Women in Tibet
Although Buddhism embraces compassion as the means to end suffering, the Chinese occupation of 1949 used force and torture to manipulate the Tibetan people, despite the country’s strong pacifist beliefs. Chinese troops aimed to imprison anyone who demonstrates support for the Dalai Lama and often looked for excuses to make public mockeries of these people. In order to implement this idea of genocide in Tibetan culture, China used the practice of ethnic cleansing, or eliminating the Tibetan race; therefore, women were highly stigmatized because of their role in bearing children. Treating the victims as insects, the Chinese forced sterilizations and abortions upon the Tibetan women to ensure their extermination.
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A possible reason for the Buddhist rejection of women lies in the Buddhist Tantric texts, where the womb symbolizes the field of emptiness in which all things arise and fall (Pinto, 1999). Even though the former description has no negative connotation, it is widely believed in Asia that childbirth and menstruation are intrinsically dirty and impure to the effect that women used to give birth in a location outside of the daily home. A barn or cowshed was typical of harboring birthing events, and the mother and baby had to perform certain rituals including the purification ceremony before they could re-enter the household. In order to purify the new born baby, the dirt and pollution of the womb had to be cleaned away and even blessed so that the baby was not contaminated by these fluids. Therefore, the Asian woman is spontaneously separated and embraced by society when she gave birth (Pinto).
Spawning off of these instilled Asian beliefs, women are continued to be seen as dirty and unsophisticated creatures, which may be a possible explanation for the cruelty and inhumane treatment of feminine fertility by the Chinese. The raping of Tibetan girls by Chinese soldiers and encouragement of Chinese to marry Tibetan girls are two simple examples to show the abuse and manipulation that women face (Campaign, 1994). Even though these practices illustrate ethnic cleansing, the methodical rapings suggest that women are solely objects that can be used and
Chapter 1, Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide, discusses the history of and gives us an introduction to genocide. The author talks about the treatment of bodies, in particular Native bodies, and how colonial thought and theory regards Native people as inherently “rapable” and “violable,” a colonial conviction that stretches past the physical bodies of Natives, to Native independence and lands as well. She explains that patriarchy is the foundation by which power is established over Native women's bodies because hierarchal, patriarchal authority and control systems of society are seldom found within native societies. Europeans, on the other hand, have long depended on these methods to suppress and infuse fear into their people.
Gender inequality has maintained the suppression of women worldwide and unfortunately has impacted third world countries with the greatest magnitude. Everyday in these countries there are countless occurrences of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that must be acknowledged as a primary concern for the world to help overcome. It is however important to recognize specific cultural and religious practices of gender hierarchy that are accepted by women in these countries. While keeping this in mind it is of paramount importance to keep sight of the consequences of abusing these cultural practices at the expense of women’s liberation and development.
In 1950, China sent 40,000 Chinese troops, ironically known as “the People’s Liberation Army”, to invade a relatively large and peaceful country named Tibet for their abundant resources. Due to this national crisis, the position of the 14th Dalai Lama was given to Tenzin Gyatso (“Birth to Exile”). Over the next few decades, China’s harassment of Tibet caused a myriad of problems, such as famines, the destruction of many sacred Buddhist monasteries and other cultural sites, etc. Thirty year after the initial Chinese invasion, the people of Tibet protested out of outrage that nothing has changed for thirty years, to which China responded with brutal force to stop the protesters. Due to the Dalai Lama’s
“In 1949 35,00 Chinese troops invaded Tibet.”This was put into detail in an article by Hisyam Takiudin.The Chinese raped,tortured,and murdered one fifth of the Tibetan population,most in work camps and during arbitrary.As a result,47 million people in all have died during these tragic times. The brutality was so bad that the parents with children were forced to bury their children alive when they disobeyed.These crimes have lasted 49 years! Evidently,these crimes are still being committed! In Tibet today there is still no freedom of speech,religion, and arbitrary detainment still continues. As Tibetans are being slaughtered,we’re sitting here doing
"The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: 'It's a girl.'"
