Sexual Coercion, Resilience and Young Māori: A scoping review

MWA was funded by the Cross-Departmental Research Pool (CDRP), administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand, to complete a one-year pilot study that included a literature review, a methodology for future research in the area of sexual coercion and resilience and the development of relationships with Māori for future research in these areas.  The study has now been completed by the Whariki Research Group of Massey University.  This Māori-centred report is the first known review to consider the links between resilience, sexuality and sexual coercion.  As a scoping review, it provides us with a clear understanding of current knowledge, and illustrates significant knowledge gaps around young Māori and sexuality.

Helen Moewaka Barnes
Whariki Research Group
SHORE and Whariki Research Centre
Massey University
PO Box 613
Auckland 1141
 
Click HERE for a PDF [735KB] version of this report

Contents

Acknowledgements
Executive summary
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Resilience
3.0 Rangatahi and sexuality
4.0 Violence and society
5.0 Sexual violence/coercion
6.0 Prevention
7.0 Knowledge gaps: identifying research needs
8.0 Research methodology: Rangatahi Māori, gender and relationships
9.0 Conclusions
10.0 References
 

Acknowledgements

Elizabeth Banister, School of Nursing, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada

Todd Bell, Health Promotion Advisor, Alcohol Healthwatch

Terryann Clark, Senior Lecturer, School of Nursing, Auckland University

Terry Dobbs, Institute of Public Policy, AUT University

Nicola Gavey, Department of Psychology, Auckland University

Naida Glavish, Kaumatua, Director He Kamaka Oranga, ADHB; Chairwoman of Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua.

Alison Green, Mauri Tu Mauri Ora research project, Waikato University

Di Grennell, Executive Director, Amokura FVPC

Leonie Pihama, Research Director for Māori and Indigenous Analysis Ltd

Ani Pitman, Advocacy and Legal Analyst, Amokura FVPC

Keri Thompson, Researcher, Te Runanga o Kirikiriroa

Margie Wetherell, HoD Social Sciences, British Open University, UK

Louisa Wall, Principal Advisor, The Office of the Children’s Commission

Naina Watene, Researcher, Te Runanga o Kirikiriroa

SHORE and Whariki colleagues and rangatahi who participated in interviews.
 

Executive summary

Purpose and scope of the report

The goal of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MWA) for women in Aotearoa/New Zealand is: Women having real choices and using their strengths to maximise social and economic success.

MWA has three key priorities outcomes: regarding leadership, engagement in the economy, and reducing violence against women. This project fits under the outcomes of reducing the damaging impact of violence against women, in particular sexual violence.¹

This report provides an overview of what is known in Aotearoa/New Zealand, particularly Māori perspectives, and internationally, on sexual coercion/violence, resilience and healthy relationships, particularly for indigenous peoples, with an overall focus on rangatahi and rangatahi wahine. The report provides a cohesive critique of the field, describes a recommended methodology for research with young people and outlines stakeholder engagement as a sound basis for future partnerships in research and prevention efforts.

In November 2009 the Ministry of Women’s Affairs contracted Te Ropu Whariki, the Whariki Research Group, based with the SHORE and Whariki Research Centre at Massey University to carry out the eight-month study. 

The review drew on literature, consultations and conference and workshop presentations. The research idea was developed from the review material and discussed with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, researchers, and others working in the field. Further consultations, interviews with rangatahi and web searches enabled the methodology and methods to be tested and refined and examples of some aspects of the research to be demonstrated.

Implications for the resilience field

Although resilience has received increasing attention in Aotearoa/New Zealand, there is very little research here (or overseas) in relation to resilience and sexuality. Resilience most comfortably lends itself to more individual approaches, although some framings suggest that, in an attempt to make it all things to all people, it is being stretched beyond where it largely sits. Resilience is probably a more palatable approach to many as it presents few challenges to societal norms and structures. It is also more easily adopted as a way of addressing seemingly tangible and more amenable conditions of individuals and families, rather than tackling change at the wider societal level. However, a focus on resilience may detract from these broader approaches.

Māori concepts of health, encompassed by the term hauora, are holistic and include potential and strength, not just withstanding assaults. In the face of colonisation and multiple assaults at multiple levels, realising the potential of rangatahi Māori will require more than the survival skills of dealing with adversity. Māori concepts are about the potential and wholeness of Māori people and may provide more appropriate and effective framings than resilience.

