This paper will describe and examine domestic violence among Hmong women in the United States which we do not seem to have much focus on. We tend to focus on the general aspects of domestic violence as a generalization, but in other case scenarios, it is important to learn about other cultures and minority social welfare problems as well.
Domestic violence, is significantly the number one cause of violence in America and according to Sherman, L. W., past decades, that reluctance has overcome, with a 70% increase in arrests for minor assaults, heavily concentrated among low-income and minority groups. “Violence defined by the world health organization (WHO) is an intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself,
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another person, against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal development or deprivation”. The universal phenomenon is this major social issue here and major contributor of ill health of women; domestic violence, persists all over the world across countries. The perpetrators are often well known to their victims. Who can be affected by violence? In fact, common sense, anyone, and everyone all over the world; wellbeing of millions of families and individuals. Amongst all the recognizable issues in the world, domestic violence is as serious human rights abuse because of its increase public health problems with substantial consequences for women’s physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health. The health system is often not adequately addressing the problem of violence and contributing to comprehensive multi-sectoral response [1, 3] (BMC- Reproductive Health).Hmong people are a group of Asian ethnic, indigenous people whose descendants are a tribal group from the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia (Edinburgh, L. D., Garcia, C. M., & Saewyc, E. M. (2013)). In the Hmong community, domestic violence is hidden, or not spoken of as how other communities would about their issues. The reason to that is also because Hmong people prefer to keep their social life hidden if any problems arise or if negativity occurs, because they prefer to live a life of greatness and success. However, sometimes they do want to be heard but since they are categorized as a group society labels minority, the possibilities of greatness’s aren’t high. Minorities go out into society being labeled or even just unnoticed. This world has little knowledge of what goes on in other minorities’ lives and what to expect. Perhaps domestic violence increasingly occurred to the Hmong people when they had moved to the U.
S and tried to adapt to America and its culture. Dr. Mia Na Lee at the University of Minnesota claimed to have said that many Hmong families are still dealing with some culture shock, where men are the dominant ones in society towards a tradition where women are becoming more independent. Domestic violence did exist within the Hmong culture because it is viewed as a cultural norm, however, as significantly domestic violence is growing, their problems are often ignored or remains hidden (Ace Xai Chang, Social Factors Related to Domestic Violence among Hmong Adults). Domestic violence among Hmong women, I believe, occurred through not the men, or people of their family or the past, but their culture. The Hmong culture sets the stage for violence with its traditional cultural norm, trying to leap towards men to become more powerful and controlling over women …show more content…
(ahmongwoman). As for domestic violence among Hmong women, I will share and analyze my findings because the world needs to see that many minorities suffer in this world and little is done for justice; there is not a wide range of solutions to solve these women’s issues. As much as Hmong women’s problems don’t come up into the social welfare system, I believe that it is right to expand the potential to understand why the things to them happens and how it plays with importance to society. The definition and nature of domestic violence among Hmong women is that it is not just Hmong women who suffers domestic abuse, but also other women of all color and race among the world.
I want to focus on the Hmong women population and explore the dynamics and issues. It takes time for others from outside of an American lifestyle to assimilate and settle to America’s social norms. In other case scenarios, maybe they’re just too stubborn and wants to keep their cultural norms for themselves to conserve it and pass it on. Hmong men in the Hmong culture are a representation of men in America as well, so there is a similarity within the American society as well. They’ve always been expected and born to be told to do their best, to be a leader because they’re seen as stronger and independent. Well, that’s also the same as in American society, too right? Hmong culture may celebrate and do things differently, but as we see them, it’s just like American men; wanting to dominate as head of house hold and beyond more “higher-status” roles. The problem is that in the Hmong culture, men, and even theirs and sometimes even the women’s families, thinks it’s okay when men hit their “wives”/ women. We even do this to animals when training them, for example, animals get abused until they get the ‘act/trick’ right in society, fore, there’s a thing also called “animal abuse” because it exists. Is hitting someone supposed to show them or teach them that what they’re doing is wrong and they’ll
learn a better or something? There're other ways around than abuse, but somehow, violence is the way shown instead. According to statistics Intimate Partner Violence in the United States — 2010 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Division of Violence Prevention, showed that men abuses more than woman and it can happen to anyone, no matter what kind of relationship you or anyone else is in, could even be family. In the Hmong community, women are more likely to experience the physical harm in domestic violence because the Hmong men are supposedly the ones who are the powerful one, especially since their appearances in America. I also find it interesting how domestic violence happens in all cultures, even in American cultures, which makes me question, did other cultures (the Hmong too) learned this concept too or was it really because America’s a free country and they were having a hard time to adapted to American society? There’s a lot of questions and thoughts to take into mind and considerations because as Hlee Moua states in her journal article, domestic violence is found to be prevalent in the Hmong community. Two out of five Southeast Asian women have experienced domestic violence, as research has shown, which is at a rate that is disproportionately higher than the reported rates of other racial and ethnic groups in the United States (Ferraro & Johnson,1983, as cited in Menjivar & Salcido, 2002; Multicultural Advocates Inc., 2008; Raj, Silverman, McCleary-Sills, & Lui, 2005, as cited in Wong et al., 2011)
What are the most important aspects of Hmong culture? What do the Hmong consider their most important duties and obligations? How did they affect the Hmong’s transition to the United States?
