Filipina survivors of sexual violence negotiating family values

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Filipinos are the second largest Asian ethnic group in California and while multiple studies have shown that Asian/Asian American women, including Filipina/Filipina Americans, underreport sexual violence and underutilize therapy and/or counseling, research is lacking. The Filipino culture is collectivist, centered on the family. And in instances of sexual violence, Filipina survivors face challenging healing processes. Through qualitative in-depth interviews with eight self-identified Filipina survivors of sexual violence, ages 18 years of age or older, mostly from the San Francisco Bay Area, they share their stories and how they negotiate a contradictory patriarchal triangle of the Filipino family, historical Spanish Catholicism, and the pressures of American assimilation. Key findings illuminate how Filipina survivors o f sexual violence negotiate a triangle of contradictions through their understandings of the Filipino family, healing processes, identity formation, and overall visions of this work.