Xiu Shan Zhang, a victim of domestic violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA). She suffered from abusive marriage for a decade. GOH Hotline saves her from marital rape and provides her a safe guide while she was in crisis.
Zhang is 34 years old and lives in Staten Island with her 7-year-old daughter now. She’s well educated and has a bachelor degree. Soon after she came to the United States, got married to her landlord’s son.
Zhang’s DV and SA situations started in 2015 when her relationship with her husband began to deteriorate. Her husband constantly verbally abuses and belittles her as being financially dependent on him. Whenever they have quarrel, he uses sex to resolve it all. He constantly forces her to have sex with him and rapes her.
“My husband verbally menaces me in every possible way, especially when I don’t conform to have sex with him, and he’ll use my family or personal safety as threat to frighten me,” said Zhang.
Zhang was able to escape her husband’s act of sexual violence thanks to a hotline service by GOH, which connected her with GOH’s counselor, Vicky Yang, who provided counseling sessions and all kinds of support that she needs, e.g. legal consultation for divorce, order protection, and child custody. In 2018, she got divorced.
“We saw her transformation from having emotional instability and insecurity to gaining independence and confidence,” said Yang. “Knowing the importance to reach out more DV and SA survivors among Chinese immigrant communities, we provide appropriate measures to combat and prevent gender-based violence in New York and, in particular, to reduce the risk of this calamity escalating during crisis and post crisis situations for our clients,” Yang added.”
GOH commits to operate hotline service 5 days a week to provide support for women and children experiencing gender-based violence. In operation since 2004, our hotline service provides services for the attention, support and care for gender based violence victims. Our flagship is free hotline available New York state-wide. Operated by professional counselors and case managers, it fields emergency calls and reports of gender-based violence.
