-wealth) figure prominently in the social management of rape incidents among members of the Dao group Families of rape victims often resort to customary law using marriage as a form of restitution In a way, the marriage "resolves" everyone's problems: the victim gets a husband despite being "damaged goods", the victim's family honour is salvaged and with due compensation, and the rapist gets the wife he might desire At the Intersection of Gender, Sexuality and Politics 141 Negotiating Rape across Ethnic Lines: Financial Compensation Another rape case studied in Lao Cai had an inter-ethnic character: "Phi", an adolescent Dao girl was raped by a Kinh working in road construction Her father recalled what happened after the incident The next day we went to see the guy in charge of the construction team where he [the perpetrator] was working, but the guy told us to wait until evening Evening came but he still didn't want to talk to us My family decided to contact the commune People's Committee When the commune police came, he [the perpetrator] confessed everything The commune police chief asked us, "How you want to resolve this case? If the case is referred to higher levels, it will be serious This guy has to go to prison." We thought, if we proceeded with the law, other people would know, and it would be difficult for my daughter to get a husband We said, "It's best to solve it amicably He has to pay [compensation] Then we will sign a statement sajóng we will not sue him further Not much, 10 million VND [US$650 at the time] If he doesn't agree, we will go to higher levels."'^ The complex and not always smooth relationships between upland ethnic minorities and the majority Kinh through history (Salemink 2011, p 28) may explain the arrogant attitude shown by the ofFender and his boss in their reluctance to admit wrongdoing They appeared to be both economically powerful, as they were involved in a roadbuilding project, and culturally "superior", as they were members of the Kinh majority In this case, pohce involvement shifted the balance of power between the rape victim and the assailant This is an example showing that, when it comes to solving "intemal" problems, the police may stand up for local residents, because they may have a sense of being part of the local community (cf Koh 2006) Since the perpetrator was an outsider and someone of a different ethnic background, recourse to customary law was ruled out The victim's family agreed to accept monetary compensation as an altemative to bringing the ofFender to justice As the rapist was a construction worker involved in building a road that ran through a Dao village, a "deal" was quickly stmck between the victim's family and the project leader, who acted on behalf of the rapist immediately 142 Nguyen Thu Huong after the case was brought to the attention of the local authority As a result, the family of the victim eventually dropped the case, the rapist was sent back home, and the project continued Commenting on the case, a middle-aged Dao man living in the same village told me that, from his insider's vantage point, the offender could have done better if he had apologized to the victim's parents and asked to marry the girl In this way he would have acquired a wife at much less cost He could always go quyên áo [D.: to divorce] her later if things did not work out between them, the man added Dao customs are not stringent about i cô phây quyên [D.: divorce] And he would not have had to disburse such a big sum as compensation for raping the girl The reason given is that, once a girl is known to have been tchom mien xiá châu tiêt [D.: raped], her family could not ask for as great a sum in bride-wealth as otherwise, and will thus mai xiá tchàu nhoàn [D.: sell their daughter at a cheap price] This reasoning seems to be in line with the custom among Dao by which forced sex is a culturally appropriate way of getting a wife (Rimonte 1991).^^ Phi's story also demonstrates that the initial reporting of an incident to the police is generally followed by the officer's decision on whether to handle the case or not Local officials not base their dealings with people simply on laws and rules; a considerable amount of mediation occurs under everyday circumstances in Vietnam, as noted in the urban context by David Koh (2006, pp 15-20) In this case it also occurred between the police and ordinary citizens of ethnic-minority background in a rural setting It should be borne in mind that a plaintiff can contact either the police in the location in which a crime occurs or the local police in the area in which the plaintiff is officially registered (Article 101, 2003 Criminal Procedure Code) As gatekeepers to the judicial system, the police play a crucial role in their ability to influence which offences are officially reported, registered, investigated and turned over to a prosecutor While the authorities encourage the public to report crimes, particularly more serious ones, in practice the system does not