Challenging myths about culture and violence in migrant and refugee communities

Decorated tile reading 'Everyone experiences culture in a different way

Read the Challenging Myths resource as a Word document

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The Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health has developed a resource called Challenging myths about culture and violence in migrant and refugee communities. It aims to challenge some of the negative ways that migrant and refugee communities are framed in discussions about violence against women.

This resource is an outcome of the Safer and Stronger Communities Pilot project, funded by the Victorian government to develop violence prevention activities with migrant and refugee communities.

Throughout the project, conversations with project workers and partner organisations reflected the need for a practical resource to support people to challenge harmful assumptions linking specific communities and violence.

Challenging myths is intended as a starting point for anyone who wants to challenge some of the harmful ways people sometimes use cultural background or identity to explain or excuse particular experiences of violence.

It is written to be a practical and accessible tool for thinking and speaking differently about the relationship between culture and preventing violence against women and people of all genders.

We readily acknowledge that Challenging myths is not a definitive resource and we are all at different stages in our understandings of these issues. We welcome feedback and hope this resource will complement others, including those listed in the reference section.