Victims of interpersonal violence face many challenges when trying to navigate through an abusive relationship. The dynamics of interpersonal violence are very complex and each situation has its’ own unique challenges. For people of color that are being victimized, intersecting oppressions such as institutionalized racism, gender oppression, and classism need to be taken into consideration when trying to construct procedures to help victims escape an abusive relationship.
Batterer’s use different power and control tactics to maintain control over their victims. They often use intersecting oppressions as tools to further victimize their partner and act as barriers to help seeking. For example, an undocumented immigrant woman who is victimized at home may not want to utilize public agencies such as the police for fear of deportation. While there are laws that prohibit law enforcement from using a victim’s citizenship status as a means to deport, given the current conservative climate, and issues surrounding immigration, the fear is still very real.
Also, access to accurate information may not be available to an undocumented victim because their partner controls their exposure to all forms of information. If a batterer is telling his partner that if she called the police then she will be deported, and if there are kids involved this means they may be taken away from her, the odds of her calling the police are slim to none. For example, research has shown that the majority of immigrant women seeking domestic violence services had a negative experience due to fear, denial of service, or detrimental outcomes. (Salcido & Adelman, 2004)
For people of color, race is another barrier for victims of interpersonal violence. The African American community has a long history of being mistrustful of the police and those in position of power because of the oppression and overt and covert racism they have endured for centuries. Domestic violence has historically been viewed as a familial problem and they are taught that all familial problems stay within the family, and are forbidden to seek “outside” help. Institutional racism can be offered as another reason Black women do not utilize public institutions for help with an abusive relationship. Race loyalty becomes a consideration for these women. The burden of feeling the need to protect the reputation of the Black man and not perpetuate existing stereotypes that Black men are hyper-violent becomes a part of their thought process and hinders Black women from enlisting help from the criminal justice system. Black women are acutely aware of the differential treatment Black men face within the criminal justice system and may not want to compound this problem by alerting authorities that they are being victimized in their homes. “As a member of a devalued racial identity, some women of color, particularly African American women, may fear that calling the police will subject their partners to racist treatment by the criminal justice system as well as confirm racist stereotypes of Blacks as violent.” (Sokoloff &Dupont, 2005, pg. 43; Richie, 2000; Websdale, 1999)
Class acts as another barrier to help seeking. Low-income victims of interpersonal violence have limited resources, which creates a situation to become further isolated and prone to further victimization. Providing more resources and awareness to this population is imperative to helping them escape an abusive relationship.
For these reasons, there is a need for culturally competent programs to assist these women in getting out of an abusive relationship. A collaboration between public agencies that understand the unique needs of each ethnic group and have a clear understanding of how intersecting oppressions act as barriers to help-seeking for victims of interpersonal violence is an efficient way to help these victims. Knowledge of these problems and putting forth the effort to make changes within our institutions will be a step in the right direction to ending interpersonal violence.
References:
Salcido, O., & Adelman, M. (2004). He has me tied with the blessed and damned papers: Undocumented immigrant battered women in Phoenix, Arizona. Human Organization, 63, 162-172.
Sokoloff, N, & Dupont, I. (2005), Understanding Violence Against Marginalized Women in Diverse Communities Domestic Violence at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender: Challenges and Contributions to Violence Against Women pp. 38-64
Comments
I had never heard that
I had never heard that perspective about illegal immigrants not wanting to get help for fear of being deported. It makes a lot of sense, and it makes those women incredibly vulnerable to an attacker. It makes me wonder how much domestic violence goes on in those communities that we never hear about. It is very sad. I know that if i was getting beat at home i would go to the police, and its upsetting that not all ethnic groups feel that they have that same luxury.
I had never heard that
I wouldn't say being able to call the police is a "luxury," but I understand what you are trying to say. Reporting domestic violence is different among ethic groups and cultures. I don't know why, it should, but it is. You are absolutely right about illegal immigrants reluctants to call police for help. I would hope the police and/or community recognizes being illegal is far less worse than being a victim of DV or a more worse crime.
