Roughly one in 12 high school students experience physical dating violence and one in 10 experience sexual dating violence, according to the Center for Disease Control.
For Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, the South Asian Student Association (SASA) collaborated with Saheli, a local domestic violence prevention organization, to run a workshop on violence in teenage relationships. The workshop, run on Zoom on Friday, Feb. 28, aimed to help teens understand the dynamics of healthy and unhealthy relationships and address cultural stigmas that often impact South Asian communities.
The workshop covered key topics including relationship norms, bystander intervention, warning signs of unhealthy relationships and how domestic violence manifests differently across cultures. Student participants engaged in discussions on identifying abusive behaviors, challenging misconceptions and understanding the unique pressures that South Asian individuals may face when dealing with domestic violence. Senior and SASA co-president Amarjot Ranu said domestic violence can look different in immigrant or non-white households compared to how it is often portrayed in Western media.
“In our culture, breaking up a marriage is seen as a slight against God, family and tradition. There’s external pressure to stay together for religious, social and familial reasons. The stigma against divorce is strong in many religions,” Ranu said. “Additionally, there’s a general cultural notion that men can do what they want, and if they aren’t abusive, something might be considered wrong with them.”
Saheli representatives Amla Saraf and Urvi Patel, who led the workshop, highlighted the lack of awareness about resources available to victims. Patel said that many individuals experiencing domestic violence may not realize that they can seek help, especially if financial burdens or cultural stigmas discourage them from leaving an unsafe situation.
“The collectivist culture definitely causes the South Asian community to be a little bit less open to the discussion of domestic violence, and that repression of conversation causes even more stigmatization of talking about it,” Patel said. “People don’t want to leave those situations, even though there is access to getting out and finding a safer place for them.”
Saraf said people often overlook how there is usually misinterpretation of certain cultural or religious beliefs. For example, in many South Asian cultures, there’s a belief that family issues should remain private and not be shared outside the household. This expectation can prevent individuals from seeking help, even in abusive situations, as a result of the fear of bringing shame to the family.
“When people who experienced domestic violence are told that they must endure things, it leads into a cycle of abuse because of norms and beliefs,” Saraf said.
Participants also learned about different intervention strategies when witnessing harmful behavior. The workshop outlined three main approaches: distraction, confrontation and delegation. Distraction involves redirecting the person’s attention to something else; confrontation means directly addressing the behavior; and delegation is asking a trusted authority to step in. Ranu said that having these approaches identified makes it easier to act.
“As high school students, we’re entering relationships and seeing changes in our family relationships. It’s important to recognize certain behaviors and understand what they look like in our specific cultural backgrounds,” Ranu said. “In South Asian culture, for example, arranged marriages are common, which can shape relationship dynamics differently from what we see in American media.”
Ranu said that students can continue these conversations beyond the workshop through sharing their experiences with others.
“Talking about the signs of abuse—physical, emotional, mental—and recognizing warning signs like jealousy and possessiveness is key,” Ranu said. “Applying these lessons to personal experiences and sharing stories helps build awareness and relate to others. Domestic violence manifests differently across households, and discussing that is important.”