The Hmong people, an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam and Laos, greatly value their culture and traditions. The film “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America” documents the seventeen year journey of the Hmong Shaman, Paja Thao and his family from the mountains of Laos to the heartland of America. This film shows the struggle of Paja Thao to maintain their 5000 year-old shamanic traditions as his children embrace the American culture. Moreover, the film shows that one of the major problems refugees like Paja Thao and his family face upon their arrival to the United States is conflict with the American medical system. Despite the dominant biomedical model of health, the film “The Split Horn” shows that
The Hmong culture is firmly rooted in their spiritual belief of animism, ancestral worship and reincarnation. These beliefs connect them to their sense of health and well-being. They view illness as having either a natural or a spiritual cause. A spiritual cause results in a “loss of souls” or is an action or misdeed that may have offended an ancestor’s spirit (California Department of Health Services, 2004, Purnell, 2013, p. 317). The soul escapes the body and may not be able to find its way back home. The Hmong also believe that a combination of natural and supernatural cause’s results in illness, and spells or curses, violation of taboos, accidents, fright, and infectious disease are other causes for illness (Centers for Disease Control
together for the better of the shared children. The women had a say in how they would help
After reading chapter 1, Birth, some of Hmong customs that stood out to me was when the parents had to bury the placenta after the child was born; depending on the gender the placenta was buries in a special place. I like the meaning that the placenta was a special garment that was first worn by the baby. Furthermore, another custom was when the mother had to satisfy any craving to prevent her baby from getting any type illness, and as well as having a special diet for the mothers after they give birth to help them cleans their body’s after the pregnancy. One custom that really stood out to me from the rest was “Lia’s hu plig” which was a party to appreciate a new child into the world and welcome the soul into a new body; they sacrificed chickens
The Hmong Culture of South Asia is a very interesting ethnic group. Between 300,000 to 600,000 Hmong live in Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. About 8 million more live in the southern provinces of China. Since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Hmong refugees from Southeast Asia have settled in Australia, France, Canada, and the United States. The largest Hmong refugee community lives in the United States with a population of about 110,000. The U.S. Department of state has tried to spread Hmong refugees out across the country to reduce the impact on any one region. Because Hmong families tend to be large in numbers, the community grows rapidly.
Stark (2006) would suggest that thirty years of research has failed to produce a consensus as to what constitutes a case of domestic violence considering that 90% of women who report the abuse have no physical injuries. Methods of coercive control do not meet the criminological viewpoint rather, control extends to financial, emotional, and psychological aspects of subjugating the partner thus no physical violence occurs. If only violent means are reported, then the reported number of victims would perhaps change thus creating a more gender symmetrical pattern. Until operational definitions are defined throughout the disciplines with consistency then there will continue to be discrepancies and opposing views. However, integrative theories of feminist views are being explored which investigate the intersection of not only male dominance as a form of oppression but the use of race, class, national origin, age, sexual orientation, and disability and their impact on intimate partner violence as stated by McPhail and colleagues
Domestic violence, also referred to as intimate partner violence, intimate partner abuse or domestic abuse, affects over one million people in the United States alone. It can be carried out in any number of ways including physically, emotionally, sexually, psychologically and/or financially. Its legal definition considers it to be “any assault, battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, or any criminal offense resulting in physically injury or death of one family member or household member by another who is residing in the same single dwelling unit” (Brown, 2008). In the United States it is considered a major health problem so much so that it was declared the number one health concern by the U.S. Surgeon General in 1992 (Peterman & Dixon, 2003). Not only is it a rapidly growing health problem but it is a growing societal concern as well. Extending beyond the effect felt by the victims and their families, it impacts our communities, government, law enforcement and public service agencies.
