Written by Charles R. Charrington
Image credit: Taipei City Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault by Solomon203/Wikimedia; license: CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sexual violence is an utterly unpleasant daily reality throughout the world. In Taiwan, as in other places, individuals of all backgrounds have been assaulted, abused, harassed, raped, and sex trafficked in different locations. Sex crimes in Taiwan, consistent with regional and global patterns, are primarily perpetrated by males with varying backgrounds and personal attributes, who exploit situational and systemic conditions, and are driven by multifactorial motivations, including, but not limited to, coercive sexual desire, dominance, power, and distorted masculinity and social norms. Perpetrators use various tactics, including drugging, deception, abduction, intimidation, threats, and force. Gang rapes, sexual homicide, and serial killings with sexual assault have occurred on the island. The criminals, who have been domestic and foreign private citizens and government workers, have caused physical and psychological injuries to the victims and their families. The recurrence of sexual violence and alleged lack of remorse of some perpetrators, as was discussed in a Taiwan High Court ruling regarding a case involving the 2015 rape and murder of a teenage girl and other trials, reveals gaps in societal, cultural, educational, and workplace structures and psychological services in Taiwan. A handful of individuals, notably the Taiwanese women scholars cited in this piece, have taken to the pen to address these perforations in the system that offenders have exploited.
Testimonies of sexual violence in Taiwan can be traced back to the colonisation of the island by various powers. Newspaper articles discuss the “violation” of Taiwanese women by colonial actors. Taiwanese women were also subject to sexual slavery as “comfort women” to imperial Japanese military officers and men in the Asia-Pacific War. During the current era of the Republic of China rule in Taiwan, victims have been and continue to be sexually assaulted at work, on public transport, and elsewhere. In past and present Taiwan, “…rapes and murders go unreported and unpublicised…” Poorly conducted investigations have led to the lack of arrests and prosecutions in this century and the previous one, as well as the false imprisonment and execution of innocent people. Professor Dorris Chang states in her book Women’s Movements in Twentieth-Century Taiwan:
“…Taiwanese society…expected women to guard their chastity at all costs; the vast majority of rape victims did not report such incidents to the police. Consequently, male perpetrators were able to walk free with impunity. Even in instances where female victims reported incidents to the police, the male-centered law enforcement agencies and the legal system tended to demand unreasonable proof from the victims.” (p. 87)
In twenty-first-century Taiwan, many of the problems of the last century remain, and “girls from low-income households” and those with disabilities continue to be amongst the highest at risk of sexual assault. Taiwan homicide, hospitalisation and mortality trends show “…targets of sexual assault by males using violent methods were mainly young girls aged 5–24 years old.” (p. 11) Increased reports of the rape of young women, particularly students, have been seen recently. Minors have been forced into prostitution and sexually explicit photo shoots by gangs. And females at educational centres and religious institutions have been assaulted by leaders, too. Furthermore, there have been cases of “spiritual charlatans” using “religious-related deceptions” to rape victims. Rapes and attempted rapes in the R.O.C. military have also been revealed. A small number of women have been pressured or forced to marry the men who raped them. These and other marriages have included spousal rape, attempted rape of the victims’ other family members, threats, and domestic violence.
Problems in the digital age have included, amongst others, ride-sharing rape, the creation of deepfake pornography, and online sexual victimisation. The use of hidden cameras in lavatories and the filming of victims being sexually assaulted are yet further prevalent crimes. As of late, Taiwan has also seen, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), an increased number of reports of rapes of foreigners. In 2025, the rape of a tourist in a busy public space was in the headlines.
The sex trafficking of victims out of and into Taiwan has proven difficult to curtail as well. The U.S. Department of State’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report: Taiwan states:
“Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Taiwan, and traffickers exploit victims from Taiwan abroad. Traffickers subject foreign men and women to forced labor and sex trafficking in Taiwan, and they subject local men and women to forced labor and local women and children to sex trafficking. Traffickers also subject people from Taiwan to forced labor in some European countries. Taiwan traffickers increasingly use the internet, smartphone applications, livestreaming, and other online technologies to conduct recruitment activities, often targeting child victims, and to mask their identities from law enforcement. Traffickers lure women from China and Southeast Asian countries to Taiwan through fraudulent marriages and deceptive employment offers for purposes of sex trafficking.”
There are both female and male victims, as is the case for rape, though girls and women experience higher rates of sex trafficking in Taiwan. Professor Lanying Huang’s research on the characteristics of victims clarifies, “Human trafficking cases in Taiwan…are highly associated with gender inequality and gender-based vulnerability.”
Survivors, a number influenced by the #MeToo Movement, have come forward with their harrowing experiences and challenged ambiguous terminology and understandings of the sex crimes committed against them. Nonetheless, sociocultural and sociopsychological issues revolving around non‑consensual acts are entrenched. Professor Hsiu-Yun Wang states in “Tiaoxi, Guaisho, and Sexual Harassment in Modern Taiwan: Before MeToo,” “Despite the conceptual transformation brought about by the language of rights, many victims often perceive themselves as dirty, which is similar to the ways women in the past felt, of being morally compromised, polluted and damaged.” Professor Mei-Hua Chen explains in “#MeToo Movement in Taiwan: Reconfiguring the Intimate Life” that “…the gender and sexual politics deeply embedded in Taiwanese women’s daily life are also obstacles for victims to speak up.” Another publication details that “…victims are stigmatized socially.” (IBP, p. 217) Suicidal rumination amongst survivors is common, and some victims have taken their own lives as a result of the harm inflicted on them. The suicide of Lin Yi-han drew domestic and international attention to such happenings. Distressing thoughts shared amongst female survivors in Taiwan include:
“Feeling shameful over the loss of their virginity or chastity; considering themselves as damaged and undesirable for future sexual interaction; expressing extreme fear and anxiety about possible exposure of rape incidents to their social networks; feeling guilty about bringing disgrace to their family, particularly their sexual partners; self-blaming for failing to take precautions and communicating possible cues of promiscuity; being traumatized by negative responses from their social networks, such as being ridiculed and blamed; being repeatedly raped by the same assailant; and being induced to and considering marriage proposal by their assailants.” (Tang et al., p. 546)
The Association for Crime Victim Support (AVS), established by the Ministry of Justice this decade, and other governmental and non-governmental organisations provide help to survivors. While some progress in Taiwan law and in psychological and other services is a source of light, layered institutional and societal failures, both localised/segmented and structural, have persisted since the emergence of #MeToo. There continue to be mishandled mitigation and responses in certain environments, low levels of accountability amongst certain formal and informal power networks, circulation of rape myths, and victim-blaming. These failures must be carefully studied, and changes, including more robust and impactful targeted education and training to reduce perpetration, have to be implemented to more effectively protect current and potential victims of sexual violence in Taiwan and beyond.
Charles R. Charrington reads and writes about violence, amongst other topics, in Taiwan.