As a source of strength for Māori through positive connections, whānau can provide important contributions to the internal assets of individuals. The wider environment provides the external assets that contribute to whānau both thriving and struggling. The recent government commitment to Whānau Ora acknowledges whānau as a building block of Māori society. It provides a way of dealing with some of the concerns that resilience focuses on, as well as looking more widely at societal structures and responsibilities.

Changing adversity requires seeing it as unfair, inequitable, unacceptable and amenable to change. If we want to change conditions such as racism and sexism, we need a critical analysis and an intolerance of the conditions and the adversities they create. We need to address the causes of sexual coercion and not see resilience as anything more than a way of dealing with the unacceptable. This is consistent with various international understandings of sexual rights, including those referred to in the section on rights. These are not about individual or collective resources to deal with violations, but are about international and national responsibilities to uphold rights and create environments where people are as free as possible from violations.

In Aotearoa/New Zealand, a focus on dealing successfully with adversity, rather than addressing the conditions that perpetuate inequitable adversity, is contrary to the rights underpinned by the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty recognised Māori tino rangatiratanga (sovereignty) and guaranteed to tangata whenua the same rights as British citizens. The government, in its role as Crown in the Treaty, has a responsibility to ensure that Māori are not persistently exposed to higher risks than the rest of the population, and that research approaches counter rather than exacerbate existing inequalities between Māori and non-Māori.

Implications for cultural approaches

The belief that young people need particular forms of cultural connection to promote their health and their secure cultural identity has gained some traction over the years. However, it has both positive and negative implications. Research that sets out to study diverse forms of connections and their links to Māori identity and well-being has not been conducted. It is, therefore, difficult to say with any certainty that some forms of connection, such as the more traditional cultural markers, are more health promoting than others. Proceeding on the basis that this has been established may present problems. For example, although useful and health-promoting programmes may be developed, they may not work for all; rangatahi who fall outside of what is considered an authentic or healthy notion of being Māori may be judged as falling short and in need of culture, regardless of the strength of their identity or their aspirations for their own well-being.
 

Implications for the sexual violence field

Māori and violence
There is a growing body of literature that discusses Māori and violence, taking two main forms. The dominant view, strongly represented in the media, is that violence is the fault of Māori, and Māori culture, that there is a code of silence among Māori about the issue, and that by implication, Māori condone violence. This view is often presented somewhat simplistically and contributes to stereotypical notions about patriarchal Māori society that are unhelpful when trying to address concerns around sexual violence. In contrast, many Māori writers challenge these perceptions, pointing to broader factors that impact on Māori and misinterpretations. They argue that violence is not part of Māori culture and that there are strong values and tikanga to guide Māori understandings and approaches to sexual violence. Greater discussion and examination of violence and Māori in today’s society is needed to provide a more considered and evidence-based approach.

Gender roles and sexuality
Sexual coercion/violence cannot be viewed separately from gender roles, particularly dominant notions of masculinity and femininity where heterosexuality is the norm, males are active agents seeking sexual activity and women are passive, responsible for giving or withholding consent. These framings lend themselves to the incorporation of coercive behaviours as ‘natural’ and normalised expressions of sexuality that are unlikely to be recognised as coercion or deemed unacceptable.

Missing from much of the literature around sexual health and young people, in particular, are notions of healthy sexuality and sexual relationships (apart from critiques of what is seen to deviate from norms) and sex as pleasurable, rather than risky and problematic. Rangatahi Māori are surrounded by these ideas as well as various negative representations of Māori and are provided with few positive and affirming alternatives. It is a concern that rangatahi Māori voices are missing from the literature and as a result their experiences of relationships, gender and sexuality and how these impact on sexually coercive behaviours are not evident.
 

Implications for an approach based on determinants of health

The disproportionate rates of violence (and other negative outcomes) among colonised peoples and others who are not members of the dominant culture cannot be explained solely by pointing to the supposed patriarchal nature of these groups or to characteristics of each culture. The commonalities of indigenous and other marginalised peoples suggest that there are underlying determinants that are affecting these populations more broadly.

Along with socio-economic disadvantage, colonisation and racism are increasingly being examined as providing pathways that produce a range of disparities. As colonised people, Māori may be viewed as in ‘battle mode’, making decisions – consciously or unconsciously - about what assaults to respond to and which to ignore. Where assaults are not able to be directly addressed or dealt with in ways that promote rather than demote health, the impacts may ‘spill over’ through stress, trauma and frustration (some of the pathways suggested in relation to racism and health) into interpersonal arenas.

