Transcript 2

Hello everyone! I am Claire, and our topic is should extramarital affairs be accepted? And, I’m the one who stand on the supporting side. So, why do I support adultery? I am going to explain two points. First, decriminalizing adultery. I will tell you the reason that laws against adultery should be abolished and also introduce you some inappropriate laws. And the second part, stop stigmatizing adultery. For this part, I will show you a case to make you change your impression on adultery.

And laws against adultery should be abolished because in several countries, umm…they are impose decriminalization and violence on women. For example, in Philippines, adultery is defined as( ok, I will.. Phoebe! Can you red this for me?) ” Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband…”(Phoebe speaks) Yes!  You see that?!  The subject only refers to females. It is obvious that this law shows inequality in gender. And the word “adultery” should not refer to specific sex. Everyone is likely to engage in adultery.

And also, in some Islam countries where laws ban, umm… men and women committing adultery, but! ( Umm… Ivy, can you read this for me?) men are permitted to take more than one wife and also to enter into temporary marriages. (Ivy speaks)Yes! Here, we see the law has defects. It provides men with privileges to avoid being punished. A man who umm… won’t be criminalized if he marries to his mistress in time before being found he has committed adultery.

And, in Pakistan, laws require (Robert! Can you read this for me?) a woman making an accusation of rape to provide extremely strong evidence to avoid being charged with adultery herself. (Robert speaks) This does violence on women because umm…continue! “a conviction for rape is only possible with evidence from no fewer than four witnesses.” (Robert speaks) umm! That means a woman who committed adultery has to find a man to ….make love with her and find more than four witnesses to prove it.

And last In Jordan, there are honor killings. And honor killing is, umm… Cassie, can you read this for me? “he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty.” (Cassie speaks) And this means men can kill or injure women only for maintaining their dignity and reputations. Don’t you think that is unreasonable? Yes, I think it is unreasonable. Because life is the basic human rights, and, umm…but it seems that in Jordan honor is the priority.

Compared with developed countries, umm… there is no country criminalizing adultery in Europe. And in United States, there are 22 states out of 50 criminalizing adultery. And here, I want to make a clarification. Umm… I never say abolishing these laws can fully protect women. But I am pretty sure if they are not abandoned, women are meant to be injured.

And the last part, stop stigmatizing adultery! And that means don’t give adultery discrimination!

So, what is adultery discrimination? Let me ask Phoebe! If I…if I ask you to give me an adjective to describe adultery, which one do you choose? And adjective. (Phoebe speaks) Umm… Ridiculous, umm… ridiculous. Ok, Knot! Which one? (Knot speaks) Satisfied. (laughter) Ok! Robert? Which one do you choose? (Robert speaks) Unacceptble. Yes, it’s close to immoral, right? (laughter) So, when people are asked to give an adjective to describe adultery, they usually pick ‘immoral’ And that is discrimination. But there is a strong case to tell you that you can’t do so!

Assume that your husband or wife had a car accident and has been paralyzed. He is too afraid to lose you, so he demands your loyalty of sex. And when time flies, these years you spare no efforts to take care of him in these years, but he cannot satisfy your sexual needs. So finally,umm…you commit adultery! Should we call it immoral? No! I think the wife has done all she can do. And adultery just a way she pursue her own happiness. Thank you!

Q&A:

[Lin Kuo]: I want to make comment. I think rather than to abolish law against adultery, furthermore, why we shouldn’t dismantle the marriage institution? Because marriage institution…umm…I want to response to Claire, you say, if you want sexual liberty, why do you just out of the marriage? But, many legal rights is attached to the identity, and our marriage system is descriminalize…is descriminate the person who enter…who are not enter this system. So, and marriage…marriage and family…marriage, family and nation is conspired with each other, and act in a way to exploitation of labor. Not(only) labors from works (but also) and from domestic worker.

[Me]: Ok….Thank you!

[Vivien]: I want to ask Claire. You support abortion…adultery. Do you have any premise for committing adultery?

[Me]: Usually it happens when a couple’s marriage is not happy. And when it comes to adultery’s positive effects, the couple wants to solve problems, but they don’t want to get divorced, so they choose adultery.

[Vivien]: And why they don’t just get divorced?

[Me]: Because there are so many reasons like kids. If you get divorced, you cannot… cannot expect…you cannot imagine your kids will be, like in the future, your kids may take drugs or become so… bad, and you can get controlled of them. So, it you don’t get divorced, you can take care of them. That is one of the reasons. There are so many many reasons.

[Cassie]: I want to ask Claire about your point of view because… oh! I want to, first of all, express that your way to interact with audience is very good. Because more attention on your presentation. But it seems that your resources are kind of limited to some religions or countries so I want to ask you about what’s your opinion about adultery in Taiwan because in Taiwan, some of the adulteries seem to not relate to religions or adultery problems, just like a person want to have other relationship.