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is historically referred to as domestic violence. It describes a pattern of coercive and assaultive behavior that may include psychological abuse, progressive isolation, sexual assault, physical injury, stalking, intimidation, deprivation, and reproductive coercion among partners (The Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), 1999). IPV leads to lifelong consequences such as lasting physical impairment, emotional trauma, chronic health problems, and even death. It is an issue effecting individuals in every community, regardless of age, economic status, race, religion, nationality or educational background. Eighty-five percent of domestic violence victims are women (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003). More than one in three women in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime (The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2012). Thirty to sixty percent of perpetrators tend to also abuse children in the household (Edelson, 1999). Witnessing violence between parents or caretakers is considered the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next (Break the Cycle, 2006).
During the 1980s and 1900s, domestic violence was one of the most unreported crimes that involve females and males getting hurt and dying. Kicking, choking, killing, and saying brutal or despise words that could hurt the victims physically or emotionally are considered domestic violence. In fact, many victims are afraid to seek for help. According to “The Domestic Violence Resource Center (DVRC), women account for approximately 85 percent of all intimate partner violence, with women aged 20-24 at greater risk” (Batten, par.16). Most pregnant women are at risk as well. “But underlying approach is still one that assumes the perpetrators are men and the victims are woman” (Haugen, par. 1). Moreover, both males and females believe that domestic violence is a solution to their issues.
Domestic violence affects a large amount of relationships in the United States each year. As the times have changed, abuse has become less accepted as a normal occurrence, and society has begun working together to provide awareness towards violence in intimate partner relationships. “Problems of family violence are potentially the most destructive in our society” (Kurland 23). Domestic violence is a problem that begins in the home, and spreads to affect the world around it. Violence is present in relationships of all demographics, be it race, sexual orientation, or social class. No one is entirely safe from experiencing abuse, but if society is taught to recognize the signs it can save a life or even prevent abuse from happening.
Historically, domestic violence was viewed as only involving physical abuse. However, the more contemporary view of domestic violence has come to include not only physical types of abuse; but as well as emotional, sexual, physiological, and economic violence that may be committed
The researcher Michael T Johnson in 1995 investigated data from the National Family Violence Survey. Johnson reported that “…young married Hispanic women were more likely to experience domestic violence” (). The racial and ethnic groups revealed differences in rates and the forms of abuse. Researchers reported than African American and Hispanic women with low household income and educational status experienced greatest rates of family and domestic violence. According to Women of Color Network (2006) “African American women reported 29.1% intimated partner violence (sexually, physically, and mentally); on the other hand, Hispanic females reported 21.2%” (p. 1-4). The domestic violence rates among African American and Hispanic women have beben related to the sociocultural beliefs of the acceptance of marital abuse; especially, if women have low educational levels and are financially
“Domestic violence is a violent confrontation between family or household members involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm” (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). In most places domestic violence is looked on as one of the higher priorities when trying to stop crime. Domestic Violence cases are thought to be influenced by the use of alcohol, drugs, stress or anger but in reality, they are just learned behaviors by the batterer. These habits can be stopped as long as one seeks help (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). For instance, a child is brought up in a household that is constantly involved in criminal acts. As this child grows up, the criminal lifestyle will be synonymous with his/her behavior. With that being said, it is also a given fact that if a household and its members are surrounded with violence, the relationships between one another will be strained. Eventually this will end up in a divorce or even worse, death, depending on how far the violence goes. If there is violence in a family, then the ones who are affected by it may feel like they deserve it because of what the batterer is accusing them of doing. Battering occurs among people of all races, ages, socio-economic classes, religious affiliations, occupations, and educational backgrounds (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). Domestic violence can affect families in more aspects than one; the husband-wife relationship, the children, and also the financial stability.
Domestic violence is skyrocketing in our society. In the U.S., as many as 1.5 million women and 850,000 men were physically assaulted by their intimate partner last year, and numerous children abused by their parents. These sad criminal acts will continue to grow in our society, unless our community takes action to stop these crimes.