Introduction

Abstract

This forum features fifteen documents translated from Vietnamese into English that address high-profile rape allegations by the poet Dạ Thảo Phương against Lương Ngọc An, a well-known poet and a coworker of hers at Văn Nghệ [Literature and Arts] newspaper. While the assaults allegedly occurred between 1999 and 2000, they were first described in public by Dạ Thảo Phương in a series of Facebook posts during Spring 2022. In addition to Dạ Thảo Phương’s posts, the forum includes a range of commentary on the case as well as a second allegation of sexual misconduct against Lương Ngọc An by the poet Bùi Mai Hạnh. We supplement this material with an essay about the broader legal, social, and cultural context of sexual violence in contemporary Vietnam by Dr. Nguyễn Thu Hương of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University of Hà Nội.