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新埔捷運站1號出口 旁邊7-11巷子進入20公尺 看到夏朵美髮左轉
通姦無罪/性自由權
Adultery No Longer Criminal Offense in Taiwan - The News Lens International Edition
Rik Glauert international.thenewslens
Taiwan’s Constitutional Court on May 29 ruled criminal punishment for adultery is unconstitutional. The landmark verdict ends decades of debate between women’s rights activists and conservative groups who claimed it protected the sanctity of marriage.
The adultery law was a “violation of a person’s sexual autonomy” and “serious invasion of personal privacy,” said Chief Justice and President of the Judicial Yuan, Hsu Tzong-li as he announced the judgment.
Taiwan is the last country in East Asia to decriminalize adultery after South Korea’s Constitutional Court struck down the law in 2015.
According to Article 239 of Taiwan’s Criminal Code, “A married person who commits adultery with another shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year; the other party to the adultery shall be subject to the same punishment.”
“The adultery law offers limited help to maintaining a marriage” Lin Hui-huang, secretary-general of the Justice Ministry said at a press conference following the ruling. "The state’s interference into people’s marriage has a negative impact on the marriage.”
Women’s rights group, the Awakening Foundation, said the interpretation would ensure “sexual autonomy, privacy, and personal dignity." In a press statement, the foundation welcomed “the new definition of marriage and family that breaks through the constraints of sexual-loyalty based traditional morality and sees the transformation and diversity of marriage in a modern society."
The Taipei-based Awakening Foundation and other activist groups had fought against the law for decades. They claim the law violates the right to privacy and that women are disproportionately prosecuted and convicted under the law.
A 2002 attempt at a constitutional reinterpretation of the adultery law failed, as 18 justices unanimously ruled it constitutional. In 2013, a Ministry of Justice survey found 80 percent of Taiwanese supported keeping the law. But, according to Kuan, support for the law has now dropped to between 60 and 70 percent.
Few people were jailed for adultery because the sentence can be commuted to a fine of about NT$900 (US$30) per day of jail time. But the law was often used as a bargaining chip in divorce settlements, Professor Kuan Hsiao-wei, Associate Professor at the National Taipei University, told The News Lens.
As prosecutions require evidence that the two people have engaged in sexual intercourse, the law has also created an industry of private investigators to catch couples in the act, leading to invasions of privacy, Kuan said.
Taiwan’s outdated adultery law
The Awakening Foundation has been pushing to decriminalize adultery since the 1990s. They shared a few illustrative case studies with The News Lens to show the law’s impact on Taiwanese women.
A young woman was dating a man who, unbeknown to her, was already married. After discovering the affair, the man’s wife sued both of them for adultery. The young woman was left with a hefty fine and a criminal record which prevented her from working with children or finding a job abroad.
One student, who had been sexually assaulted by her married teacher, was reluctant to press charges for assault as it would open her up to adultery prosecution from the teacher’s wife.
In 2015, women made up 58.4 percent of convictions compared to 41.6 percent for men, according to the Awakening Foundation.
“For cultural reasons, women are being morally punished more often than men,” said Lin Shiou-yi, director of Research & Development at the foundation, explaining that wives may come to a settlement with their husband but still want to “punish” the woman he had an affair with.
Claims that the law protected marriage are misguided, said Kuan. The Ministry of Justice has been unable to provide data or evidence to the Constitutional Court on how pressing criminal charges has prevented adultery or saved marriages, she said.
When Japan surrendered control of Taiwan in 1945, the Kuomintang’s Civil and Criminal Codes replaced Japanese colonial rules, which had allowed a man to marry several concubines as well as his first wife. The monogamy and apparent gender equality enshrined under the KMT “made sense” to Taiwanese women, according to Kuan.
“A monogamous marriage meant equality,” explained Kuan. “After decades of implementation, people believed this is what a marriage should look like, to use criminal punishment to make sure a husband doesn’t stray away.”
