The government should work more at preventing bad marriages rather than wasting resources by penalizing adulterers, women rights advocates said yesterday.
The government’s refusal to decriminalize adultery is unfair and discriminatory to women, they said.
Awakening Foundation chairwoman Fan Yun (范雲) said adultery should be resolved by the couple in question and the government had no right to meddle with personal problems in the bedroom.
Taiwan is one of the few remaining countries in the world where extramarital sex can be punished by a heavy fine or a maximum of three years in prison.
“The law might seem like a lifesaver for women with cheating husbands, but in reality, it only restricts women’s right to break free from an awful marriage,” Fan said.
Article 1052 of the Civil Code stipulates that an individual who seeks a divorce must present evidence to show his or her spouse has committed bigamy, engaged in a sexual act with another person, purposefully abandoned the family, has the intention to murder, has been abusive, is chronically ill or missing for more than three years.
Fan said to collect evidence against their husbands, most women hire private investigators to catch their spouse having sex with another person. The process is not only expensive and unreliable, but also puts the women at risk of libel for invasion of privacy.
Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), one of the founding members of the organization, said there have been cases in which the court threw out evidence provided by women because they failed to present an actual condom that contained the bodily fluid of both her husband and his partner.
“Which means even if you have pictures of them naked in bed, it is still useless,” she said.
A recent study conducted by a National Science Council researcher indicated that between 1999 and 2005, 50 percent of the women who sued their spouses for adultery withdrew their lawsuits, while only 23 percent of the husbands dropped charges against their allegedly cheating wives.
“In this society, it is still widely viewed that when a man cheats on his wife, it is nothing serious. But when a wife has an affair, she is a slutty tramp,” said Yu, calling the stereotype unfair and untrue.
By treating adultery as a crime, the government is also taking away an adult’s freedom to engage in consensual sex, National Taiwan University law professor Chen Chao-ju (陳昭如) said.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry