An Intersectional Perspective and Native-Hawaiian Culture

There are many reasons why Hawaii has such a high incidence of violence against women, and I will be taking an intersectional approach to what causes this male form of aggression.
It's important to remember that domestic violence is a form of power and control of one partner in the relationship over the other.
From a Native-Hawaiian perspective, domestic violence "begins in the home", and therefore any form of intervention must come from a cultural competent perspective. We're told that "IPV 'starts in the home'. It is a learned in the family and community...and the home in which they were raised...for many women it was part of their...and their partner's childhood (Oneha, 2010, p.5).  From this cultural perspective, we can see why "experts suggest that clinical interventions for abused women should be based on principles, which includes cultural competence and empowerment" (Oneha et al., 2010, p.2).
While we're informed that domestic abuse within a Native-Hawaiian perspective is a learned behavior from childhood and "starts in the home" from a father of other male figure, it's still about  that  male form of power and control over a woman and can manifest in countless ways of male dominance. Kaufman reminds us that "men's violence against women is probably the clearest, most straightforward expression of relative male and female power...because of differences in physical strength" (Kaufman, 1987, p. 589-590). Rape is a good example of the acting out of these relations of power and the outcome of fragile masculinity (Kaufman, 1987, p.590).

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