work that way At the intersection of Gender, Sexuaiity and Poiitics 143 In this connection, it may be worthwhile to reflect on issues of ethnicity as they relate to power differentials, local affinities, insideroutsider status and majority-minority subjectivities The salient point is that, while the police officer in charge of the case involving Phi belonged to the Dao minority, a group that is — together with other minorities — often regarded as less advanced, less developed, and less civilized (cf Salemink 2011, pp 30, 47), the alleged rapist was a member of the majority Kinh group The police officer found himself in a position in which he had to defend the interests of one of his fellow Dao villagers, while exerting his authority as an enforcer of the law in dealing with a Kinh outsider Opting for a "negotiated settlement" instead of pressing a criminal charge seemed to satisfy all parties concerned By keeping the rape case off the official record, the local police would lend credence to the official view that instances of rape and other crimes were "under control" in those sensitive dia ban diêm [Vn.: areas of special focus] — a term referring to mountainous and remote areas inhabited by minority groups This sort of "all quiet on the border front" approach would keep everyone happy During my fieldwork in Lao Cai, one local cadre said that authorities at the grass roots often denied or played down the existence of "social evils" such as drug addiction and prostitution in their communities."* Local authorities often tried to divert my attention when I attempted to make inquiries about the local rape problem A Question of Cian Honour: Deconstructing a Rape Case among the Hmong If, in a rape case, a settlement cannot be reached, the question of "family honour" is at stake This question may lead to a decision to seek formal justice In this sense, the act of filing a rape complaint can be interpreted as a pragmatic response to protect the honour of the family and the larger kin network An illustration of how social pressure affects the family is the case of "Hài", a twenty-two-yearold Hmong girl whose uncle was an important local official in Lao 144 Nguyen Thu Huong Cai The incident occurred when Hài and her friend, nineteen-yearold "Thinh" were sleeping in a hut high up in a terraced rice field late at night Two fellow villagers sneaked in and raped them After trying to deal with the perpetrator informally without obtaining any restitution, Hài's father decided to report her rape to the police The police however advised him that the case should be settled between the families concerned The offender meanwhile kept on insisting that it was a case of mistaken identity, pointing out that the incident occurred in the pitch dark of night The offender's persistent denial was seen as a challenge to the honour of Hài's family and clan It was a question of honour that required, as a last resort, redress through the judicial system Hài's father decided that he had no option but to file a lawsuit In the end, the two perpetrators were given prison sentences of ten years each The social norms of Hmông people in Lao Cai are undergirded by notions of tsangx muas [Hm.: shame] and plu [Hm.: honour] In Hmông society, saiz tsiv txax [Hm.: respect] from others is acquired through age, knowledge, life experience, wisdom and education Hmông parents believe that if their children, and in particular their daughters, are ziz nav txir hais [Hm.: obedient to parents] and are seen as tsiv txax [Hm.: well-mannered] or xicz venhx [Hm.: gentle] in the society, they will bring honour, pride and respect to their own z/v nênhs [Hm.: family] and xênhv [Hm.: clan] On the contrary, if children behave badly and become tsijông [Hm.: bad people] they will bring shame, disgrace and "a loss of face" not only to themselves but also to their extended families and clans By virtue of this correlation, parents would say, "coax ua co cur tri muax plu saiz luôs te luœc" [Hm.: Since you did such a thing I cannot face anyone anymore].'^ If someone in the community committed a wrongful act, people would use such expressions as a warning to their own children: saiz tulyuorr cao ma zzâuvjông tsi cha cur pôngzplu [Hm.: Look at that guy Do not make me lose face because of you].'