In Japan, especially traditional Japan, women don’t have much outward say in anything. When they are girls, they submit to their fathers, and when they are married they submit to their husbands. It would be very easy for a male figure to take advantage of this culture. It is still very prevalent in society, even with a more modern movement, when the whole culture of Japan is surrounded by this idea that women have no say and no means to speak up, it makes it hard for a woman to stand up for herself.
If a woman is abused physically as a girl, she might not grow up knowing anything different. Thus begins this never ending cycle of abuse. Her husband might abuse her, and she doesn’t know anything different but to take it. If she has a daughter, and then her husband abuses the daughter, she teaches the daughter to just take it and move on. Thus this cycle gets passed down for generations. If a woman’s experience of violence can be identified by a third party, and helped in anyway, it could make a world of a difference. It could help stop generations of women from experiencing violence.
In the medical world, it is much more common to get asked questions about any violence that may be occurring in the present. That is such a positive way to start identifying and getting help to those who need it. Many of the women who are experiencing violence might not get any alone time other than when they are with a health care provider. When looking at women in Japan, if it became common practice to ask about any abuse or violence that might be prevalent in their everyday lives, it could stop years of abuse from happening. Just by making healthcare providers a safe place for women in Japan to open up and be honest about the tragedies that might be occurring in their lives. They might also learn that behavior that they thought was normal, is in fact abuse. They might learn for the first time that violence in the home is not normal and it doesn’t have to continue.
By reframing the idea that violence against women is trauma, makes perfect sense with what I understand about health, illness and medicine. When an individual experiences trauma, there is not only a mental response but a physiological response produced by the body. This is something that when happening, it can be very hard to control. The body produces this unique and almost natural response to the trauma that is happening. What is scary about the experience of trauma, is that a similar stimulus can also trigger the same response. There are multiple analogies that could fit this scenario, and one I like to think of is allergies. Simply explained, an individual might have a reaction to dust, like sneezing. What the nose can’t distinguish is the difference between dust and pollen. Although pollen is a small particle and very similar to dust it isn’t quite the same. Now, whether an individual is allergic to pollen or not, too much pollen gathered in the nose can make an individual sneeze. The dust is the trauma. The sneezing is the physiological response. The pollen is a similar stimulus, which produces the same physiological response.
Trauma is just like any other health issue, especially when coupled with different mental processes. Trauma really is indicative of how each person perceives their life events. But in order to treat trauma, there first needs to be an identification of the underlying problem. Just because someone has a runny nose doesn’t mean they have the flu. It could be a cold, or allergies, or a whole slew of other things. So in order to cure the runny nose, the underlying problem must first be addressed. I think reframing trauma as a health issue is the best thing that could have happened in order to properly treat the trauma.
I think that intergenerational trauma challenges the biochemical models of health, because it is not a quick fix. There isn’t something that can be said, or a switch that can be flipped for years and years of trauma; especially trauma that has been passed down from generation to generation. At that point, it is almost a culture that needs to be changed. There is not a drug or prescription that can fix intergenerational trauma. In order to make changes, there needs to first be an understanding of the entire picture, and change from everyone that may be involved. There could be three or four generations of people alive at once, and just because one makes the effort doesn’t make it easier for anyone else; especially since everyone deals with trauma differently. Trauma can’t be forgotten, rather more or less coped with. This idea in the biochemical world that everything can be fixed with a pill, and if that doesn’t work add more pills or up the dosage just doesn’t work when dealing with a lifestyle people have lived for so long. It takes time, patience and understanding to get through trauma.
Hello Nighti10! I first want to say that you did a great job on this week’s blog post! I can tell you put a lot of effort into researching the topic and I really thought your analogy of allergies made understanding something that can sound complex, much simpler. Similarly, I found results that were very comparable to what you found. Women who had been either sexually assaulted or abused, grew up living in fear or normalized the actions. As someone who has always been taught the golden rule of “treat others the way you want to be treated” this was really hard for me to grasp. I kept wanting to jump through my computer screen to tell these women that what they are going through is not normal. Unfortunately, this is the sad reality for a lot of people all over the world. I like that you mentioned that doctors often ask “have you ever been abused or sexually assaulted ever before” because it does give a little hope that there is someone that cares so maybe more people will stand up and say yes if they actually have. The downfall to this, is the fear women face if they do tell. What will happen now? Will he find out and if he does then what? Maybe he will not hurt my children? This is not something that should ever be taken lightly, and I applaud women for using their voice in these situations. Trauma is trauma and you should never try any short-term fixes on the matter. Trauma is something that is slowly taken care of and at the pace of the brave survivor. Pills are not always the answer, sometimes they do help with behaviors and maintaining a lifestyle, but the healing process for something this traumatic is simply time. Talk to someone, join a support group, try a new hobby, or even meditate. We definitely need to educate more people in other countries on what to do in situations like this that way we can put an end to violence. Thanks for sharing!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. When I was researching Colombia, I was heartbroken to find may similar statistics to those you mentioned regarding Japan. The women have been so poorly treated by their loved ones and the ones that are supposed to be of mutual care for so long that they have lost the ability to reason out the matter and determine that the abuse is wrong. This is what creates the everlasting generational cycle of these men abusing their power that has been built into the culture and treating their spouses as lesser-than humans.
I liked your idea regarding doctors stepping in to help the women. In an abusive relationship like this, oftentimes the men become helicopters around their wives and trail alongside them during their errands and such, but a doctor’s office creates a safe and solitary environment, allowing a woman to speak freely without fear of her husband finding out. In this place, a doctor can educate the woman on the ways that a husband should and shouldn’t treat her, and perhaps ways for her to better/get out of the situation.
Hi! Thank you for sharing this information about Japan. It was cool and interesting to learn the dynamics of another country. I feel as if it is very common, especially, in other countries for women not to have as much power as men do. Because of this, and the way the Japanese culture works, I can agree with you that it would be very easy for a man to feel like he is in charge and boss his wife/woman around easily. Here in America, we complain about women not being payed as much as men, and yes, I do think that is very wrong, but look on what goes on in other counties where women have no freedom at all. Many counties don’t even let the woman go into certain fields or jobs because of their gender. Many counties also don’t even let the woman chose who she will get to marry such as the country I am studying right now being Haiti. The lifestyle of their culture, as you said, may manipulate the woman to think that is the normal thing to do since she is a woman, not knowing what is right from wrong since she grew up that way. I also agree with your statement being that if someone educated women about the behavior of the man who is abusing her, she will know this is not normal or behavior that should be tolerated in any way. I like the example about the relationship between dust and sneezing where the pollen will make the person sneeze involuntarily. The same thing goes on with trauma and abuse where the body produces a natural response to what is going on. There are several underlying factors that contribute to how the woman is mentally. Such as how much she got abused in her lifetime, her psychological level of well being, and her environment around her. It is very sad to see and learn about what goes on in other counties for women, and hopefully one day there can be a change for women worldwide.
Good blog post! The issue of normalized GBV is a major issue in Japan, and in a lot of other places in the world. I’m not sure if doctors in Japan ask questions about abuse, or if they are mandated reporters, but that might be something you could look into.
Interestingly enough, when my mother was giving birth at the Naval hospital she was separated from my father until the nursing staff were satisfied that my Dad wasn’t abusing my mom. GBV and domestic violence was at such a high rate on the base that all couples were treated with suspicion and every couple was assessed regardless.