Domestic Violence: Beyond Patriarchy

Typically, domestic violence occurs between a man and a woman, and usually, women end up being the victims more often then men (Heidensohn, 2012). The male is usually more dominant because he is bigger and significantly stronger then the female. However, in recent years, men have been experiencing their fair share of abuse from women. According to a study done by the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men, “Over 90% experienced controlling behaviors, and several men reported frustrating experiences with the domestic violence system. Callers’ reports indicated that their female abusers had a history of trauma, alcohol/drug problems, mental ill- ness, and homicidal and suicidal ideations” (Hines, 2007). This study measured 190 male callers who called the DAHM and the study shows that women can also batter men. This applies to the case of Jordan Graham and Cody Johnson because a wife murdered her husband. No one should ever underestimate someone else’s strength or aggression as those characteristics can be extremely hard to gauge. Cody Johnson may have had no prior knowledge of Graham’s temper and may have even felt as if he were the dominant figure in their marriage. Sometimes, it is easy to accuse a spouse of being the core reason for domestic abuse, whether it is verbal or physical abuse. However, domestic abuse can be seen as a problem for human beings in general, “Others have argued that violence is a

On July 29th, 2006, Rafael Dangond and Lissette Ochoa were invited to a wedding party in an exclusive Country Club in the city of Barranquilla, Columbia. Dangond soon became outraged and aggressive after seeing Ochoa was dancing with a young male, who is one of her friends traveled from Venezuela to attend the wedding party. He fiercely attacked Ochoa once she exited the event and the violence constantly continued for over two hours. This extreme brutal act is a product of Dangond’s desires to control and dominate his wife because of his low self-esteem and extreme jealousy. As a result of Dangond’s abusive act, Ochoa suffered multiple physical traumas mainly on her head. Although Dangond’s performance seem to be a case of direct violence stemming from jealousy and frustration, it is also important to recognize the cultural and structural aspects involved in the conflict. The culture of domestic violence in Columbia, which are usually considered as being part of normal married life in the society and the vertically hierarchical relationships between husband and wife in a family must also be examined in order to fully determine the complexity of the conflict. Because of the vertical social structures, Dangond’s action is likely to continue between he and his wife. However, in order to decrease the prospect of future violence, laws regarding violence against women must be enforced and the abolition of the vertical familial patriarchal social system in

Police Departments struggle with the ongoing 911 calls for domestic disturbances. The majority of domestic disturbance calls are nonviolent, verbal disputes. There are repeat callers where police respond so many times that they know them by name and their background. However, most of those domestic incidents do escalate to violence. NCVS reports that domestic violence accounts for 21% of all violent crimes. Woman against abuse reports that more than 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. Domestic violence takes on many forms such as:

Domestic violence in recent years has become a national issue of epidemic proportions (Whiting, 2014). The current Australian Government campaign against domestic violence clearly states that domestic violence is a crime (Douglas, 2008). However, a debate continues over the value of applying criminal law in this field. This article investigates the current operation of family law in Queensland in the domestic violence sphere and explores the advantages and disadvantages of applying criminal law to this area. Areas of investigation include, the effectiveness of current law, current issues relating to domestic violence, relevant stakeholders and perspectives and alternatives and recommendations relating to the current situation. The analysis

Domestic violence became a realization and a serious concern in the mid 1970’s for many Americans. “This realization is due to the women advocating on behalf of the battered women movement”

Only twenty years ago, domestic violence was seen as a private family matter rather than of public community concern. During the 1960’s and 70’s, second wave feminism and the Battered Women’s Movement highlighted the problem of family violence to the fore, where individuals assisted victims by providing shelter for women and children and taking political action to advocate the hidden societal causation of the violence; gender inequality. The social issue up until this stage had little to none empirical knowledge, theoretical explanations were not exposed and social workers were not effectively trained to assist with the problem. Family violence initially occurs at a micro level within the home, but is a much larger macro issue. Domestic violence

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) led to mandatory arrests of the alleged abusive partner, yet there lacks a similar for male victims. Further, the VAWA provides free counsel to women, yet men must find and pay for their own legal counsel. Furthermore, a study conducted exhibited that when male victims attempted to domestic violence hotlines, 64% were told that they hotlines aided women only, 32% were referred to batterers’ program (which helped men stop abusing their partners), and 25% were given a number for a batterers’ program. Further, 16% of males indicated that they were simply made fun of and/or dismissed by the

The gender and the gender role attitudes have been extensively studied, and the study findings indicate towards the existence of domestic violence disputes (Esqueda, & Harrison, 2005). According to the studies, the gender role attitudes contribute significantly towards the understanding as well as the predicting of people’s beliefs and perceptions of violence against women, as well as domestic violence culpability. Seelau, and Seelau, (2005) reveals that men and women have different perceptions about domestic violence, as more men than women are likely to view domestic violence as a norm, and they tend to view the situation as less serious compared to the women. Moreover, the men and women differ significantly in terms of their likelihood of calling the police, as well as the severity of the penalty assigned to the perpetrator.