Lin encouraged the government to provide more services to help married couples encountering relationship difficulties and to help reduce cultural stigma around divorce.
愛情像選鞋子
Why Choosing A Relationship Is JUST Like Finding The Perfect Shoes
yourtango.com
I've spent an inordinate amount of time sweating my choices. I'm single, dating, and beating myself up for what really amounts to trying on different pairs of shoes.
When I shop, I try things on for size, style, and pleasure. I try to buy what I can afford and what will make me happy overall. If I'm questioning a purchase, or I don't love the item, I have a rule: I walk away. If I'm still contemplating the item after walking away, I go back and buy it.
I love shoes and I have quite a collection. But as many pairs as I have, there's always one pair that gets me through. One pair that goes with just about everything. One pair that stands the test of time.
The best shoes are the ones that make me feel sexy and beautiful; the ones that give me height without pinching. They may be a tad uncomfortable at times and rub until they're properly broken in.
If I spend too many hours in them, I may need a break for a time. But overall, they wear in nicely. They're visually pleasing and go with the majority of my wardrobe.
I especially love shoes that have a bit of an edge and stand out in the crowd for the right reasons. That's my overall style.
What this really translates to? I love a confident, outgoing man that lifts me up and can carry his own.
He may rub me wrong from time to time, but our relationship is easy and uncomplicated. He has his own life and respects that I have mine, so I don't have to wear him everyday, all hours of the day.
How is choosing a relationship any different than finding that perfect pair of shoes? I'll tell you.
Every now and again I re-organize my shoes, putting them into categories. As I do this, I end up returning or giving away a pair or two. Sometimes, I find a pair long forgotten. I dust them of and prance around in them for bit, and reminisce about an old flame.
I may run into an old beau and go on a date or two. One never knows; he may come back into fashion. Or, maybe I remember why I stopped wearing him and put him back in the rarely worn part of my closet.
As I go on my hunt for the perfect shoes, I inevitably buy an unsuitable pair simply because they're on sale. They may be a half size too small, but I will suffer for beauty.
They may even be completely out of my norm style-wise, but for the sake of trying something new, I pick them up anyway. I build an outfit around them, wear them as my toes scrunch up — all because they were on sale and there's something about them I just have to try.
Of course, in the end, I discard them, only missing the money that could've been better spent.
We've all done this: dated the guy with a warning sign across his forehead, or the guy we wouldn't normally date; the guy who is pure eye-candy and no substance.
I justify this kind of dating out of fear of passing someone up that may be the one, typically when nothing else seems to be working. Ultimately and hopefully, we learn our lessons before wasting too much time and energy, just as with shoes.
There's also a pair I regularly visit at Bergdorfs that are absolutely fabulous. They make me feel like a million bucks. I can walk in them, dance in them, dress them up, dress them down. They're literal perfection ... except for one problem: the price tag is in place, but the numbers have been rubbed off. All that remains is a barcode.
I desperately look for the salesperson to scan them. I wander around the store not wanting to let go of these beauties, hoping they're within my budget.
Alas, I find a salesperson but the scanner is broken. I leave my number and put them on hold in hoping to clarify the price before making a commitment.
Sadly and happily, this is my current relationship. The love is there, the attraction is there, but I'm not sure where it's going. I'm afraid of being hurt, so I'm proceeding with caution until I know whether or not he's affordable. As I'm dating him, I'm also continuing to shop and keep my options open.
I return home from Bergdorfs and as I survey where those "perfect" shoes will fit, the phone rings.
The man on the line is like a pair of sexy little pumps in the back of my closet: they're a little closer to the ground than my normal 6 inch heels, visually stimulating, and provide great support; a real solid guy and a great catch.
These pumps cannot make me forget the pair at Bergdorfs, but in the meantime I may need to walk around in these pumps for a bit to see how they fit into my wardrobe.
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