Domestic Violence
Domestic Violence is a terrible crime that happens all to often. It is underreported and even harder to understand and/or explain. A person who claims to love you should never hit you no matter what. I know its not easy for the person who is beaten in the relationship to leave. But, I hope they can find the strength, sooner rather than later, to leave their abuser and live a better life.
"Why doesn't she just leave?"
This is an excellent topic. Domestic violence is a horrifically under-reported crime in our society, as well as many societies around the world. As a service provider to victims of domestic violence, I know first hand the complex nature of the dynamics these people encounter on a daily basis. If we, as providers, do not consider the cultural, racial, and class aspects of their individual experiences, we are limiting the ways in which we can help them. However, even providing the best assistance possible is limited by the social 'rules' of a society, and ours is extremely prejudicial and prone to victim blaming.
Why do we ask, "Why doesn't she just leave?"
Why do we NOT ask, "Why doesn't he just stop abusing her?"
Your two questions at the end
Your two questions at the end really made me think. It is always the former question asked rather than the latter.
Is there some way to stop people from becoming domestically violent?
Hope
You pose an excellent question. I, unfortunately, do not have the answer; nor do I believe that anyone does. However, I do have an idea of where to start:
1. Teach our children non-violent conflict resolution skills, especially by example.
2. Educate everyone on the dynamics of abuse.
3. Create legislation allowing more strict, and consistent, punishment for abusers.
And, of course, we must eradicate our systems of privilege and oppression, thereby creating equality for all.
It's a tall order, but I have hope.
This goes deeper than our
This goes deeper than our penchant for blaming the victim. This is our inability to call out privileged members of society. Women can be abusive too, but the vast majority of batterers and rapists are men. We are more likely to blame the victim, especially if the victim is a member of another oppressed population.
On a side note, we are even worse about blaming male victims of domestic violence. Why didn't he just leave? Why didn't he just hit her back? Why doesn't he fight back? Fighting back is not the answer. A mutually abusive relationship is no better, and I think we all would do well to think of reasons why a victim (or survivor) would stay, especially taking into consideration the different forms of oppression they may face in the outside world. When we begin to take these other perspectives into consideration, we can see why they would stay, and then maybe we can start to understand that the victim (survivor) is NOT the problem.
Why doesn't she just leave
I agree with you with the question we are not asking. However, if we ask that the attention seems to shift to the offender, not the victim. Like you, I see domestic violence on a daily basis. Its terrible and hard to understand. The focus, like you said, should be to help the victim recover, if that is possible, from this horrible crime.
Would it be so bad?
Would it be so bad to focus on the person committing the crime?
Illegal immigrants
With the current climate regarding illegal immigrants, it is not surprising that victims of domestic abuse are afraid to seek help. This is a sad fact, but I would imagine they come here to find a better life, and especially a better life for their children. They wouldn't want to risk deportation and the chance of being separated from their children. It is devastating that this means victims are afraid of going to the police or seeking help. We really should be more focused on giving help to anyone who seeks it, rather than checking identification first. We are in the struggle of life together.
Illegal Immigrants
What I find interesting is that most people assume that illegal immigrants come to the United States for the sole purpose of obtaining better working wages; or as has been said publically numerous times "to steal OUR jobs" but this is not always the motivation for coming to the United States and I would argue that work is often a secondary reason. Many people who are here illegally are fleeing from violence in their own countries. Their exposure to consistent violence creates a tolerance that carries over into their homes. Also in many cultures women are still subjected to their husbands will and coming to the United States alone does not change that. Domestic violence in and of itself is a contraversial topic and the manner in which various governmental institutions handle domestic violence aside of the racial aspect is very inconsistent.