^ Hmông females learn from an early age to cultivate their manners, to show their tsiv txax [Hm.: good manners], which help uphold their family's/ỵ/w [Hm.: face] Onefindsfrequentusage of these terms in the At the Intersection of Gender, Sexuaiity and Politics 145 daily language of parents and clan members when they address their children's sexual behaviour Moreover, there is strong disapproval of premarital sex for girls during courtship because nhuas mais lâul tsi muax nênhs zuar [Hm.: a daughter's promiscuous sexual behaviour] would bring pôngz plu [Hm.: loss of face] not only to her but also to the good name and reputation of her parents and clan If a girl has a sexual relationship, particularly resulting in muax nhuas [Hm.: pregnancy], it most often means that she has agreed to or will hâus chuoT [Hm.: get married] as soon as possible to avoid gaining lao jas pel yuar [Hm.: a bad reputation] and suffering the pôngz plu of herself, her extended family and her clan Hmong youth in Lao Cai share with their Dao counterparts the notion that a girl can come to be considered "dishonoured", whether or not she is a virgin Even though there is no explicit value placed upon female virginity, Hmong have a strong distaste for "immoral" things, in particular regarding zängl nul hais tsi lao [Hm.: matters of sensitive nature] such as changr tkhaor der [Hm.: sex-related matters] As regards the matter oí ua daos [Hm.: sexuality], Hmong consider it as chair [Hm.: taboo], meaning that sexual activity is something that only concerns the two parties Some Hmong informants told me that if someone happens to stumble upon or catch sight of the spot (outside the house) where paul pair [Hm.: sexual intercourse] has taken place, he or she can become ill A common belief among Hmong is that lao air [Hm.: the love spirit] could cause a swollen foot or tuo vuv (literally meaning "a crazy foot") to those who have accidentally set foot in such a place An ua nênhz [Hm.: shamanic ritual] ceremony is usually held to determine the cause of the person's illness and to provide payment, in the form of sacrifice, to lao air Usually chickens are used as sacrificial offerings in such a ceremony It is common to see forest fanners trying to stay away from places which appear to have "abnormal" signs such as a trampled patch of grass In fact Hmong youth tend to be very discreet in matters of love and sex When I interviewed them, they tried to avoid discussing sex-related matters and showed a strong resistance to revealing their intimate relationships to others 146 Nguyen Thu Huong In the case of Hài, the Hmông girl who was raped by a fellow villager, her image as "damaged goods" was reflected not only in the loss of her virginity, if such was the case, but also by the fact that her victimization involved zängl nul hais tsi lao, meaning in this case a matter of a sexual nature Disclosure brought the risk of social stigma not only to the girl herself but also to her clan, which included an uncle who was a bi thu xä [Vn.: secretary of the commune People's Committee] It created the risk that people would say that Hài's parents had failed in raising their children As a consequence, the parents would suffer a loss of face, and their status in the community would be affected The status of the whole clan would also be in jeopardy People would comment that with such a powerful uncle, Hài's family could more to bring the culprit to his senses These were the reasons behind the initial attempt to deal with the incident informally Nevertheless, seen from the Hmông's collectivistic perspective (Sandage et al 2003) the offender's persistent denial of his crime constituted an offence to the honour of Hài's family and kin The only altemative was to seek legal intervention As Hài's brother explained, "They will say that such an influential uncle [as a local cadre] wouldn't a thing for his niece That would reflect badly on my uncle."'^ In the context of Hmông society, clan membership is the source of identity It serves a management function and is also a binding force among people (Symonds 2004) Kin members are obliged to help one another in such tasks as settling disputes with outsiders, solving debt problems and above all upholding the clan's reputation Hài's family had no choice but to bring the case to the judicial system with the aim of seeking the toughest sentence for the perpetrator At stake was not only the honour of Hài's family but also her uncle's social and political prestige For, people might ask, if an influential figure like her uncle could not bring such an outrageous case to a successful end, what could powerless ordinary citizens expect in similar circumstances? This example helps to emphasize that the process of rape prosecution is often linked with the idea of family honour, assumptions about kinship, social belonging and shared responsibility At the Intersection of Gender, Sexuaiity and Poiitios 147 in a coUectivist society such as that of the Hmong in particular and in Vietnam in general.Conclusion In understanding cases of sexual violence among some minority groups in northem Vietnam, scholars must consider factors relating to personal relations and ethnic background In each of the cases of rape victims interviewed in the course of the research reported here, local officers involved were from the same ethnic group as the plaintiffs Their initial reaction as law enforcement agents was to try to effect peaceful settlements between the parties concerned through the time-honoured custom of seeking compensation, thus bypassing the cumbersome application of the formal law of the land Cases like these have led to an explicit notion that crimes of rape among ethnic minority