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

According to statistics found by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Every nine seconds a woman is abused by her husband or intimate partner. At least 1 in every 4 women and 1 in every 9 men have been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in their lifetime. Most often the abuser is one of their own family. Domestic violence is a problem that somehow affects every one of us in this room at some time and is actually the leading cause of injury to women -- more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined.

A range of UK agencies audited their domestic violence contacts that day. Findings indicated a disproportionate amount of violence faced by women and perpetrated by men. 86% of calls to police that day involved female victims attacked by male partners/ex-partners, 8% male victims attacked by female partners/ex-partners, 2% female victims attacked by female partners/ex-partners, and 7% male victims attacked by male partners/ex-partners. 90% of contacts made with victim support in England involving domestic violence were from women, and 100% in Wales. Further evidence of considerable disparities in male and female abusive behaviour comes from a study of cases sent for prosecution under the Protection from Harassment Act (Harris 2000). 94% of

Greg, a police officer, lived with fear and isolation in his own home for 27 years. From the start of his marriage, he endured physical and emotional abuse from his spouse. He has been slapped, punched, scratched, and kicked throughout the span of the relationship. Greg’s wife would take her anger out on him no matter how miniscule the situation was. Eventually, he would reach his emotional breaking point and left his home (“Tell Your Story” 3). Greg is just one prime example that women are not the only victims to domestic abuse and violence. Domestic violence, sometimes known as “wife beating”, came about in the 1890s, but has recently been viewed as a serious crime. Domestic violence can occur in heterosexual

I think feminist theory would work well with this population because they are victims and they need empowerment so they can start the healing process, and I do think feminist theory would do this for them. you know there is a belief that the violence has to be life threatening before it is an issue for concern and that is a shame. I feel that domestic violence starts small many start with belittle the other maybe its playful and in front of friends so you shake it off and you think nothing of it, and within time its not a big deal, but usually by this time there is another escalation until it becomes a bigger problem. I do feel that we need more preventative measures to catch the abuse early on before the threat of violence occurs or becomes

However, this number is not accurate due to the fact that many of these cases were seen as murders, aggravated assault, or forcible rapes rather than domestic violence. (Etter, & Birzer, 2007). Due to the huge amount of domestic violence cases the police have been trying to bring down the number of domestic violence victims. In 2000 police departments all over the United States created a program to train police officers on domestic violence (Huisman, Martinez, & Wilson, 2005). Even though police have been trained and still have domestic violence trainings a lot of people are still victims of domestic violence. In 2007 alone there were reports of 554,000 female victims and 69,000 male victims of violent crime by a partner (Franklin,

Domestic violence is another major crime impacted by feminist theory. It can be both physically and emotionally destructive. A recurring pattern of abuse usually from a spouse or partner. Feminist theory has placed a major stereotype on domestic violence in that it is viewed as a crime inflicted on women by men (Lombard and McMillan, 2013). Although this is generally more common, it could just be that domestic violence towards men goes unreported. Therefore, it does not appear in the official statistics. Men are often put under a lot of pressure to adhere to the male stereotype, to be strong and dominant. So when domestic violence acts are inflicted on men they often feel a great deal of shame, so will not come forward. It is also often just seen as socially acceptable for a woman to be able to be physically or emotionally destructive towards men. Thanks to feminist theory female victims now have a great deal of support, with special housing and generally better access to justice. A great deal of this achievement can be ascribed to two noteworthy leaps forward. The first was the acknowledgment that male-executed violence was not caused by 'bad men' who had particular attributes such as tattoos and that 'normal men' who could work in the public eye were equipped for this as well; the second was the acknowledgment that any act of violence submitted in the house was not a private local issue, but rather an open one (Misra, 2007). It has also been found that women were subjected