Korean Immigrant Women In The United States: A Literature Review

Domestic violence is an issue that has not been given much attention in the Hispanic culture as it is seen as a norm. Domestic violence is defined “as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner” (justice.gov). Hispanics are affected more than the non-Hispanic populations when it comes to the consequences domestic violence brings and also the constant occurrence of domestic violence in the Hispanic

“I am Korean. South Korean to be exact.” These were the words I would always use to describe myself during new encounters. My race seemed to be what people noticed about me first. Whether I was at a leadership conference, church, or cross country event, there was always someone asking where I was from. For this reason, being an immigrant from Korea has been a big part of my identity as an individual and student.

One of the major efforts of the domestic violence movement, from the beginning, has been to debunk commonly believed stereotypes and myths about domestic violence. This is important because an accurate awareness of the issue cannot occur within society if the general public believes that domestic violence is a problem that only affects certain groups of people and is therefore not in need of attention since it is not that common. In addition, one of the easiest ways to acquire an overall understanding of the basic elements of domestic violence is to debunk commonly believed stereotypes. For example, it is commonly believed that domestic violence only affects certain populations. As mentioned above, domestic violence occurs across all cultures, religions, ethnicities, income levels, sexual orientations, age groups, and education levels. Another myth is that domestic violence is not a common or serious problem when in fact, in the United States, a woman is battered every 9 seconds (NCVC, 2008). Another myth is that domestic violence is caused by substance abuse. In fact, many batterers abuse alcohol or drugs, but it is not an excuse for their

“Domestic violence is a type of abuse by one or both partners in marriage, friends, family, dating or cohabitation” (Aziz & Mahmoud, 2010). There are many forms of abuse from verbal and emotional to physical that often escalates over time in intensity for the victim. Data from the criminal justice system, hospital patient medical records and mental health records, police reports, surveys and social services reports of thousands of women revealed that many are injured and killed as a result of violence from someone close to them. “The US Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender” (Robertson & Murachver, 2009). Researchers and the criminal justice system have not been able to agree on a clear definition to domestic violence which can range from physical injury, stalking, verbal abuse and humiliation, denial of shelter and access to money, and intimidation through aggressive behaviors. The definition of domestic violence may vary but the results from physical injury, mental and emotional trauma, and sometimes even death can last a life time.

Domestic violence, alternatively referred to as Intimate Partner Violence, is defined by the Department of Justice as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.” While domestic violence is commonly thought of as only physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence can also be emotional, economic, or psychological. Domestic violence has remained constant in society throughout history, even though over time society’s response to the issue has changed. While domestic violence affects everyone regardless of race, gender, age, etc. it is estimated that approximately 90% of all victims are women. For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on

Migratory status and acculturation have been studied among researchers to explore how these aspects may act as risk and protective factors to Hispanic women who are victims of domestic violence. Caetano, Ramisetty-Mikler, Caetano Vaeth, & Harris (2007) found that both acculturation and stress related to acculturation are congruent with the potential to fall victim to domestic violence. Additionally, substance abuse, depression, suicidal ideation, family conflict is associated with those who experience stress in relation to acculturation.

Domestic violence is abuse caused by family which included physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, economical abuse, psychological abuse, threats, stalking and cyberstalking. It is often referred to the number one health concern of the United States of America and Texas being the number one with the most cases. However, in most cases, the victim is not aware of their abuse because of their lack of knowledge to the situation and is often left untaken care of for long periods of time. In addition to Texas being first, illegal immigrants are on top of the chart as well and they’re too being untaken care of because of their fear of deportation to their origin of country. Children all over the world aren't being educated with the correct

On January 13, 1903, the first Korean Immigrants set foot in Hawaii. There were eighty six people on that first voyage, and since then there have been over 550,000 Koreans who have made the journey to the United States over the past 100 years. The original immigrants and their descendants now total over 1.6 million. Korean Americans make up one of the most prominent Asian communities in the United States. Many elements of Korean Culture, ranging from Kim Chee to Tae Kwon Do, have made their way into the American Lifestyle. There have been many events that have shaped the Korean American community and there are many current issues that affect Korean Americans.

