In Vietnam, domestic violence is tied to a complex field of cultural forces that consists of a patrilineal tradition of ancestor worship, assumptions about females’ versus males’ character, Confucian virtues, and a history of war. This article begins by outlining the research on violence against women in Vietnam and then examines the ways in which ideas of “hot” male characters and “cool” female characters produce local logics concerning men’s violence against their wives, within a northern rural Vietnamese community. Females are expected to encourage household harmony and adjust themselves accordingly and make social life smooth. However, males are assumed to have a hot character, meaning that they may fly into a rage and possibly behave violently. Boys learn that they hold a celebrated and superior role within the patrilineal setting due to the emphasis on male offspring. Men’s warfare experiences may also amplify local assumptions about males’ hot character, and the war experiences may encourage certain ways of acting. All these cultural forces that play within the local community may stimulate some men’s imaginations about the ways in which their superiority and hot character should be manifested by the means of power and violence. References