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