Latina Abuse - Kendra Star May 2026

Illustrative Quote (Kendra):

“When I was nine, my dad would lock my mother in the kitchen if she tried to speak to my brother. He called it ‘keeping the house in order.’ I learned early that silence was safety.” Latina Abuse - Kendra Star

The findings illustrate how patriarchal cultural scripts intertwine with immigration enforcement to create a dual‑layered coercive environment. Kendra’s case demonstrates that abuse is not confined to the private sphere; it extends into the public arena where legal institutions become tools of intimidation. This aligns with Castañeda & Green’s (2017) “legal terror” framework but expands it to account for familial leverage through mixed‑status siblings. Illustrative Quote (Kendra):

| Theme | Core Findings | Gaps Addressed by This Study | |-------|----------------|-----------------------------| | Patriarchal Cultural Scripts | Machismo and marianismo prescribe gendered roles, normalizing male authority and female submissiveness (Gutmann, 2015). | Limited attention to intra‑familial coercion that predates romantic partnerships. | | Immigration‑Related Vulnerabilities | Undocumented status and fear of deportation are exploited by abusers to maintain control (Castañeda & Green, 2017). | Scarcity of nuanced accounts of mixed‑status families where legal status is unevenly distributed. | | Intersectionality & Structural Violence | Latina women face compounded oppression via race, gender, class, and language (Crenshaw, 1991; Collins, 2020). | Few ethnographic studies linking structural violence to survivor agency. | | Resilience & Community Healing | Social support networks, culturally grounded spirituality, and collective activism mitigate trauma (Sáenz & Castañeda, 2021). | Need for longitudinal data on how survivors transition to advocacy roles. | | Policy & Service Gaps | Services often lack culturally competent staff and language access (Banyard et al., 2019). | Little evidence on the effectiveness of community‑based participatory approaches. | “When I was nine, my dad would lock

Latina women in the United States confront a confluence of structural inequities—racialized immigration status, gendered expectations, and socioeconomic marginalization—that shape distinct patterns of interpersonal and institutional abuse. This paper foregrounds the lived experience of Kendra Star, a second‑generation Mexican‑American survivor whose narrative illuminates how cultural scripts, family dynamics, and systemic power structures intersect to produce and perpetuate abuse. By triangulating qualitative interview data, community‑based participatory research (CBPR) findings, and a critical review of scholarship on gender‑based violence (GBV) within Latina/o communities, the study identifies three central mechanisms: (1) Familial Patriarchal Enforcement, (2) Legal‑Immigration Weaponization, and (3) Silencing through Cultural Stigma. The analysis further explores emergent forms of resilience—cultural brokerage, collective survivorship, and transnational advocacy—that challenge dominant victim‑victimizer binaries. The paper concludes with policy recommendations aimed at culturally responsive service provision, trauma‑informed legal reforms, and community‑driven prevention strategies.