Peking University Law School Female Student Suicide: On "PUA" Psychological Manipulation and Legal Responsibility
According to media reports,A female junior student from Peking University Law School, surnamed Bao, was subjected to mental torture for one to two years by her senior and boyfriend, Mou Mouhan, who was the vice president of the Peking University Student Union. Unable to endure it, she took medication and attempted suicide, and is now in the intensive care unit. A month ago, she was declared "brain dead."

It is reported that before Bao's suicide, Mou Mouhan demanded that she take nude photos, get pregnant first and then have an abortion to keep the medical records, give him the removed fallopian tubes, and undergo sterilization surgery.
Bao's mother stated that Mou Mouhan despised Bao for having had a previous relationship and not being a virgin, but he did not want to break up, instead using this to torment her.
In response to the above accusations, Mou Mouhan said that after his girlfriend Bao's suicide, he was questioned by the police. He does not believe his behavior constitutes mental control over Bao, saying, "I don't understand what mental control is?" However, based on objective facts, it can be inferred that Mou Mouhan did indeed exert mental control and "brainwashing" over Bao.
Here, a new term must be mentioned.“PUA”,PUA(Pick Up Artist),Pickup artists originally referred to a group of men who underwent systematic learning, practice, and continuous self-improvement in emotional intelligence, but in recent years, it has gradually evolved into a term for a group of men who use techniques to deceive emotions and exploit women's value.
Although PUA has now been divided into many schools,PUA has a relatively fixed operational model.:
Step one: Build a persona. Play the role that different girls like based on their preferences.
Step two: Subvert the persona. Confess to past experiences of deceiving others' feelings, but claim, "I've deceived many people, but I had my reasons—I became this way because I was hurt in past relationships."
Step three: Establish a contract. Gradually guide the girl into forming a relationship, and make her promise not to deceive him.
Step four: Break the contract. Once the girl is completely obedient, they use any small mistake as an excuse to accuse her of deception, making her feel that what she had gained has been destroyed by her own actions. This method is used to break down the girl's psychological defenses.
Step five: Emotional abuse and encouragement of suicide. After financial and sexual exploitation and emotional abuse, the final step of PUA is encouraging suicide. They drive women to kill themselves, using the number of women who commit suicide as a marker of their success, flaunting them as trophies.
Of course, it's not just in romantic relationships; many leaders in the workplace are also skilled at using workplace PUA. While using you, they constantly devalue your worth, making you mistakenly believe you have no value and might be eliminated by the company, thereby maximizing your obedience.
The male lead in this incident is clearly a high-level PUA player. This is no longer just about virginity obsession, but more like a process of domestication.
Initially, he repeatedly emphasized to Bao, "Your most precious thing (first time) was given to another person."

Under Mou Linhan's repeated "brainwashing," Bao began to doubt herself, saying, "I'm such trash," "I'm a worthless girl."

Then, Mou Linhan began to make Bao take nude photos and sex videos under the guise of punishment, threatening to make them public if she left, and Bao succumbed.


After Bao completely surrendered, Mou Mouhan became even more aggressive. He forced Bao to slap herself: demands included getting pregnant then aborting to keep the medical records, giving the removed fallopian tubes to Mou Mouhan, undergoing sterilization surgery, and even forcing Bao to die.




In an article published by mental health expert He Rihui, he wrote that from a psychological perspective, Mou Mouhan used these terms for repeated suggestion. First, he called Bao "mom," implying what kind of psychology Bao would develop later? Because "mom" implies tolerance and responsibility, even the unconditional acceptance and tolerance of all mistakes a child makes. This laid the groundwork for Mou Mouhan to be fully accepted when he did something wrong or when Bao thought he did something wrong. As for the so-called "master and dog," this form of address clearly indicates a relationship of control and being controlled. Later, when Mou Mouhan made many unreasonable demands of Bao, due to the earlier fear and this suggestion, Bao found it hard to refuse.
A lawyer from Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm stated,Such acts are appalling. Although Bao's mother hopes Mou Mouhan will face legal punishment, under current circumstances, it is not easy to hold Mou Mouhan criminally responsible.
First, regarding threats of taking nude photos or sex videos, China's current criminal law does not have a specific charge of intimidation. Based on the chat records, the man threatened and intimidated the girl to satisfy his pathological psychology. Since it lacks a property nature, it does not constitute extortion.
Second, it is also difficult to identify as the crime of insult or the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. The crime of insult must be committed "publicly" to be established. The crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble infringes on public order, and its targets are unspecified individuals.
Another view is that it constitutes the crime of abuse, but the subject of the crime of abuse must be family members living together. Although the man and Bao were in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship and lived together long-term, since they were not legally married and did not form a family according to law, it does not fall under the family relationship defined by the crime of abuse, and the man's actions do not yet constitute the crime of abuse.
Another claim is that in this incident, the male party is suspected of using psychological manipulation to incite others to commit suicide.
Incitement to suicide refers to an actor using methods such as persuasion, inducement, orders, or coercion to cause a person without suicidal intent to form a decision to commit suicide and carry out the act.
Since the inciter has a subjective intent to kill and objectively carries out the incitement, it should be punished as intentional homicide. Based on current information, it is actually difficult to determine that the male had the intent to kill the female. According to reports, after suspecting that the female was in trouble, the male even took rescue measures.
However, according to Article 42 of the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, repeatedly sending obscene, insulting, threatening, or other information that interferes with others' normal life may, if the circumstances are serious, result in detention of 5 to 10 days.