Domestic Violence in Native Communities
In Native American communities, they face racial barriers, class barriers, and barriers rooted in the history of colonization. Poverty is rampant on reservations, and Native women are the only racial group most likely to experience domestic violence/sexual assault at the hands of a member of different racial group. This becomes a very complicated issue because judicial systems on reservations are incapable of holding non-Native people in jail. Further, if the batterer were a member of the tribe, or even a different tribe, the longest jail sentence Native judicial systems are allowed to give is one year. As domestic dependent nations, they are not allowed enough freedoms in their court systems, and most reservations lack the funding necessary to provide real resources victims of domestic violence.
I volunteer at TESSA, our local domestic violence/sexual assault shelter. In our training, they included a section about oppression to teach us about the complicated situations we might be facing. One example they gave was of a woman staying there who was in the country illegally, and she did not speak any English. She had no forms of ID, no family, and I don't remember the other complications involved in the situation (there were a lot). We all assumed she must have been from Mexico. She was from a region of India, where they spoke a very distinct language. It would be so much easier to find someone to translate between English and Spanish, but it took much longer to find someone for this woman. It was interesting to see how we all made the assumption that she must have been from Mexico, and when she wasn't, the situation only got more complicated.
What happened with the woman
What happened with the woman from India? Was she able to get help?
She was. And they told us
She was. And they told us that by the time she left the Safehouse, she was speaking conversational English.
That is really great to hear!
That is really great to hear!
I can definitely see how
I can definitely see how these factors can discourage victims from getting help and I am glad to see it acknowledged. I think the major factor that was not addressed was gender. Statistically, the majority of domestic violence cases have female victims so I think it is important to address how gender can influence the victim from getting help. Simply seeing the way our legal system treats rape cases (insinuating women might have "deserved" it or "wanted" it), the credibility of women is constantly questioned because our society still over-archingly believes men have some entitlement over women. I think the legal system has to support women who do decide to get help and press charges and make them feel like they have power to change their circumstances.
I think that domestic
I think that domestic violence advocates and all service providers need to be culturally aware when working with immigrant woman as well as with women who have experiences with racism and oppression on multiple levels. Advocates need to bring in additional services to help these women understand the criminal, family and immigration laws that affect them when they are looking at separating from an abusive partner. We need to be mindful of the cultural barriers so that we provide relevant information that speaks to the individual experiences as well as institutional, cultural, religious and gender oppression.
It is an absolute must to bring in interpreters as quickly and regularly as necessary. We must never assume, we must always ask. We must make every effort to allow the woman to tell her story and to meet her where she is at as opposed to where we think she should be in the process.
I am a survivor
I lived with an abusive man for a total of 15 years. The first three was cohabitation and the next 12 married. I chose someone who confirmed my belief system about myself, that I was not enough and did not deserve to be loved. I believe if we educate the media, our male population and each individual woman in empowerment and not dependency on 'being liked' or 'acceptable' to others as the guideline for being enough, we would not be dealing with so much 'aftermath' of under-empowered women making devastating choices for not only them but for the children they eventually have a well. It is a vicious cycle, and in terms of supply and demand, when we stop purchasing this socially constructed belief system that is perpetuated over and over again (How many Cosmopolitan, People, Us ect magazines do women themselves purchase and then compare ourselves too?)we will see a shift in what we are selling. This is something I posted on Facebook not long ago: "This morning I logged onto my computer to get into my software program for work and there it was right in front of me. “Looks Guys Love and Ones they Hate.” “Do men prefer buns or bangs? Glam lipstick and sultry eyes or the casual, no make-up look? Get the inside scoop & tips on how to nail his favorite styles.” Reeeaaally? Let me get this straight. Women are supposed to define our tastes and our style to what men prefer? Are women’s main purposes to be decorative or to entertain other’s whims? I DO like that they included the word ‘nail,’ because I think that is perfect for the intent here. Why do we reduce our genders to such frivolous standards? Do we have such little faith in men that we believe sporting bangs or a bun will sway the male’s opinion of a woman’s value? Do we have such little faith in women that we advertise a woman’s value solely based on what is ‘deemed’ attractive to someone else? It may be a little thing and just meant to be a fun read…but it has been said, it is not intent but the impact that matters. Women have been and are raising a future generation of young women in this atmosphere and we all are buying into it. We have brains, whether it is believed given by God or through a process of evolution, so let’s use them and bring common sense back in style. For that is something that will never be outdated." And we wonder why we end up where we are in our society today.
Survivor
It is courageous that you share that you are a survivor of domestic violence and a testament to your strength that you were able to end the violence. I completely agree that society has become obsessed with the way women look. Intelligence, loyalty, compassion and other personality traits are often overlooked if not completely ignored for physical appearance. The sad reality is that the articles that you speak of are most often written by other women. These types of articles teach our children that superficiality is acceptable and that they should comply with the standards of society. Personally, I don't read those types of articles and I have never been the "ideal girly girl," I don't wear make-up (except on special occasions) I wear my hair in a pony tail and I dress in jeans and t-shirts. I am comfortable with myself but I notice in my teenage girls (16 and 13) that they are constantly changing their appearance based on societal standards of "beauty." As parents all we can do is encourage our children to see beyond the surface and be accepting and reassuring. Again I admire your courage =0)
Thank you for sharing.
I also think you are brave for telling your story. I think that how women are portrayed in the media and throughout our society influences how women are treated. We are constantly told to look and act a certain way and feminism is still widely misunderstood and denigrated. When young boys (or anyone that grows up to be a perpetrator of violence) are conditioned to think of women as things they will treat them as such. The same goes for women, if we fall victim to the system we will find ourselves trapped in the cycle it creates, the one you speak of.
I do agree with you that the
I do agree with you that the media has a huge role in conditioning us into our gender roles. Everywhere we go we are bombarded with advertisements, showing not just women but men, what women should be and what they should look like. (Insert the bangs and the perfect lipstick here.) We can’t escape them, so the cycle of conditioning us consumers into the belief that women aren’t good enough for themselves or for men without that cute bag or that pair of shoes. I think that if the media understood fully the effect it has on our society it might change. But as it is now, I think they feel they are very educated, and they are very good at what they do, which is convince people they need to buy their products. Another important part of this conditioning in the media, I think, is the impact it has on different races. Everyone knows the majority of the media displays white people. Though this article doesn’t mention the impact of that on someone who isn’t white, I assume it’s an important factor. It also gives interesting insights into how race is pertinent in domestic violence cases. Victims of domestic violence often feel quilt or pity for their abuser. I thought it was really interesting that another burden an African American woman has to carry is the feeling that she must protect the reputation of the black man so that he doesn’t continue to perpetuate the existing stereotypes.
That's Sad
It is hard to think that a colored women is afraid to call the police or seek help for fear of encouraging the stereo type colored males already have. What was more believeable was that they have distrust with police officers, and probably figure they will do little to help. It is sad that we live in a society where only the dominant race can feel truley protected. I do not doubt that many cops have treated colored people unfairly, because of their race. Everybody does it on a daily basis, whether they see it or not. Any woman should be able to seek help from an abusive relationship without fear of discrimination. Noone should be stuck in a home that is not safe simply beause of the fear of how they will be looked at when they actually do seek help. Second of all, and this might be a little blunt or upsetting, but illegal immigrants cannot call the cops because of abuse in the home. They are here illegally, so they cannot seek legal help. It is a sad thing to see, a woman being abused and helpless because law enforcment is against here. but she is breaking the law. Is there a program out there to help woman like these?
Great point
You make a great point about the "dominant race" being the only people who feel safe to go to the authorities and to ask for help. It's very sad to see that because of ones culture they feel scared to ask for help because while no one is speaking up about it, it just continues to get worse. I also agree with you about the illegals immigrants not being able to get legal help. It may be harsh but it's the truth!
no faith in police
I can definitely see why minorities and women of color have no faith in the police of judicial system. In our class, we have read on police in the run down black neighborhoods who patrol and harass the citizens that live there. Often times, calls reported to the police are responded to in a leisurely manner. For instance, one woman reported her daughter missing. The cops showed up, not urgently, and basically did nothing because they assumed the girl had just run away (normal to them). Instead, the girl was found dead. Things like this reinforce the notion that the police will not help a person in need in these neighborhoods because of the racial stigmas the police have. This is not to say that every officer feels this way, but it enough that the community is affected in a clear way.