Domestic violence involves the systematic use of force, threats and intimidation by one partner upon another in order for the dominating partner to have control over the victim. In general, women who are abused physically are often isolated. Their partners tend to control their lives to a great extent as well as verbally degrade them. Even though the Latina women are particularly vulnerable to domestic violence because of their culture, it does not mean that this situation does not exist in other societies. Domestic violence happens in all races, religions and social statuses. It could appear in any family and in order to prevent it, everyone in the society must have knowledge of the problem, and

Asian American and Pacific Islander women have faced up with several multiple systems of oppression that are based on gender, race, class, age, language ability, and immigrant status. These issues cause directly to sexual assault and domestic violence that some of the AAPI women experience today, and these violences will possibly be increasing rapidly among AAPI communities and families as well. In ReAppropriate Blog, it reports that about 60 percent of the incidence of sexual assault is in Asian American communities, including Cambodian, Korean, and South Asian American communities. And this blog also reveals two significant barriers that towards reporting of assault. The first barrier is a cultural stigma. Many survivors were afraid to report

Interestingly it has been discovered that studies involving both immigrants and non-immigrants have generally found that Latinas born in the United States were at greater risk. Within the American born group there was a 48.4% rate of victimization in their lifetimes while foreign born Latinas only 22.2% reported physical assault by an intimate partner (Hazen & Soriano, 2007). Studies have also found that there is an association between the age of Latina women and the risk for physical victimization (Kessler, Molnar, Feuer & Appelbaum, 2001; Lown, Vega, 2001; Smith, Thornton, DeVellis, Earp & Coker, 2002). In other studies it has been found that divorced or separated Latina women are more likely to report physical violence and sexual violence than married women are (Coker, Smith, McKeown & King, 2000; Smith, et.al., 2002).

Domestic Violence (DV) is a critical social issue that negatively impacts not only our own culture in America but as well as all other cultures around the world. Domestic Violence is a global issue reaching across national boundaries as well as socio-economic, cultural, racial and class distinctions (Kaur & Garg 2008). Domestic Violence is a serious problem that can be seen around every society from families of both developed and underdeveloped countries and of different backgrounds. Although there are various cases of domestic violence against men, children and the elderly; women account for the majority percentage of victims of Domestic Violence. This violence can take the form of physical assault, psychological abuse, financial abuse or sexual assault (Kaur & Garg 2008). Domestic Violence is a trend that is on the rise and will continue to plague our society if nothing is done on time to address this social issue.

This began to change in the 1980s, as women’s groups were organized locally and internationally to demand attention to the physical, psychological, and economic abuse of women (p.369-370). Domestic violence is a serious social issue that happens to many women in our world today. This type of abuse is not declining but continually rising on a daily basis. There have been issues in the past with the way these cases were being handled. Today, there has been some improvement concerning the laws that have been enforced in order to protect women from this type of abuse. There has been extensive research done on this issue in the past concerning domestic violence. Over the last ten years there have been a number of surveys on domestic violence that have been published from around the world.

Like so many of the topics studied by investigators in our research institutions, domestic violence does not happen in a vacuum. In an attempt to better understand DV as it occurs in the real world with the accompanying compounding issues which often occur with DV (e.g. addiction, financial problems, health issues, language barriers, etc.), I propose a two-part research project. The first part will focus on undocumented DV survivors and their experiences and journey toward seeking assistance/resources for DV. The second part will focus on the perpetrator of DV and attempt to identify typologies of batterers. Taken together the hope is that this research project will provide a better understanding of domestic violence as experienced in the community.

Domestic violence refers to abusive behavior in any relationship that is inflicted on a partner to gain or maintain power and control over another partner. Domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, or psychological. Domestic violence includes behaviors that intimidate, manipulate, humiliate, isolate, frighten, terrorize, coerce, threaten, blame, hurt, injure, or wound someone. Domestic violence can happen to anyone, regardless of their race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender; and it also occurs in both opposite-sex and same-sex relationships; domestic violence also affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels (Justice, The United States Department of, 2017). This topic has attracted a lot of discussion and research because of its dominance and complexity. This essay, therefore seeks to look at the causes and effects of domestic violence.