Book Review of Domestic Violence

Domestic violence has a face. However, the face of domestic violence has viscerally shifted; it is no longer the calm but resolute face I knew, but rather an unfamiliar one. While domestic violence is seen as something physical, it is also mental, verbal, and intimidation. Domestic violence is another example - threats, intimidation, and violence- of abuse of power and abuse of authority. Men are not the only ones who hold the reins of power in domestic situations. In fact, when they are at the receiving end of abuse, this particular social construct gets in the way of their reporting on their plights.

Domestic violence against women happens around the world every day, but the main focus of location discussed in this paper is Washington State. Females are most likely to suffer domestic violence abuse from someone that they know. In such cases, it has been a spouse that is the attacker. Women escape these violent crimes and reach out for help, but not every time. Based off of the data collected, I strongly believe that females are more often victims of domestic violence than males.

The article constructs domestic violence as an issue of gender, race and socioeconomic status. Women are identified as the “majority” of victims (Taylor 2014). Consequently, the article conceptually represents domestic violence as events of intimate terrorism where one partner violently terrorizes the other partner to gain complete control over the relationship, which is entirely perpetrated by men (Johnson 2012). With that said, Johnson (2012) points out that majority of domestic violence is situational couple violence, where both the man and the

Domestic violence is an ongoing epidemic affecting people around the world. Over the years, the problem of domestic violence has raised an abundance of questions: how serious is the issue, and what actions could be implemented to prevent it? In the article “Domestic Violence Has Been a Problem Throughout U.S. History”, it explains how the issue of domestic violence has been going on for decades; however, did not get address until recent years. The author, Cathy Young, points out there has been programs and shelters implemented, but the issue of domestic violence still remains a serious problem today. “Prevalence of Domestic Violence in the United States”, provides a

Domestic violence is a crime that occurs regularly within the United States. It claims millions of victims each year. There is not a specific cause to establish why domestic violence occurs. However, it has been documented that domestic violence is a product of physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, and any other forms of torture or torment that the particular abuser wishes to employ to gain control or power over their victims (Gosselin, 2005). Due to the complexity of this crime, many criminologists and socialologists have studied its causes and the effects in order to determine social policies and additional theories to better understand the causation of domestic violence. The social policies and theories that are developed from

Although there are now laws against domestic violence, the issue still seems to be present in the 21st century. Once given an blind eye to is existence for decades people are now forced to face the fact that domestic violence is an major issue no matter when and where it may occur. In this essay I will be addressing the issues of:

Domestic Violence has drastically increased over the years. Violence in the home is a concern for most. The most affected victims rather it’s emotionally or physically are women. They fall into different categories: single, married, separated, or divorced. For years, people try to avoid this conversation. Women of all ages, all ethnicity, and all social level are affected by domestic violence in their homes. There are

As the dominant discourse would suggest, female victims of domestic violence face not only the debilitating psychological and physical traumas of abuse

ABSTRACT: Domestic violence essentially affects everyone. It is not merely a personal or private problem within families. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (US Department of Justice), a woman is beaten every 15 seconds somewhere in the United States. Additionally, the Surgeon General 's report also reveals that one in five women victimized by their spouses or ex-spouses say that they had been victimized over and over again by the same person. These selected statistics easily demonstrate that domestic violence in the United States is a serious and grave social concern. This paper explores the many facets of this social ill,

During the 1800’s domestic violence against women was acceptable behavior unless it was life threatening. There was a widespread belief among ordinary people, male and female, and that it was every man’s “right” to beat his wife so long as it was to “correct her” if she did anything to annoy him or refused to obey his orders. The editor of the Hull Packet stated that “Wife-beating being accepted as the habit of the nation (Wojtczak 2009)”. Women were raised to believe that they “deserved” a certain amount of violence against their wives. Women that tried to take their husbands to court in order to stop the domestic violence was viewed as a challenge to his authority that violates her role as the submissive wife. In court the man would be fined or sent to prison. By the man being sent to prison, his dependents lost their only means of subsistence. So, wives could not report the abuse. Domestic violence is a deviant behavior because it is a significant social problem. “According to national surveys, approximately 11% to 14% of married women in the U.S. are victims of domestic violence each year and the prevalence of domestic violence among young couples is approximately double that of the general population (Jourile n.d.)”. Women who experience domestic violence report higher levels of physical injury, depression, and trauma symptoms compared to women who do not.

Domestic violence used to be considered a private family matter and was not considered a societal problem until feminists in the 70's started pushing the matter. Beginning in the 1970’s, social policy toward female victims of domestic assaults focused on improving legal response and

The earliest literature reference to domestic violence against men can be found in the studies of Suzanne Steinmetz (1977,1978) entitled, “The Battered Husband Syndrome.” She hypothesizes that the incidents of husband-on-wife beatings rivals the incidents of wife perpetrated batterings, and that it was husband abuse not wife abuse that was underreported form of domestic violence. Steinmetz used two United States populations, a broadband nonrepresentative group and a random sample in New Castle, Delaware in the form of police reports and family surveys. The small study found only small differences in the percent of men and women who resorted to violence in the context of pushing, shoving, or hitting with hands or an object. This suggested early on that domestic violence is not a one way street. Husband beating is a serious issue and needs attention due to the fact that it is grossly underreported. Steinmetz received numerous criticism from her colleagues on this concept. In later studies, Murray Straus, Richard Gelles, and Suzanne Steinmetz (1980), authors of the book, Behind Closed Doors: Violence in The American Family, supports Steinmetz’s earlier studies in finding that women acted violently during marital affairs compared to a similar number of men who act violently in the United States. The study used 2,413 family surveys, finding in majority of them that the level of violence was a mutual or bilateral activity, with only 27% of cases finding that husbands were the

Domestic Violence is a human tragedy, and has been a part of life for many individuals. It is not subjective to a particular group, race, or culture. Historically, the feminist movement preserved the theory that domestic violence is a growing matter because of the continuous power differential between the male gender and the female gender. Remarkably, this approach on domestic disputes unveiled the inner workings of barriers men, women, and children would face when in a domestic violence situation. The feminist theory emphasizes on studying “the gendered nature of all relationships…which aims at understanding how gender is related to social inequalities and oppression” (Marsigila & Kulis, 2015, p. 148). Disastrously, an ignorant notion that once dominated our culture was the belief that emotional agony was less painful than physical brutality. However,

Domestic Violence (DV) is a critical social issue that negatively impacts not only our own culture in America but as well as all other cultures around the world. Domestic Violence is a global issue reaching across national boundaries as well as socio-economic, cultural, racial and class distinctions (Kaur & Garg 2008). Domestic Violence is a serious problem that can be seen around every society from families of both developed and underdeveloped countries and of different backgrounds. Although there are various cases of domestic violence against men, children and the elderly; women account for the majority percentage of victims of Domestic Violence. This violence can take the form of physical assault, psychological abuse, financial abuse or sexual assault (Kaur & Garg 2008). Domestic Violence is a trend that is on the rise and will continue to plague our society if nothing is done on time to address this social issue.

Domestic violence, alternatively referred to as Intimate Partner Violence, is defined by the Department of Justice as “a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner.” While domestic violence is commonly thought of as only physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence can also be emotional, economic, or psychological. Domestic violence has remained constant in society throughout history, even though over time society’s response to the issue has changed. While domestic violence affects everyone regardless of race, gender, age, etc. it is estimated that approximately 90% of all victims are women. For the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on