To compare rates of any health-related behaviour, including sexual coercion, between colonised and colonising peoples, without taking colonisation into account, risks the creation of deficit models of the behaviour in question. These blame indigenous culture or people for the behaviour, fail to include the existing system as a variable which influences outcomes, do not acknowledge crucial determinants of the behaviour, and are likely to be ineffective, or at worst, harmful.

Implications for prevention

Although there is a strong and growing interest in primary prevention, most of the literature focuses on dealing with sexual violence when or after it has happened. Resources and knowledge about primary prevention are under-developed. There are few evaluated primary prevention projects.

Education and a focus on individual behaviours are strong themes in prevention efforts. There are concerns around implementation and their relevance to young people and there is little evidence to suggest that they are likely to make significant contributions at the level of population health gains.

How the issue is framed - whether more individualistic notions of risk and resilience are used or more holistic concepts and wider determinants of health - has profound implications for how interventions are designed, particularly at what level and with what analysis the issue will be tackled. Because the causes of and pathways to sexual violence are multiple, complex and operate at many levels, from individual through to wider contexts, there is a need to engage at all levels, contextualise interventions, be theory driven, and focus on structural factors.

For Māori, diverse environments - whenua, marae, whānau and other systems and sites such as community and educational settings - are, potentially or in practice, the places that provide sustenance and where Māori draw their strength. Well-being, including sexual well-being, cannot be realised without the wider environments and environmental conditions that support, strengthen and validate Māori.

One size does not fit all and we need approaches - whether we call these comprehensive, ecological, primary, public health or holistic or utilise Māori concepts such as kaupapa Māori, mana motuhake, mauri ora or whānau ora - that are informed and driven by diverse rangatahi Māori understandings and aspirations. To realise this fully, rangatahi Māori need to be involved in research that builds evidence to underpin the development of initiatives.

Implications for research

The review highlighted a number of gaps in research around rangatahi Māori and sexuality. A proposal for research examining how young Māori people understand and make sense of diverse and competing messages around gender and relationships, including an exploration of the saliency of Māori concepts in today’s context, arose as one way of addressing these considerable gaps in knowledge and to provide an evidence base to inform policy and interventions.

The suggested participatory research framework privileges rangatahi Māori voices and analysis, and will provide understandings of rangatahi relationships and where they learn about and make sense of these. This is one of a range of possible research projects. This project has been suggested because it brings rangatahi voices to the fore and, as an in-depth qualitative approach, could provide a sound basis for identifying further research and prevention approaches and provide stories behind the few statistics that are available.

Achievements of the project and suggestions for the future

Sexual violence (SV) is seriously under-researched in Aotearoa/New Zealand and there is a dearth of research and literature in relation to SV and rangatahi Māori. In looking at what we know about rangatahi and sexual coercion, this report is a step in beginning to address these gaps. It provides a basis for looking at where we need to get to – a strong knowledge base, informed by rangatahi voices, that provides evidence for a way forward based on the challenges we face today.

Attendance at the various forums and the stakeholder engagement has revealed a sector characterised by a considerable number of groups with enthusiasm, commitment and knowledge. Many, such as Māori members of Te Ohaaki a Hine National Network Ending Sexual Violence Together (TOAH-NNEST), are using Māori concepts and values to develop models and approaches applicable today. Māori providers operate locally, regionally and nationally. They include consortiums such as Amokura in Te Tai Tokerau; Te Puawai Tapu, a national Māori public health organisation; metropolitan services such as Tu Wahine Trust in Auckland and regional organisations such as Tu Tama Wahine o Taranaki; Kite Rapu i te Ora Trust in Opotiki; and Te Atawhai Tangata in Invercargill. This provides a sound and encouraging basis for further developing partnerships for building knowledge and designing primary prevention interventions.

Footnote

1. http://www.mwa.govt.nz/news-and-pubs/publications/soi-general/statement-of-intent-2010-2013

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Ministry of Women's Affairs
PO Box 10049
Wellington 6143
New Zealand
mwa@mwa.govt.nz
Phone: 04 9157112
Fax: 04 9161604

ISBN: 978-0-478355-13-0 (Digital)