Hairstylists enlisted to help fight domestic abuse

October 28, 2011

by Antonio Olivo, Tribune Reporter

When there is no one else around, no reason to fear sudden rage crashing down without warning, the dark secrets pour out inside Antonia Medina's tiny beauty salon.

She listens in her quiet way, snipping hair inside the Little Village shop as clients tell her over the chatter of a Spanish radio station about busted ribs, broken hands or the unborn baby that was lost after a tumble down some stairs. Each time, they tell her, it's because of "him."

Medina, 43, who said she is a survivor of domestic violence herself, knows to prod gently for details or to just let the women talk before suggesting ways to find help.

"Many times, that's what they want, someone to listen," she said. "When you listen, they feel better."

Her experience makes Medina ideal for a new program that will use hairstylists as agents to combat a steady increase in domestic violence cases in recent years within the region's growing Latino community.

Though overall domestic violence cases in Chicago have dropped by 10 percent since 2006, they've climbed by that same percentage among Latinos, according to a report set to be released Friday by Mujeres Latinas en Accion, a Pilsen-based nonprofit that has been involved with the issue since 1981.

Just 13 percent of the 1,226 Hispanic women who have sought domestic-violence services from the agency this year followed through on recommendations to get court orders of protection against their partners, the report found.

"The experience that we have is that a lot of the women, they want to end the violence in their families, (but) they don't want to end their marriage, their relationship," said Neusa Gaytan, a program director at Mujeres Latinas who co-authored the report.

Shame, worries about being left to care for children alone and fears over immigration status all factor into the women's failure to act. Distrust of police or other authorities also plays a role, Gaytan said.

In some cases, a woman calls 911 for help, but "the abuser is the one who talks to the police because he speaks English, and the woman, she becomes a defendant, rather than the victim, because of the language barrier," she said.

In hopes of persuading more women to seek help, Mujeres Latinas has partnered with medical students at the University of Illinois at Chicago to create a program that seeks hairstylists' help to overcome those barriers.

The program taps into the growing practice of employing hair care professionals as intermediaries in health campaigns, including AIDS prevention and cancer awareness.

This effort, geared toward Spanish speakers, relies on the sense of trust and intimacy that women often have with their hairstylists, said Yury Parra, 25, a UIC medical student who initiated the Chicago effort as part of her training in domestic violence care.

"If a woman comes to get her hair done and (the hairstylist) notices a pattern of hair loss, or if the person has bruises or bumps, these are more specific signs that only a hairstylist would be able to notice because they're taking care of the woman," Parra said.

The hairdressers will be trained to watch for signs of abuse, whether physical or psychological, Parra said. Equipped with informational "safety cards," they will then discreetly suggest to their clients ways to find help.

Medina said she has learned the hard way what victims go through.

A native of Mexico, she said she was involved for many years with a man who became abusive when he drank heavily. One night, she said, the man threw a pet Chihuahua out of a second-story window.

Medina left the relationship after secretly attending counseling sessions at Mujeres Latinas. Already a hairstylist, she later opened up her salon.

The memories, which still push Medina to tears, help her deal with clients in similar situations.

One woman, exhausted from her husband's abuse after she had recently given birth, confided in Medina that she thought she'd be better off dead, Medina said.

"I said: 'No. Don't think like that. You have your kids and you have your baby. You have to think about her,'" she said.

Most days, Medina watches quietly for signs of trouble amid the rhythms of life in Little Village.

Two women rush in, seeking last-minute haircuts before a wedding. A waiting father admonishes his rambunctious kids, using a voice-augmentation device that his family said was implanted after drug dealers slashed his throat. A 3-year-old girl, Lupita, asks to have her hair fixed "just like a princess," as Medina laughs and attends to the girl's mother, Maria Elena Rodriguez.

"I'm content," Medina said. "I am the owner of my life, of my time, of my psyche."

She's also more aware of potential signs of trouble in her own life.

Medina recently tried dating a man who had emphatically said, "No," when she asked whether he was a drinker.

One Sunday night, he told her over the phone that he was off to bed early. But she was suspicious and decided to walk her new dog, a striped pit bull named Simba, past his home.

There he was outside, Medina said, stoned drunk with his friends and shocked to see her and Simba.

"I said, 'So, you're under your covers?'" she recalled.

Despite his pleading, asserting that "all drunks are different," she ended the relationship and walked back home with her pit bull leading the way.

Latina Lesbians face discrimination: study

News update posted August 7, 2011

by Esther Cepeda

To be studied is to be acknowledged, and if you are a Hispanic woman who is either a lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer ¡X or questioning whether you are any of the above ¡X your time has come.

The first research of its kind, ¡§Latina portrait: Latina queer women in Chicago,¡¨ was released last week after years of struggling to gain funding for a comprehensive study of a population of women who have flown completely under the radar.

That¡¦s despite the fact that, according to data analyses from the Williams Institute at the UCLA school of Law Census, women com prise almost 60 percent of all Illinois same-sex couple households, and Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority in the state.

Through a joint project between Mujeres Latinas en Accion, a Latina advocacy organization, and Amigas Latinas, a support agency for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning Latinas, this study, based on a sample of 300 women, begins to tell us how these women see themselves.

