Voicing the Silent Fear: South Asian Women's Experiences of Domestic Violence

Abstract

Abstract: This article examines the subjective experiences of South Asian women in the United Kingdom who have suffered domestic violence, and identifies some of the risk factors for domestic violence within this community. The study, based on in‐depth interviews with 18 Asian women, describes and analyses several aspects of domestic violence in relation to South Asian women. The guiding research questions are: how do Asian women interpret their experiences of domestic violence, and to whom do they report it? This article presents data that suggest that abusive acts against Asian women arise out of a multiplicity of cultural circumstances influenced by power relations. Abusive acts are not therefore limited to a single characteristic, such as physical abuse, or to a particular relationship. Recurrent themes emerge from the women's accounts, revealing their definitions of domestic violence and showing how some continue to play down the levels of violence they experience. The article voices the concerns of and hardships experienced by victims and survivors of domestic violence, in their own words. Finally, the article offers an analysis of the ways in which notions of honour and shame are used both as tools to constrain women's self‐determination and independence, and as catalysts for domestic violence when these notions of family and community are challenged by women.