Judge's lack of insight into bilingual/bicultural identities

ENANGEL who-is-at cityu.edu.hk
Wed, 17 Jul 1996 19:39:57 +0800

Dear Editor,

Lack of Insight into Bilingual/Bicultural Identities

I am writing to express my concern over Judge Gareth Lugar-

Mawson's comments in the suspected-incest case reported on

July 17, 1996 by the South China Morning Post and major

newspapers in Hong Kong. Judge Lugar-Mawson described the

accusing sister as "a highly intelligent, very smart and

thoroughly Westernized young woman" and also as "fluent in

English". He gave these as grounds for not believing in the

woman's unwillingness to come forward earlier to report her

brother's misconduct due to Chinese family values.

Intelligence, fluency in English, "Westernization", and an

unwillingness to make a bad name for the family are,

however, to me not mutually exclusive qualities in a

Chinese-English bilingual woman in Hong Kong. Even in

Western culture, women experience a lot of psychological

barriers in coming forward to report sexual abuses by their

close family members. The Chinese-English bilingual woman

is still a Chinese woman, constrained by Chinese social

norms and values. While I cannot say whether the woman in

this case was actually lying or not, I have to point out

that the Judge's comments show a serious lack of insight

into bilingual and bicultural identities.

Sincerely,

Dr. Angel M. Y. Lin

Department of English

City University of Hong Kong

Tat Chee Ave., Kln.

Phone: 2788-8122

Fax: 2788-8894