A Black Experience-Based Approach to Gender-Based Violence (Report‪)‬

Gender-based violence (GBV) is defined as "physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life" (United Nations, 2007). GBV includes childhood sexual abuse, "prenatal sex selection in favor of boys, female infanticide, dowry deaths, honour killings, female genital mutilation, trafficking and forced prostitution, forced early marriage, sexual assault and intimate partner violence" (Renzetti, 2005, p. 1009). Although GBV is a critical problem within communities of color, limited culturally competent interventions are available to address this issue. The black experience-based social work (BEBSW) perspective, as discussed by Martin and Martin (1995), offers a culturally based framework that can be applied within black communities. The central themes of BEBSW are separation and loss and are explained by using the three concepts: moaning, mourning, and morning. The purpose of this article is to explore how BEBSW can be applied to finding solutions for GBV among African American women. SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM