Breaking the web of abuse and silence: voices of battered women in Japan

Abstract

This article presents the findings of a focus group research project with battered women in Tokyo, Japan. Participants' narratives of their experience with their partners' violence suggest a web of entrapment, from which women saw little possibility of escape. The partners' physical violence, interference with the women's social participation, isolation from supportive networks, and degradation and debasement entrapped participants. The victim-blaming attitudes of family, friends, and professionals, as well as the lack of assistance programs and police protection often reinforced the web. When these women took the risk of exposing what was long considered private and shameful, isolation was broken. Designed as an action research project, the study resulted in the formation of the Japan's first community-based support group for battered women. The article discusses implications for social work practice and research with immigrant battered women, those from Japan in particular.