Domestic Violence Against Latinas

Domestic violence against Latina women is a highly complex issue on many sociological levels. Some of the factors that contribute to the complexity of the issue are race, culture, language barrier, poverty, lack of resources, ignorance, fear (of spouses & also of the institutions that could help), isolation, Latino Machismo, social class of Latinos, and on and on. These are strictly social issues and we don’t even begin to discuss the psychological issues involved in domestic violence.

Looking at this from a Conflict Theorist perspective, we find out which group(s) is/are being served by the occurrence of domestic violence against Latinas. There is a preponderance of domestic violence against Latinas and these women hesitate to ask for help, or cannot find help against their aggressors. Because the women are not seeking help or a solution (for a variety of reasons), the Latino men (their attackers) are keeping their power over the women. The Latino men are served by dominating their women through domestic violence, and in turn the women not reporting the men, the men keep their status in the patriarchal family system that is the family system in the Latin culture. Men remain in power and women are kept in their place. This, of course, is not always accomplished through domestic violence against women, but it does serve these men.

This issue goes deeper. We have the larger society of the dominant whites who are served also through domestic violence of Latinas in more than one way; I will discuss a few. Through domestic violence of Latinas, certain stereotypes are reinforced to the larger society: Latino men are aggressive; Latina women are subservient and accept violence in their culture (because they are not asking for help); Latinos are ignorant & uneducated because they are not communicating in the English and they are not asking for help; Latinos are a drain on the system created for whites or U.S. citizens; Latinos are here as illegal immigrants and the list goes on and on…and the stereotypes are perpetuated. This serves the white dominant group in reinforcing why it is dominant the Latinos are of minority status.

Another way the dominant group is being served by Latinas NOT reporting domestic violence is that the DG resources are not being used on the minority group to assist these women. Until the Latina women have more resources available to them, can communicate to law enforcement, trust law enforcement, have societal support, do not fear being deported…they may simply continue to take the abuse…which in turn, reinforces the behavior as acceptable to the abusers…the children learn this...and it is perpetuated.