Honor-based violence and coercive control among Asian youth in Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Honor-based violence (HBV) is a type of intimate partner and family violence that rests on patriarchal norms which fall under the parameters of coercive control. However, research has not examined the ways that HBV operates as a form of coercive control. Utilizing small group interviews conducted with 27 adolescent girls and young women, predominantly of Asian backgrounds from Auckland, New Zealand, this study will illustrate how HBV functions as a form of culturally driven coercive control, but one that cuts across multiple ecological or environmental levels, ranging from interpersonal relationships to state systems. Stark’s work (2007) on coercive control has been significant for providing a conceptual framework that captures how patriarchal norms perpetuate intimate partner violence (IPV). Policy suggestions include educational programming with migrant Asian youth that explore the positive and negative dimensions of culture, and encourage youth to perpetuate those aspects of their cultures which they view as positive while critiquing cultural practices tied to HBV. For young adult marriage migrants caught in violent relationships, policy suggestions include bolstering of state resources to help legal aid practitioners, social workers and law enforcement recognize the cumulative power of coercive control in families that practice HBV and help young women exit the violent circumstances.