Haiti Anthropology Brief: A Word on the Violence of Haitian Compared to US Men

The 2005-6 Haitian EMMUS found that 19.3% of women interviewed had, at some point in their lives, experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of a partner. However, putting this in regional perspective, it is the second lowest rate in Latin America (PAHO 2012); and 2.8% less than the 22.1% reported in year 2000 for the United States (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). Moreover, what we do not learn from the EMMUS interviews is what men report about female violence or to what extent women may sometimes be more accurately categorized, not as passive victims, but as combatants. The EMMUS did not interview men regarding female violence. Moreover, at least some anthropologists report that Haitian women are in fact physically assertive and as or more violent than male counterparts with respect to both other women and men. (If interested in more, read here).