Buddhist Women and Social Justice: Ideals, Challenges, and Achievements

6. Integrating Feminist Theory and Engaged Buddhism: Counseling Women Survivors of Gender-Based Violence

Chapter 6 Integrating Feminist Theory and Engaged Buddhism: Counseling Women Survivors of Gender-Based Violence KATHRYN L. NORSWORTHY In 1995, along with over 30,000 women and a few men from more than 180 countries, I attended the NGO (Nongovernmental Organization) Forum on Women, in Beijing, China. The Forum was held concurrently with the United Nation’s more official End-of-theDecade Conference on Women. Both meetings were meant to provide opportunities for participants to discuss the most pressing issues and concerns for women and girls around the globe. As the meetings progressed , it became increasingly clear that gender-based violence is one of the most serious threats to the physical and emotional health and well-being of women and girls worldwide, demanding the attention of countries and communities on every continent. While the forms and contexts may vary from culture to culture, the impact of gender-based violence is devastating—to the victims/survivors, their families and communities, and to the very fabric of their societies. For over twenty years I have worked with children, women, and men who have survived violence. The early years of my practice involved individual, group, and family therapy aimed at helping children (mainly girls) who were physically, emotionally, and/or sexually abused, whereas now I work almost exclusively with women who are 101 survivors of trauma. In this work, I have been struck by the fact that, when a woman seeks therapy, some form of trauma usually enters the picture. Because gender is an organizing principle that underlies or interacts with other aspects of women’s identity and experience, I use the term “gender-based trauma” throughout this discussion to reflect the important role gender plays in understanding sources and types of traumatic experience and how these affect women and girls. Gender is not always the most salient issue for a woman in explaining or understanding her trauma or in the larger schema of its meaning within the traumatic event; the term simply reminds us of the ways that gender can interact with and influence other aspects of a woman’s or girl’s identity and experience. Feminist perspectives are useful for understanding the social and political factors that support and promote the maltreatment of women and girls.1 These theories describe the roles of male supremacy, patriarchy, power, and privilege in the abuse of women, and extend the responsibility for change to society at large. Principles of Engaged Buddhism, especially as discussed in the mindfulness trainings of the Order of Interbeing led by Thich Nhat Hanh, emphasize the responsibility that we, as a society, share for the existence and elimination of all forms of oppression and domination, including gender-based oppression.2 Both feminist and Engaged-Buddhist psychology provide important practices and perspectives relevant in the recovery and healing of trauma survivors. These principles can be integrated with a range of other psychological theories and practices already documented as effective in counseling women survivors of trauma to provide a more complete and holistic counseling process. Although there has not yet been much discussion of counseling and psychotherapy from a Buddhistfeminist perspective, several useful volumes have been written proposing integrations of Buddhist psychology and psychoanalytic theory,3 as well as Zen Buddhism and humanistic psychological theory.4 This chapter is an effort to break new ground by examining intersections and commonalities between Buddhist and feminist psychologies in understanding gender-based trauma. Sources and types of trauma and the social and political systems that reinforce and justify the oppression of women are discussed. A range of psychological effects that result from traumatic experiences are explored and the typical components of post-traumatic stress reaction are reviewed. Efforts will 102 KATHRYN L. NORSWORTHY be made to weave together feminist and Buddhist theories and practices that can be useful in the process of healing and recovery. In keeping with feminist values, I must note that the perspectives represented in this chapter are based on my understanding of the research and how I have applied what I have learned from others, as well as my own clinical, personal, and academic experiences. It should be recognized that I am both informed and limited by my knowledge and experience as a white, middle-class (with a working-class upbringing ), United States citizen, Buddhist (with a Christian childhood), feminist , academic and practicing psychologist, woman. I trust that each reader’s identity and experiences, together with the cultural, social...