Wedded miss: China mother pressures son into marriage with suicide threat, couple divorce after 6 months
- Forced coupling causes emotional strain, arguments, denial of sex and divorce
- Case highlights plight of ‘vowels couples’ who refuse to speak to each other
A mother in China who pressured her son into marriage by threatening to take her own life has seen her extreme form of coercion backfire.
In what many people on mainland social media said was an expected outcome, the marriage only lasted six months, according to a report by Wenzhou City Daily.
The failed marriage has reignited online discussions about so-called “vowels couples”, denoting poorly matched people who cannot or refuse to communicate with each other and are reduced to using vowel sounds like “uhm” and “ah”.
It was coined by therapists at the Seventh People’s Hospital in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province in the east of the country.
In the “suicide threat” case, a man, nicknamed Xiaojin, from Wenzhou married due to pressure from his mother as he approached his 30s.
Despite lacking an emotional connection with his wife-to-be and being reluctant to discuss marriage, Xiaojin was coerced into tying the knot after his mother threatened to kill herself.