Domestic Violence
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Definition
Domestic violence is a systematic pattern of behaviors that include physical battering, coercive control, economic abuse, emotional abuse, and/or sexual violence. It is intended to gain or maintain power and control over a romantic or intimate partner to intimidate, frighten, terrorize, humiliate, blame, or injure. It can happen to anyone of any age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, religion, education level, or socioeconomic background; regardless of whether couples are married, living together, dating, or hooking-up.
Ethnic-Specific Factsheets on Domestic Violence
Ethnic-specific compilations of statistics on domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and help-seeking in Asian communities in the U.S.
Quick Facts
- Studies from different countries show that 15-71% of women 15-49 years old have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
WHO: Violence against Women: The Health Sector Responds (2013) - Among ever-partnered men, 26-80% have perpetrated physical and/or sexual partner violence in their lifetime.
WHO: Violence against Women: The Health Sector Responds (2013) - In a six-year period, 160 cases of domestic violence related homicide resulted in 226 fatalities, of which 78% of victims were women and girls.
Shattered Lives: Homicides, Domestic Violence, and Asian Families (2010) - 56% of Filipinas and 64% of Indian or Pakistani battered women report intimate sexual violence.
- 68% of Filipinas and 50% of Indian or Pakistani battered women report being stalked by an intimate partner.
Intimate Partner Violence and Help-Seeking (2011)
Couple conflict is distinct from domestic violence – all relationships experience conflicts, disagreements, fights, angry arguments, harsh words, unwilling compromises, resentments, selfish decisions, pain and anguish. In healthy relationships, couples use a variety of behaviors and strategies to cope with or resolve their conflicts without resorting to domestic violence.
Analysis
Domestic violence is gendered: In the U.S., 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime and reported an IPV-related impact. Among female survivors, 73% reported at least one impact, compared to 36% of male survivors (CDC: NISVS 2010-2012 State Report).
Domestic violence is more than a series of violent incidents on an identifiable cycle. It is about living in a climate of fear and disempowering restrictions that threaten and affect one’s selfhood, psychological well-being, health, economic independence, and emotional availability for parenting.
Stress and marginalized identities are not the cause or explanation for domestic violence. Women have the same life experiences and stresses: they come from violent homes, they have childhood histories of abuse, neglect or abandonment, they get cut off on the freeway, they get high or drunk, they get fired from their jobs, they juggle economic hardships, etc. Women are socialized in cultures with legacies of colonialism, live in war zones, endure racism, deal with new cultures as immigrants and face societal and linguistic barriers. And yet, women by and large do not resort to physical abuse. Non-abusive men are also subject to the same stressors. Women and non-abusive men do of course have personal and inter-personal difficulties, psychological problems, feel depressed, lack parenting insights, have inadequate job skills, are constrained by poverty, but cope without resorting to violence. Finally, men who do not have any of these difficulties or deficits, batter. It is important therefore, to de-link external factors as the root causes of domestic violence.
Two Significant, Differing Dynamics In Asian Homes
Domestic violence is a universal problem, but its cultural expressions differ. Drawing attention to such differences can serve to confirm stereotypes because nuanced complexities are hard to convey; but advocacy that is not rooted in cultural contexts is even more problematic.
Multiple Batterers, Single Victim
- Perpetrators can include marital family members: husbands, mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, ex-wives, new wives; and/or members of a woman’s natal family – her parents, aunts, uncles, adult siblings.
- Multiple batterers may act separately, each using different types of abuse.
- Multiple batterers can act together, playing different roles in one incident.
- In-laws may encourage or support domestic violence, but not perpetrate it themselves.
- Multiple abusers may use coercive control tactics; exercise micro-controls on daily movements – monitoring, tracking, and reporting on them; exert power and control from afar through texting, webcams, other technologies.
Push & Pull Factors
- Pull factors are behaviors and statements that ‘pull’ or lure her back into the relationship by offering apologies, reassurances and promises to change.
- Push factors are meant to ‘push’ her out of the relationship, rather than draw her back in.
- Asian women report feeling pushed out of the relationship or marital home (with statements such as “leave the house, give me a divorce, I can always find another wife”) more frequently than they are pulled or enticed back into it.
- Push and pull factors affect how survivors make decisions, especially about leaving.
Resources on Domestic Violence
Evidence-Informed Practices to Serve Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Survivors, 2018
To address the domestic violence dynamics and trends in API communities, advocates have designed programs based on an intimate knowledge of their communities and the needs of API survivors. This webinar identifies the differing dynamics and current domestic violence trends API immigrant and refugee survivors are facing. It will describe the A-Z Advocacy Model’s inventory of evidence-informed practices and the foundational principles that anchor this unique model.
Fact Sheet: Pacific Islanders and Domestic & Sexual Violence, 2018
A compilation of statistics on domestic violence, sexual violence, trafficking, and help-seeking.
Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault in the Pacific Islander Community, 2017
Erin Thomas, Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project (DVRP)
An overview of the geographical, historical, ethno-linguistic, and cultural diversity of Pacific Islander communities; historical trauma; and GBV trends.
Domestic and Sexual Violence in Filipino Communities, 2018
A compilation of statistics on domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and help-seeking in Filipino communities.
Statistics on Gender-Based Violence in Asian and Pacific Islander Communities, 2017
This factsheet compiles statistics on domestic violence, sexual violence, domestic violence related homicide, stalking, children’s exposure to family violence, and human trafficking in Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
Domestic & Family Violence Dynamics in Asian and Pacific Islander Homes, 2018
Domestic violence is a universal problem, but its cultural expressions differ. Drawing attention to such differences can serve to confirm stereotypes because nuanced complexities are hard to convey, but advocacy that is not rooted in cultural contexts is even more problematic. API survivors experience types of domestic violence on the power and control wheel, but they also face differing patterns, types and dynamics.
Facts & Stats Report: Domestic Violence in Asian and Pacific Islander Homes, 2015
Statistics from published and unpublished studies on prevalence of abuse, domestic violence, types of abuse, attitudes towards domestic violence, help seeking attitudes and experiences, service utilization, health and mental health consequences, exposure to family violence in childhood, and domestic violence related homicides.
Domestic Violence Hotlines
National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or online chat
Love Is Respect
1-866-331-8453 | Text ‘loveis’ to 22522
or online chat
StrongHearts Native Helpline
1-844-762-8483
Technical Assistance & Training from the Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN)
Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
Battered Women’s Justice Project: civil, criminal and military justice systems.
Capacity Building and Program Technical Assistance for FVPSA Formula Grantees: a project of the National Network to End Domestic Violence
Capacity Center to Expand Services to Children, Youth, and Abused Parents: a project of Futures Without Violence
National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma and Mental Health
National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence: a project of Futures Without Violence
National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center
National Latin@ Network for Healthy Families and Communities: a project of Casa de Esperanza
National LGBTQ Institute on IPV: a project of the Northwest Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian and Gay Survivors
National Resource Center on Domestic Violence: The most comprehensive resource on domestic violence, including VAWnet’s special collections on a wide range of topics
Ujima, Inc.: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community
Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN)
The Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN) is a collective of resource centers that inform and strengthen domestic violence intervention and prevention efforts at the individual, community, and societal levels. DVRN member organizations work collaboratively to promote practices and strategies to improve our nation’s response to domestic violence and make safety and justice for all families a priority. Partner organizations routinely host webinars and in-person trainings, provide written resources, respond to questions from professionals working directly with victims, offer customized technical assistance, and often partner with state domestic violence coalitions and local programs on research projects and to promote cutting-edge best practices.