[Me]: I have seen a news recently, umm…. A news that the minister of culture 文化部長龍應台 She has talked about, umm… when she talked to foreigners, she felt embarrassed because… when they are talking about the laws of adultery. And I think decriminalizing adultery laws is a trend. Umm… in these developed countries because they focus on individual thinking. Maybe for their government, adultery is just individual business.

(Revised) Annotation 4: Stop stigmatizing adultery

  When it comes to adultery, people tend to think of it as wrong or immoral, and directly ignore exceptions. Here, the author Yin-Bin Ning told you that “a stereotype without regard to individual differences, considering adultery as a depraved behavior, is discrimination toward it. And, discrimination in itself is definitely wrong!” The adjective “immoral” usually comes after breaking the promises for marriage. However, we should realize that every marriage works in its own way. And every couple can reach different agreements and have their own arrangements for life. “In different marriages, loyalty of sex or lying may not matter anymore.” So, followings are some examples provided by Ning, for proving that adultery deserves a different comment.

  There is a kind of marriage called “open marriage.” It refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. In an open marriage, the partners have no promise to keep the loyalty of sex. So, in this way, they will not break the promise because there is even no one. And certainly, we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immoral.

  What’s more, even though there is a promise for the loyalty of sex in some marriage, when adultery happens, we still cannot directly call it immoral. For example, there is man who had a car accident and has been paralyzed. He was too afraid to lose his wife, so he strongly required her loyalty of sex. When time flies, his wife has spared no efforts to take care of the other for years, she finally committed adultery because her spouse couldn't satisfy her sexual needs. In this case, should we call it immoral? The wife has done what she should and could do. However, she is just like all of us, being a human and has physical needs. She deserves a better life, and adultery just a way she used to pursue her own happiness.

  In general speaking, hostility toward adultery is seen as a useful way to protect marriage. But, if it is really useful, then why is adultery widespread, and does divorce rate get higher and higher? So, it is still question that whether discrimination toward adultery can protect marriages. However, I have discussed in Annotation 1 that adultery can be an alternative way to save one’s marriage and also oneself from possible problems happening in the future. In conclusion, adultery deserves a different comment other than “immoral.” And even, we cannot ignore its positive effects. “Not every adultery is the same,” which means not every adultery is immoral!

Reference:

Ying-Bin Ning (May, 2002). 通姦不道德嗎? 自由時報

Retrieved from: http://intermargins.net/repression/deviant/Marriage/adultery/articles/2002Jan-Jun/20020513a.htm

Peer Response 5

1. [陳奕臻]:
1.The first sentence "think of it as wrong or immoral". It should be "think of it as wrong or immorality"
2.The second paragraph "we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immoral". It should be "we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immorality"

First, you didn't have terrible grammar like me. It's great XDD 
Second, although I didn't agree with your idea, this article is good and has a strong standpoint. Our basic physical needs is indeed important, and restrained by the moralities.

[Me]:
I think "immoral" is acceptable because "being" can be ignored.
And thank for your compliment anyway. :)

2. [蘇俞臻]:
I agree that the open marriage is not immoral, but it's because couples themselves had reach agreements before they commit adultery. However, many cheated people do not reach an agreement with their spouses. They just want to pursue excitement. Would you still think that the adultery committed by that kind of people should not be called immoral? Just as you say, they are exceptions, so it's better for you tell readers that it's under specific situation.
And in your last paragraph, what do you mean for "hostility toward adultery is seen as a useful way to protect marriage." I think it's a little strange to say that "hostility" can protect marriage, because it's a kind of feeling. Maybe you can say "the crime of adultery can protect marriage" would be better.

 [Me]:
So, that still means not every adultery is immoral!
Thank for your comments anyway :)

Annotation 4: Stop stigmatizing adultery

  When it comes to adultery, people tend to think of it as wrong or immoral, and directly ignore exceptions. Here, the author Yin-Bin Ning told you that “a stereotype without regard to individual differences, considering adultery as a depraved behavior, is discrimination toward it. And, discrimination in itself is definitely wrong.” The adjective “immoral” usually comes after breaking the promises for marriage, which include the loyalty of sex. However, we should realize that every marriage works in its own way. And every couple can reach different agreements and have their own arrangements for life. “In different marriages, loyalty of sex or lying may not matter anymore.” So, followings are some examples provided by Ning, for adultery to deserve a different moral comment.

  There is a kind of marriage called “open marriage.” It refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded as infidelity. In an open marriage, the partners have no promise to keep the loyalty of sex. So, in this way, they will not break the promise because there is no one. And certainly, we cannot regard this kind of adultery as immoral.