Aside from sharing a Hispanic heritage, 50 percent of respondents identified as lesbian/gay/homosexual; 9 percent as bisexual; 6.5 percent as queer; 4.5 percent as uncertain/questioning, and 10 percent didn¡¦t use any of those labels. In terms of identity, 9.1 percent identified as ¡§butch¡¨; 26 percent as ¡§femme,¡¨ and 29.2 percent said they don¡¦t use these types of labels.

More importantly, the study shows us what these women face.

About 48 percent said they feel that there is a lot of racism in the Caucasian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered community.

Similarly, 17 percent agreed that they are discriminated against because of their race/ethnicity in places specializing in services for predominantly Caucasian LGBT communities. Nine percent of the respondents indicated that racism was currently one of the greatest sources of stress in their lives.

They fare no better in the Latino community: 25 percent agreed that they feel discriminated against because of their sexual orientation in places servicing the Hispanic community and 54 percent of women revealed that they feel that most Latinos are not accepting of LBTQ women.

In terms of domestic violence, 49 percent reported that a female partner had tried to keep them from contact with family and friends. Forty-three percent of Latina LBTQ women reported having been pushed or hit by a partner. And 31 percent stated that a female partner had threatened to kill them.

Women not only stated that they were victims of female-on-female violence, but also admitted that they, too, had perpetuated violence. Forty-five percent said they had punched or hit a female partner and 23 percent had threatened to kill a past or current partner.

¡§The findings overall were shocking,¡¨ co-author Lourdes Torres told me. ¡§We were surprised at the degree to which Latina queers felt discriminated against in the LGBT community and the numbers and nature of the domestic violence experiences.

¡§But though this is distressing information, there¡¦s no reason to think there¡¦s a pathological link to the community. There¡¦s domestic violence in straight communities, too,¡¨ Torres said. ¡§The purpose of releasing this data was to highlight issues so we know where we need to focus our efforts to meet the needs of the community.¡¨

Torres said there is good news, too.

¡§We found that the vast majority of LBTQ women are out and have support from the people in their communities,¡¨ she said. ¡§Part of what this information will allow us to do is learn about people¡¦s positive experiences and develop ways to help others have positive experiences as well.¡¨

Being studied is a double-edged sword. Awareness can lead to acceptance, but also to stereotyping.

Nevertheless, the risks of uncovering previously guarded secrets are far exceeded by the benefits of putting a lifestyle out in the open where it can be celebrated, nurtured and, when necessary, healed.

Latina survey finds bias, domestic abuse

News update posted July 28, 2011

A new report released by Mujeres Latinas en Accion and Amigas Latinas July 28 shows disturbing rates of discrimination and violence impacting LGBT Latinas.

"Latina Portrait: Latina Queer Women in Chicago" surveyed 305 queer women in Chicago about their experiences ranging from everything from health and well-being to inequity within and beyond the city's LGBT community.

Researchers, who presented their findings in a panel discussion July 28, said some of their findings are alarming.

The survey¡Xconducted in 2007, and just coming out now¡Xsheds light on issues facing Chicago Latinas that researchers say is needed to address a myriad of disparities.

The most pressing of those issues, they said, were rates of domestic abuse; rates of depression and anxiety; and a lack of access to culturally sensitive medical care.

"I hope this disrupts the idea that violence only affects poor women," said Dr. Lourdes Torres, a DePaul University professor who co-authored the report with Nicole Perez.

Forty-three percent of respondents reported that they had been physically assaulted by a partner, while 31 percent said a female partner had threatened to kill them.

"They had a history of violence and the violence is continuing," said Lu Rocha, a member of Amigas Latinas, who presented the study findings July 28. "What was alarming was that the women admitted they were participating in the violent behavior"

Forty-five percent of the women surveyed said they had hit or punched a female partner, and 23 percent said they had threatened to kill a partner at some point.

Violence reported came from outside of relationships, too, however.

Many women reported being discriminated against in the mainstream LGBT community because they are Latina. Nearly 69 percent said that racist remarks had been directed at them, while almost 85 percent said they had been in the presence of such remarks.

"We have to understand that violence can be perpetrated through remarks in a number of different ways," said Torres.

Study findings suggest that discrimination contributed to high rates of mental health concerns. Seventy-seven of the respondents reported depression, while 66 reported suffering from anxiety.

The survey also found that many women do not have a primary health care physician, and that if they do, they are not always out as LGBT to their doctors.

Researchers say that more work needs to be done in the community to make sure that doctors are sensitive to LGBT Latinas and transgender people, especially given the high rates of reported domestic abuse going unreported.

Torres believes the study has its shortcomings. Only one of the 305 respondents self-identified as a transgender, she said. Further, respondents showed higher education rates than have been reported in larger Latin@ communities, making researchers believe that the survey is skewed toward more formally-educated women.

The study is the fifth in a series by Mujeres Latinas en Accion that focus on Latinas.

The survey, which was drafted as a follow-up to a 1996 study, was modeled by Dr. Marisa Alicea of DePaul University after a survey done by Affinity Community Services. Torres said that findings from both studies will eventually be compared.

According to Maria Presqueira, CEO of Mujeres Latinas en Accion, this latest study expands significantly on research done in 1996, especially in areas of mental and physical health.

In response to survey findings, Amigas Latinas has revived an old tradition: members have begun hosting platicas, community gatherings in people's homes where queer Latinas can share issues and concerns. The organization hopes to address concerns revealed in the survey and also provide a supportive space where women can share issues and interests.

"I don't want to leave you with the idea that there are not good things happening in our lives, in the lives of queer Latinas," said Torres.