populations in northem Vietnam are a matter for private prosecution (Ekstrom 2003) In other words, if the woman or her family withdraws the charge, legal authorities may not pursue the case Rape is thus primarily perceived as something that concems the victim and her family, rather than as a serious crime These peculiar situations often make room for reaching a compromise between the contending parties A considerable amount of mediation occurs in the aftermath of the incident, an example of what Koh labels as the "penumbra" of the state-society relations in Vietnam (2006, p 2) Local officials not base their dealings with people on laws and mies alone, leaving ample space for manipulation Seen from a broader perspective, however, the practice of law enforcement in rape cases is not so straightforward It often concems power dynamics, the outcome of which is usually mediated among three sets of actors: the victim and her family, the perpetrator and his family, and the local authorities This interaction takes several forms, notably coercion, resistance and negotiation From the cases reported and analysed in this research note there seems to be a mismatch between a concem for the harm done to the individual victim and the need for legal redress on the one hand, and notions of honour 148 Nguyen Thu Huong that have more to with family interests — for example, victims' eligibility or desirability as marriage partners and of bride-wealth — on the other In linking these research fmdings with the large body of work on sexual violence against women, my emphasis has been on aspects relating to family and kin relations and everyday community interactions Efforts to settle rape cases through negotiation and family and kin perceptions of the social consequences of a rape involving one of their members illustrate the importance of notions of family honour These notions play a prominent part in the disposition of rape cases among members of the Dao and Hmong ethnic minorities of northem Vietnam My analysis of the crucial role of the family in dealing with the consequences of rape, which sees individuals' needs subsumed within broader family interests may have relevance in other social and cultural contexts In its emphasis on the importance of ethnic and cultural differences in dealing with rape in a non-Western society, my research may have relevance to the field of sexual violence This in turn may highlight blind spots in existing literature and assist in developing new perspectives in rape research in increasingly multicultural Westem societies NOTES An earlier version of this research note was presented at the intemational conference on "Localizing Global Justice: Rethinking Law and Human Rights in Southeast Asia", Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University, New York, 4-5 November 2011 The author is thus gratefixl to the Open Society Foundation for making her attendance possible and to the conference's organizers Duncan McCargo and Kristy Kelly and its other participants for their insightful feedback In Vietnam the term "ethnic" [dõn tỗc] usually refers to members of ethnic minorities, i.e., the fifty-three officially recognized ethnic minorities, whereas the Kinh or Viet people are seen as neutral (devoid of ethnic content) and hence as the standard agamst which all ethnic deviations are measured (Salemink 2008, pp 264-65) Interview, Lao Cai, 10 September 2007 Interview, Lao Cai, September 2007 At the intersection of Gender, Sexuaiity and Poiitics 149 For a vivid discussion of the notion of vùng sâu vùng xa, see Salemink (2011, pp 29, 47) • • • In accordance with Ministry of Finance circular number 112/2004/TT-BTC (issued 24 November 2004) regarding guidelines for the management and use of the Vietnamese Children's Protection Fund For a detailed treatment of the legal aspects of rape in Vietnam, see Nguyen Thu Huomg (2006) All personal names are pseudonyms This is to protect the anonymity of the participants in this research project Interview, Lao Cai, 29 September 2007 This is in contrast with the "first-night" nuptial ritual commonly practiced among Kinh people to ascertain the bride's virginity 10 Interview, Lao Cai, 30 September 2007 11 Interview, Lao Cai, 29 September 2007 12 Interview, Lao Cai, 16 September 2007 13 The practice of marrying ofiF a rape victim to her rapist is indigenous to many Asian and Pacific Island cultures It persists to this day in many rural areas in Southeast Asia (Rimonte 1991) and China (Luo 2000) Freeman (1983) views rape in Samoa as part of a cultural strategy used by males to obtain marriage partners; victims of rape are so ashamed that they prefer silence or eventual marriage to the rapist rather than public exposure as non-virgins 14 Interview, Lao Cai, 12 September 2007 15 Interview, Lao Cai, 28 September 2007 16 Interview, Lao Cai, 28 September 2007 17 Interview, Lao Cai, 10 September 2007 REFERENCES Douglas, Mary Purity and Danger: 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