I don’t have much to argue with in Jenn’s post, A Question of APIA Feminism: Domestic Abuse/Intimate Partner Violence, because I’ve read the same studies. I’ve gathered from these studies that awareness is the main solution to the high incidence of APIA intimate partner violence. The high incidence is due 1) women not getting the help they need and 2) the lack of discussion about intimate partner violence in the APIA community and 1) and 2) go hand in hand. The lack of awareness added to 3) the insensitivity of domestic violence shelters towards Asian languages and cultures and 4) immigrants’ ignorance about the U.S. legal system create a crisis.

Here are the (many) highlights of Jenn’s post:

Existing studies of domestic abuse have historically neglected to collect racial or ethnic data on victims of domestic violence. In those studies that do collect racial or ethnic data, studies that have focused on Asian American women have varied widely in the reported frequency of domestic violence (summarized in this factsheet from the Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Abuse), suggesting that Asian American women might underreport domestic abuse or be less educated on recognizing the warning signs. Regardless, even these rough estimates are alarming: anywhere between 20-80% of APIA women report experiencing some form of domestic abuse or violence. At least one study (conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice) estimates that roughly 52% of Asian American women are victims of rape and/or physical assault (Exhibit 4), but notes that this only represents the incidence of reporting.

Within the Asian American community, studies suggest that reporting of domestic abuse varies along ethnic lines, as well as according to age and generational status. 61% of immigrant Japanese women, for example, reported some form of intimate partner violence, while a different study found 20% of Filipina women reported experiencing some form of domestic violence. A third study reported that 8% of Chinese women experienced “severe physical violence”, but that percentage doubled with “more acculturated” women (although this may represent a higher likelihood of reporting).

One of the most comprehensive studies conducted on domestic violence within the Asian American community was authored by the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project. Project AWARE (Asian Women Advocating Respect and Empowerment) surveyed nearly 200 Asian women in the D.C. area. That study noted that roughly two-thirds of surveyed women at least “occasionally” experienced some form of controlling behaviour or psychological abuse from their intimate partners in the year prior to the study; Project AWARE displays the forms of abuse that were surveyed in the full report.

Several studies (e.g. Understanding Violence Against Women by Cromwell and Burgess) have suggested that the problem of domestic abuse or intimate partner violence within the Asian American community may stem from unique cultural influences that affect a woman’s likelihood to recognize or report abuse by her partner.

Primarily, traditional Confucian principles of familial hierarchy have been traditionally used to define gender roles wherein husbands are superior to wives and sons superior to daughters; this hierarchy is reinforced by a social expectation of obedience and piety, and results in both men and women being socialized into accepting a superior/inferior relationship between intimate partners that can leave women susceptible to intimate partner violence. Indeed, an abusive relationship may be so normalized for a woman that APIA women by not recognize abuse as it occurs. Moreoever, our tacit acceptance of hierarchal intimate partner relationships may unintentionally reward patterns of domestic violence; in “Unheard Voices”, a study on APIA domestic violence, one survey participant said:

“I think its our cultures that allow it to happen. We do not hold somebody accountable for that kind of violence…you see that the batterer gets invited to parties, it’s the woman who gets isolated…

Secondly, several Asian cultures have emphasized the importance of familial or social harmony, as well as to preserve social “face” over personal interests. Dasgupta and Warrier (1996); reported that within the South Asian community, the predominant motivation for wives were a belief in the rold of a “good wife”, described as including “sacrifice of personal freedom and autonomy… they felt responsible for the reputation of their families in India, were eager not to compromise their families’ honor with a divorce, and operated under the added pressure of preserving traditions and presenting an “unblemished” image of the community to the U.S. mainstream.”

The invisibility of Asian American women in the struggle to end intimate partner violence rests also in the Model Minority Myth, which has long discouraged mainstream America from imagining that the Asian American community might suffer from concerns such as mental disease or domestic violence. This reluctance to perceive the APIA community as flawed not only jeopardizes the idealistic image of the American immigrant, but may also be perpetuated within the community by APIA men and women who are unwilling to “air out our dirty laundry” in the eyes of mainstream America. As Dasgupta and Warrier reported in their 1996 study, men and women of Asian communities may feel a pressure to maintain “face” for their cultural traditions, heritages, or race in America, and as such may perceive a woman reporting intimate partner violence or domestic abuse as an affront upon that image.

All of the participants agreed that Asian American women have to deal with the constraints of their own cultures as well as those of an indifferent mainstream culture that denies that domestic violence occurs amongst Asian Americans. As a result, most battered Asian women gain very little assistance from systems that are supposed to help them find a measure of safety.

The question foremost on my mind is why the Asian American community at-large isn’t angry about domestic abuse/intimate partner violence within our community? APIA feminists must maintain the focus of the debate on the unheard victims of domestic abuse and intimate partner violence. The unique sexism that APIA feminists must combat is the reluctance, both within and outside the APIA community, to address or even understand the concerns of Asian American female victims of physical and psychological assault. The implicit message being sent by our apathy is that abuse against APIA women is acceptable, so long as it is unheard or willfully misunderstood.

Read the whole thing.

**Cross-posted at my place.**