Domestic Violence
Personally I don't think that domestic violence can be addressed properly at any level, in any institution until we realize that race nor gender determine a definitive course of action that should be taken with either the victim or the perpetrator. Each domestic violence case requires individual attention, a persons race or gender does not determine what type of assistance they need. I respectfully disagree with the article and in my opinion feel it is a generalization to say, "Race loyalty becomes an issue for these women." Although this may be the case, it is not always the case and it does not occur just amongst African-American women. I do feel that the resources for those involved in domestic violence need to be expanded and centered on the specific situation but I don't feel that dividing assitance based solely on what is perceived as "racial needs" would be effective nor necessary for everyone.
You make a really good point
You make a really good point here. I don't disagree with the article in saying that it can be more difficult for a colored victim of domestic violence to get proper help, but I don't know that setting up services solely based on race is the solution to such a complex problem. I mean are we going to set up anti-domestic violence groups for each and every race? This isn't really a feasible plan, and the issue of domestic violence goes so much deeper than someone's race. To me, it's more about the abuse of power rather than race. White women are also victims, so what would be the experts opinion on why they don't get help if they aren't staying true to the white race?
DV
Nor do I disagree that it can be harder for people of color to get help when they are involved in a domestic violence situation. I fully understand that everyones circumstances are different and that there are some women/men that will require more specialized attention and they should be able to get that attention but realistically speaking with I don't think having racially segregated shelters, safe houses, counseling facilities ect. is the right answer. This leads to even further seperation and isolation between the races. Thanks for sharing your ideas with me =0)
Food for Thought
This article was saddening to me for a number of reasons. Domestic violence is always a tragedy, no matter who the victim, so truthfully I never like to hear about it. I never considered the difficulties an illegal woman could possibly encounter when turning to the police for help. The African American situation discussed was a little bit weird. I think there are a number of reasons why a woman might stay silent in a domestic violence situation, and depending on the severity of the situation, I really don't know how much a black woman would care about "confirming negative stereotypes about black men". Wouldn't she want to get out of a dangerous situation regardless of "stereotypes". It's really tragic that some people feel domestic violence is a familial issue that should stay within the family. Two parents arguing about money is one thing, but when things turn physically violent, no one should feel like they are being forced into silence. Although I generally thought this was a good article that brought good points to light, I don't think a race specific solution can really fix the problem on a deeper level.
Re:
I found that part about African American women not wanting to come forward very interesting. I think that it makes sense; she feels she must defend her race. If my race had a stereotype of always being hyper-violent, the last thing I would want to do it show the justice system or society one more case about how a stereotypical black man was beating a women. It continues the perpetual cycle and it doesn’t just leave the male stuck in it but the female also. It’s one more hurdle she must choose to overcome or not, and as the article shows, she already has many. I also found it interesting that because women are aware of the differential treatment of black men in prison it further prevents them from going for help. I think that even if they did overcome all of these obstacles and went for help, they could face even more guilt knowing how he would be treated in the justice system and feel as though it is her fault.
Makes you think
While reading the article I kept thinking about Patricia Hill Collin's theory of Matrix of Domination and began to piece together the various aspects that the author brought up. I strongly agree that the intersecting forms of oppression, while not the whole reason, play a vital role in those that are faced with domestic violence and the available resources to them. The idea that domestic has grown larger over the past several years is very alarming and when you pile on top of it the aspect of race, gender, and sexual orientation makes it a much harder issue to over come. One area in which I did not agree with the article was in their approach to setting up various services based on race in order to address domestic violence across the vast racial spectrum. Any of the services that are available to domestic violence victims should be throughly equipped and trained to handle domestic violence within any race.
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