  What’s more, even though there is a promise for the loyalty of sex in some marriage, when adultery happens, we still cannot directly call it immoral. For example, one partner is paralyzed or seriously ill and he or she is worried about his/her partner may leave him/her, so the loyalty of sex is strongly requested. When time flies, one partner has spared no efforts to take care of the other for years, he/she finally commits adultery because his/her spouse cannot satisfy the sexual needs. In this case, should we call it immoral? We are human beings and have basic physical needs. If we have been responsible for being a good wife/husband to take care our spouse, we deserve the right to have a better life and pursue happiness.

  In general speaking, hostility toward adultery is seen as a useful way to protect marriage. If it is really useful, then why is adultery widespread and does divorce rate get higher and higher? So, it is still question that whether discrimination toward adultery can protect marriages. However, I have discussed in Annotation 1 that adultery can be an alternative way to save one’s marriage and also oneself from possible problems happening in the future. In conclusion, adultery deserves a different comment other than “immoral.” And even, we cannot ignore its positive effects. “Not every adultery is the same,” and that means not every adultery is immoral!

Reference:

Ying-Bin Ning (May, 2002). 通姦不道德嗎? 自由時報

Retrieved from: http://intermargins.net/repression/deviant/Marriage/adultery/articles/2002Jan-Jun/20020513a.htm

  

(Revised) Annotation 3: Laws against adultery impose discrimination and violence on women

   Laws are made to restrict people’s behavior. So, there are laws against adultery, whose intent is to show its incompatibility with the society and also validity of a marriage contract. However, in several countries, punishing people who commit adultery by severe penalties turns out offending against human rights and imposing conspicuous discrimination and violence on women. These laws deviate from their original purposes and bring about social problems which for a long time, human beings have tried so hard to deal with. Therefore, after reading the reference composed by Frances Raday in “Oxford Human Rights Hub”, I go to search the details of these laws in “Wikipedia” which are displayed in the following paragraphs.

  In Article 333 of the Criminal Law in Philippines, adultery is defined as “Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband．．．” The subject in the text only refers to females. This law shows inequality in gender. Although men in Philippines are convict of a related act of concubinage, the word “adultery” should not refer to specific sex. Everyone is likely to engage in adultery.  And also, “in some Islam countries where the law prohibits adultery for men as well as women, men are permitted to take more than one wife and also to enter into temporary marriages.” Here, we see the laws have defects. They provide men with privileges to avoid being punished. A man won’t be criminalized if he marries to his mistress in time before being found he has committed adultery.

  In Pakistan, “the Hudood Ordinance requires a woman making an accusation of rape to provide extremely strong evidence to avoid being charged with adultery herself.” However, this unreasonable request does brutal violence on women since “a conviction for rape is only possible with evidence from no fewer than four witnesses.” Moreover, “honor killings” exist legally in Jordan. In Article 340 of the Penal Code of Jordan states that “he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty." That means men can kill or injure women only for maintaining their dignity and reputations.  Life is the basic human rights, but it works differently in Jordan: honor is the priority.

  Laws are made to keep social order instead of creating problems and arousing controversy. It is time for following in developed countries' steps: decriminalizing adultery. Abolishing these laws cannot fully protect women. However, it is for sure that if they are not abandoned, women are meant to be injured. 

References:

Frances Raday. ( 2012, November 2). Decriminalizing adultery: Eliminating discrimination and violence against women. Oxford Human Rights Hub

Retrieved from: http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/?p=475

Adultery. Wikipedia

Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adultery#Honor_killings

Criminal law (Philippines).

Retrieved from:  
http://criminallawphilippines.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/c1-adultery-concubinage-art-333-334/

Peer Response 4

1. [陳靖雯] :
I think you can use some examples like news in reality to support your point. Besides, you jump to your conclusion too fast. If there are laws against adultery, how can you prove that abandon the law will protect women?

  [Me] :
Here is the news showing that Colorado moves to decriminalize adultery. (http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/21/17048142-colorado-moves-to-decriminalize-adultery) And the laws I use for my annotation are all real in our world! Just because these laws impose discrimination and violence on women, if they are abolished, women are likely to be harmed less. I never say abolishing them can fully protect women. But if they are not abolished, women are meant to be injured

2. [蘇俞臻] :
You wrote about the situation in foreign countries, but i would like to know your opinion to the adultery law in Taiwan.
All the examples you use to support your idea have one similarity, which is that they count against the women's right. However, if the law can be revised more perfect than before and have less discrimination, I think the law will be a protection for those abandoned partners, for both men and women. Therefore, i don't agree that it should be abolished, it just need to be revised.

  [Me] :
In Taiwan, adultery is criminalized. But here is a piece of news showing that our minister of Ministry of Culture supports decriminalizing adultery.( http://www.ettoday.net/news /2 0130314/174967.htm) 
And for your last question, they just haven't been revised!

