NCJ Number
192319
Journal
Law & Society Review Volume: 35 Issue: 1 Dated: 2001 Pages: 39-98
Date Published
2001
Length
50 pages
Annotation
A comparison of three different approaches to violence against women in a single town (Hilo, Hawaii), each of which is rooted in a global movement, reveals sharp differences in the way the problem is defined and addressed.
Abstract
The three approaches involved a feminist batterer intervention program (Alternatives to Violence), a Pentecostal Christian church, and an indigenous Hawaiian form of family problem solving called ho'oponopono. The first approach, based on feminism and a concept of rights, emphasizes women's safety and advocates an egalitarian gender order. Women who are in danger are encouraged to separate from their partners. Husbands and wives are taught to negotiate decisions with the promise of increased trust, love, and sexual pleasure for men who refrain from violence. This approach criminalizes the batterer and encourages the victim to think of herself as having rights not to be beaten regardless of what she does. The second approach to violence against women stems from conservative Christian notions of salvation, healing, and the authority of Biblical texts. It uses a process called scriptural counseling based on Biblical quotations. The church emphasizes gender complementarity and firmly resists divorce. The ideal family is under the authority of the husband, who is in turn under the authority of God. The Christian model teaches women to submit to their husbands, to turn away wrath with gentle words, and to pray to dislodge demons that hide in strongholds created by resentment, grudges, and hostility. The third approach to violence against women, ho'oponopono, comes from an ancient Native Hawaiian family problem solving process, recently revived as part of a broader renaissance in Native Hawaiian values and cultural practices. It is based on concepts of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It emphasizes the family and the community's responsibility for conflict. Although the process seeks reunification of a family experiencing conflict, an unrepentant person can be exiled from the family altogether. In this model, ideally, husband and wife should treat each other with mutual respect. Despite different origins, each of these three types of programs has adopted a similar set of technologies of self-formation. All have drawn on psychotherapeutic approaches that rely on understanding feelings, making choices, and building self-esteem. 78 references