NCJ Number
218138
Date Published
February 2007
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This paper provides an overview of men's violence against their female intimate partners among Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) in the United States.
Abstract
The paper first discusses the parameters of the API community as including all people of Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry i.e., those who trace their origins to the countries or the diasporic communities of these regions. Various API ethnicities and regional groupings are listed. This is followed by a conception and descriptions of violence against females that extends from their infancy through the stages of childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and their elder years. Next, an analysis of violence against women roots it in the attitudes and behaviors conditioned by patriarchy, through which men forge and express their identities by exerting power and control over women in order to maintain conditions of inequality between the genders. The paper then turns to a discussion of the distinctive dynamics of domestic violence against API women. Distinguishing dynamics include multiple abusers in one home, the predominance of male efforts to push female partners and their children out of the home, and rigid roles for women that minimize their self-determination. A description of the characteristics of abuse in API domestic partnerships addresses physical abuse, sexual abuse, same-sex domestic violence, abuse directed at mothers, abuse based on immigration status, and isolating sociocultural barriers and abusive community norms. A section of the paper that presents statistics notes that 41-60 percent of Asian women report experiencing physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime. Statistics also cover the extent of domestic violence in specific Asian communities. The paper concludes with a listing of outreach and intervention strategies by API advocates. A listing of relevant publications and materials and a description of the API Institute on Domestic Violence