Based on Lessons for Women, women in the China were taught that they were unworthy, unsophisticated, unenlightened and by nature unintelligent. (Strayer
This genocide was about getting ride of a religion, the Chinese came over during the 1950s to take over & invade Tibet so they can try to spread their country. It wasn't till the 1960s were there was a report that a genocide was taking part there, it nearly took almost 10 years for a public to know what was really going on here. Most of the Tibet people weren't killed right away, they would first be taking to a prison then after hard labor they would then be killed by getting shot in the head or in other cause they would just die because they were put to work for long hrs with little or no food & water to withstand this type of cruel punishment. (friendssofttibet.org) says "over 1.2 million Tibetans died between 1949 & 1979”. On February of 1990 other counteris came together & fought for what was right & got Tibet there freedom back, Canada, Sweden, the U.S & Australia all took a stand & helped Tibet with their situation. Although it did take some time (almost 10 years) they got the job done, on February of the same month they passed a law saving all Tibet people from what could have gotten worst if someone would have not steped in & helped. The Tibet genocide was one of the most lasting genocide in history although not the most in people killed but what almost the
In traditional Chinese culture, women were inferior to men. They were not allowed to make any decisions concerning their families. Their only purpose in life was to stay home and take care of the households. "A woman's duties are to cook the five grains, heat the wine, look after her parents-in-law, make clothes, and that's all! ...she must follow the `three submissions.' When she is young, she must submit to her parents. After her marriage, she must submit to her husband. When she is widowed, she must submit to her son. These are the rules of propriety." ("The Mother Of Mencius", p.34) That's the principle that was followed in traditional China. Some of the examples of this are discussed in this
Today in the United States, freedom is taken for granted by almost all citizens. People think that because of the way our government is structured, not having freedom will never be an issue. This thought of peace and safety was similar to that of the women in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban reign, and before the government in Afghanistan was overthrown. Their fortunes would change in 1996 when the Taliban ended up controlling Afghanistan, and denying women of all their rights such as work, education, health care, and many more. The lifestyle women were accustomed to be forced to be drastically changed, and the country they once felt love for, they felt fear. Even though their regime only lasted for about 5 years, the Taliban took a
Tibetan Buddhists Genocide What Is Genocide? A Genocide are the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. In other words a Genocide is one type of people deciding to kill another type of people because of their race, religion, or just different. For example, Adolph Hitler killed Jewish people because he thought Jewish people were the reason why the Germans lost World War I Tibetan Buddhists The religion of Tibetan, a form of Mahayana Buddhism. However, Tibet refers to a mountainous region in Central Asia, covering 2.5 million square kilometers. Today, Tibet occupied by China. However, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, lives in exile in India,
Over 125 Tibetans have performed acts of self-immolation in the last two years as a protest against Chinese forces in Tibet. Some protesters were as young as 15. The status of Tibet has been a long disputed issue. It was it’s own independently ruled country until it was conquered by the Mongolians of the Yuan dynasty. Once the Yuan fell, the new Qing rulers recognized Tibet as its own state, since it had been in Mongolian control and not Chinese control (Tibet and China: Two Distinct Views). However, in 1950, Mao Zedong invaded Tibet with the promise of Peaceful Liberation. This entailed being liberated from “Western Imperialists,” and even though Tibetans did not understand this, they agreed to it because of Mao’s upbeat sounding speeches. Soon, the innocent people of Tibet were being tortured under the control of Mao and his followers (Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion). Because of the ongoing torture by the Chinese in Tibet and the lack of freedoms for Tibetans, Tibet needs to become independent for the better of the people of both China and Tibet.
The Taliban became responsible for punishing those who committed crimes by killing the criminals. These acts started a small fear in the Afghanistan people. Soon, the Taliban group became a well armed and well funded militia with the support of a province in Pakistan. As soon as fear stirred among the Afghani people, the president of Afghanistan, Burhanuddin Rabbani, tried to create an alliance against the Taliban in Kabul, the capitol. This alliance fell through, and the president eventually fled Afghanistan. In December of 1995, the Taliban took hold of Afghanistan as a result.
Society has evolved much through time and has never settled; it keeps going as different minds and points of view change its direction. Through history, women have been the epitome of weak compared to men, since history started to be recorded women have claim to suffer from inequality and forced to follow expectations which represent the consequences of the disequilibrium between genders. Although it has become less evident through time, women still suffer from inequality and literature is evidence of it. Three good examples are Nervous Conditions by tsitsi dangarembga, No Name Woman by Maxine Hong Kingston, and Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China. In each of these examples, an abused woman is hiding behind her reality but consequently, rebels to seek equality. In Nervous Conditions, Tambu 's parents chose to send their male kid to school while she was ignored and forced to work to pay for her education, in No Name Woman Kingston 's aunt had an adulterous affair and, even worse, probably produced a female child from the sexual encounter, and in Leftover Women, the narrator walk the readers through the economic disbalance between genders in China.
In the beginning of the war, around 1941, most American women lived as their mothers previously had. Women were supposed to have jobs just until they were married and those who did work after they were married or were mothers were regarded with a sense of pity and scorn from society. In a pre-war poll, 82 percent of Americans believed a wife should not work if her husband did. A majority of Americans believed there should have been a law to prohibit it since rural and city women, alike spent about 50 hours a week on household chores alone.
This portrays an early form of sexism, and a highly negative attitude toward the woman, showing that fundamental female qualities such as pregnancy and childbirth are irrelevant and not things to be highly valued. In the Buddha legend and during his life in general, the Buddha showed several contradictions concerning the status of women. He was said to be “torn between the culture and social system, and the conviction that women are as capable as men.”[3] Firstly, Maya, the name of his mother, means illusion in Sanskrit. However, in ancient Indian beliefs from which Tibetan Buddhism emerged, Maya was the name of the most powerful goddess who represented all material things in the universe. The Buddha also believed that the woman’s body was something impure and dirty, which then manifested itself into impure and evil personality characteristics. “The female’s defects – greed, hate, delusion, and other defilements – are greater than the male’s…Because I wish to be freed from the impurities of the woman’s body, I will acquire the beautiful and fresh body of a man.”[4] Women were believed to have uncontrolled sexuality, which was greatly frowned upon by men. The Buddha comments that “it were better that your sex enter the mouth of a poisonous snake than that it enter a woman.”[5] This rather harsh statement about male disgust toward sexual intercourse with women is the foundation of one of the biggest contradictions found in Tibetan Buddhism. Not only did