Annotation 3: Laws against adultery impose discrimination and violence on women

  Laws are made to restrict people’s behavior. So, there are laws against adultery, whose intent is to show its incompatibility with the society and also validity of a marriage contract. However, in several countries, punishing people who commit adultery by severe penalties turns out offending human rights and imposing conspicuous discrimination and violence on women. These laws deviate from their original purposes and bring about social problems which for a long time, human beings have tried so hard to deal with. Therefore, after reading the reference composed by Frances Raday in “Oxford Human Rights Hub”, I go to search the details of these laws in “Wikipedia” which are displayed in the following paragraphs. 

  In Article 333 of the Criminal Law in Philippines, adultery is defined as “Who are guilty of adultery. — Adultery is committed by any married woman who shall have sexual intercourse with a man not her husband．．．” The subjects in the text only refer to women. This law shows inequality in gender. Although men in Philippines are convict of a related act of concubinage, the word “adultery” should not refer to specific sex. Everyone is likely to engage in adultery.  And also, “in some Islam countries where the law prohibits adultery for men as well as women, men are permitted to take more than one wife and also to enter into temporary marriages.” Here, we see the laws have defects. They provide men with privileges to avoid being punished. A man won’t be criminalized if he marries to his mistress in time before being found he has committed adultery.

  In Pakistan, “the Hudood Ordinance requires a woman making an accusation of rape to provide extremely strong evidence to avoid being charged with adultery herself.” However, this unreasonable request does brutal violence on women since “a conviction for rape is only possible with evidence from no fewer than four witnesses.” Moreover, “honor killings” exist legally in Jordan. In Article 340 of the Penal Code of Jordan states that “he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty." That means men can kill or injure women only for maintaining their dignity and reputations.  Life is the basic human rights, but it works differently in Jordan: honor is the priority.

  

  In Europe, there is no country criminalizing adultery. And in United States, adultery is still a criminal offense in 22 states out of 50. These developed countries value human rights, which shows their respect for individuals. In the meantime, they also display their vision. Laws are made to keep social order instead of creating problems and arousing controversy. And, they clearly have known that “decriminalizing adultery eliminates discrimination and violence against women.”

References:

Frances Raday. ( 2012, November 2). Decriminalizing adultery: Eliminating discrimination and violence against women. Oxford Human Rights Hub

Retrieved from: http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/?p=475

Adultery. Wikipedia

Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adultery#Honor_killings

Criminal law (Philippines).

Retrieved from: http://criminallawphilippines.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/c1-adultery-concubinage-art-333-334/

  

Reflection 1

  During the conference, Professor Liang made my partner Emily Su and I recall the process of preparing from the initial Issue paper to Annotation 2. After she listened to our description, she cried out “that is so interesting.” In fact, I, who chose the supporting side toward adultery, considered it to be tough to work on at first since most people cannot accept it and it obviously has moral defects. What the professor thought of as being interesting is that I skimmed through information about adultery on the internet first, lay some ideas which are useful for my side in my mind and then find references relevant to these ideas. Instead of finding a lot of references aimlessly and seeking supporting ideas in them, I had specific thoughts first and then go to find references to prove them.

  Take my annotation 1 for example. Because it is the first annotation, I want to tell people adultery must exist which is just my idea. And then, I go to type key words like “婚外情的好處” to find positive effects of adultery or reasons that it must exist. The way I use to work on my assignments, focus on you must have some ideas first and then go to find proofs. In this case, you can find it is easier to make your essay organized and compact since you have already known clearly what you want to express. And as for my annotation 2, in order to connect it to annotation 1, I want to tell people that some people cannot help but engage in adultery which is my idea for this essay. And then, I found a book named “Adultery: The Forgivable Sin” whose author Bonnie Weil is a marriage and family therapist. In this book, I got a real case which strengthens my point a lot.

  For my annotation 3, I am going to talk about adultery decriminalization. I have found a piece of news to support my idea, and I am going to give more details to it. And for annotation 4, since I haven’t referred to any formal academic papers, I will look for one for this essay, but I haven’t decided the idea.

Followings are the other two groups.

1. Eva & Vicky:

Their topic is quite interesting. Eva has decided to write about American adult movie actresses in her annotation 3. She has found a resource talking about adult movie being commercialized. And as our group do, they haven’t referred to any formal academic papers. So, Professor Liang suggested them to apply one in annotation 4.

2.   Joselin & Justine:

What they wrote based on statistics are quite contradictory, and Professor Liang thought of it as being great, but they have to check the data again since it is weird to have different results in the same condition. And then, for their annotation 4, they are suggested to refer to statistics in other countries and focus on aspects of cultures or religions.