This week’s blog topic was actually really unsettling to research. To see the statistics for violence against women was really difficult to view. As a woman myself, hearing what other women have gone through hits you in the core, I know I can’t say I know what these women behind the statistics go through, but for some reason I kept imagining what it would be like to be in there shoes. The fear of being shamed, the vulnerability of telling someone, the pain and suffering, surviving such a traumatic experience, the PTSD and depression, and the list can go on. To go through something like that would be extremely frightening and would have lifelong effects. The first statistic that I found on this topic for women in Cambodia, was that for every 4 females there are, one of them is a victim of physical, emotional or sexual violence (Eisenbruch, 2018). 

As I mentioned in my first blog post, sex is something that is considered sacred to women in Cambodia. Women are supposed to treat their body as a temple and keep it pure until marriage. In a news article that I found, the writer uses a quote that I found really interesting, “Men are gold and women are fabric” (Salva, 2016). By this, she meant that women can be compared to a new piece of fabric, when you first get it, the fabric is soft and delicate, but the more it is used, the more torn and broken it gets. Men on the other hand are always seen as perfect beings regardless of their actions and are allowed to sleep with whoever they want and as many times as they want. This comes off as if it is okay for men to see women as their property that they can use or abuse however they want, regardless of if they are okay with it or not. 

Unfortunately, beating, harassing and abusing women aren’t things that often result in legal consequences. Most of the time, women in Cambodia keep quiet when such violence does occur. This is because those that do talk seem to be further victimized instead of getting out of the violence that they feared from the start (UNDP). Another statistic that really left me shocked was that “96.2% of Cambodian men and 98.5% of Cambodian women think that a woman should obey her husband. And 67% of women believe they should tolerate violence in order to maintain the family” (Salva, 2016). That is 2/3rds of the women population in Cambodia!!

A lot of this can be attributed to intergenerational trauma. Intergenerational trauma means the effects of trauma suffered by one generation that is passed on to the next generations (Zur Institute). This can be from children seeing their parents suffer, children trying to take some of that suffering away to help their parent, the parenting done by the survivor towards their spouse, and the communication between the parents and their children on the topic of trauma. 

Trauma is defined as an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Shock, denial, flashbacks, and physical emotions are common for someone who experiences trauma, but long-term feelings should be addressed by a psychologist (APA). Trauma is often seen as something we need to fix medically by giving medications that help the individual get rid of the thoughts. Sadly, medications don’t always fix problems and often times come with side effects. Personally, I feel as though trauma is strongly related to mental health and illness. The things people see and go through has a direct relationship on how they act and live their everyday lives. If we just try to prescribe medications to have a short-term fix, the same individual will continue to come back for the same problem or turn to other things to help the pain go away. Not to mention how expensive medications are which leave those who don’t have insurance or a lot of money out of luck. 

Luckily, Cambodia has a gender-based group working on eliminating violence and trauma. This group helps prevent violence against women and provides services for survivors as well as educating people on violence and what to do/how to get out of a violent relationship (UN). 

Zur Institute. Understanding and Treating Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma. www.zurinstitute.com/clinical-updates/intergenerational-trauma/.

Trauma, American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/topics/trauma/.

Eisenbruch, Maurice. “Violence Against Women in Cambodia: Towards a Culturally Responsive Theory of Change.” Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Springer US, June 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5976693/.

Salvá, Ana. “Domestic Violence in Cambodia.” The Diplomat, The Diplomat, 15 Apr. 2016, thediplomat.com/2016/04/domestic-violence-in-cambodia/.

“Global Database on Violence against Women.” The Gender Based Violence Working Group, evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/fr/countries/asia/cambodia/2012/the-gender-based-violence-working-group.

“What Is Needed to End Violence against Women in Cambodia?” UNDP in Cambodia, www.kh.undp.org/content/cambodia/en/home/presscenter/articles/2017/11/30/what-is-needed-to-end-violence-against-women-in-cambodia-.html.