Domestic Violence Is Now Broadly Defined As All Acts Of

Ellen Pence, also known as the “mother of domestic violence intervention” and “rockstar of the battered women’s movement” was a social activist for battered women, helped build the foundation of batterer programming with the Duluth model (also known as the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP)), which assisted in connecting the concerns of criminal justice officials and advocates by developing a “Power and Control Wheel” (Gondolf, 2010, p. 992). She also created the Coordinated Community Response (CCR), which brings all community service providers to help victims of domestic violence, and created a shelter for battered women. In addition, Ellen is the founding director of Praxis International, a nonprofit corporation that aims to eliminate violence in the lives of women and their children.

Definition: Domestic violence, in terms of its definition, the first recognized usage in a modern context, which means violence at home, was “in an address to the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Jack Ashley in 1973” (Fridell 249). The term “domestic violence” in the past was referred mainly to “civil unrest, violence arises inside a country on the contrary to violence started by a foreign power” (New York Times). In modern society, it is also called family violence or domestic abuse, which is a type of behavior that is related with violence by one person towards another at home or in family settings, such as in marriage. It is often the case that the actor of the violence is a male adult and the victims are children, wives and the elderly as well as pets. Then it could be termed as intimate partner violence, “which is done by one present or former spouse or partner against another spouse or partner” in a close relationship (Connie 8). The World Health Organization (WHO) defines intimate partner violence as “... any behavior within a close relationship which causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to those in the relationship, including acts of physical aggression, sexual compulsion, psychological maltreat and controlling behaviors” (Krug 3). That means domestic violence not only focuses on the external or physical aspect, but also on the internal, psychological or mental aspects.

Throughout the 1800’s in the United States, state laws and cultural practices continued to support a husband's “right” to discipline his wife. It wasn't until 1895 that women were given the right to divorce their husbands no matter the conditions (Dryden-Edwards MD, 2012). Another stride in unveiling the taboo and private nature of domestic violence was made through the Battered Women's Movement, which was a by-product of the Women’s Liberation Movement from the 1960’s. Greatly supported by the Feminist theory, this movement was frequently credited for unmasking the extent of intimate partner violence and agitating for social change (Meyer-Emerick, 2002).

Nowadays, domestic violence is still an issue that affects women not only in the United States but all around the world.

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

This began to change in the 1980s, as women’s groups were organized locally and internationally to demand attention to the physical, psychological, and economic abuse of women (p.369-370). Domestic violence is a serious social issue that happens to many women in our world today. This type of abuse is not declining but continually rising on a daily basis. There have been issues in the past with the way these cases were being handled. Today, there has been some improvement concerning the laws that have been enforced in order to protect women from this type of abuse. There has been extensive research done on this issue in the past concerning domestic violence. Over the last ten years there have been a number of surveys on domestic violence that have been published from around the world.

Many believe the historical inequality of women and gender socialization of females and males contribute to the root causes of domestic violence. Until the 1970's, women who were raped or suffered violence in their homes had no formal place to go for help or support. Shelters and services for victims of domestic violence did not exist and there was little, if any, response from criminal or civil courts, law enforcement, hospitals, and social service agencies. Society and its formal institutions viewed domestic violence as a "private matter." As awareness and recognition of this problem grew, groups of women organized an advocacy movement that focused on addressing the safety needs of victims and the systemic barriers and social attitudes that contributed to domestic violence. Volunteers established safe havens and crisis services for victims of domestic violence in their homes and held

Rape increased in the United States by 62% from 1968 to 1973. In 1979 the term battered woman was not taken seriously and violence, including murder, was not talked about much either. Some states allowed battered women to claim compensation for their injuries and there were programs to help those who were battered. Marital violence was declared an issue in 1975 and the National Task Force on Battered Women/Household Violence was established. 1978 brought the National Coalition against Domestic Violence. In the 1980’s came the first national conference on domestic violence in the military and then awareness week came about. Shelters begin opening up for domestic violence victims and their families. Books were beginning to

Once the 1980’s came, a lot of different changes took place. If the police were called for help with domestic violence, they no longer ignored it. They would arrest and convict those who were guilty of domestic violence. If we look in today’s society although, some changes has been made on this topic; there are still a lot of work to do to prevent domestic violence and to raise awareness of this inconceivable social problem as we can see in the statistics of the state of South Caroline that makes this state No 1 for deadly violence against woman as was announced by the Washington Times in September 15, 2015.

United States social history has had many defining moments in which attitudes of domestic violence has changed. However, some of them did not make a huge impact or movement enough to change society’s views. Per class discussion, we learned that for many centuries women were seen as property of men and used as reproduction. There was a lack of respect and being beaten was part of them norm but at the same time men were considered the women’s “protectors”, which is ironic because women needed protection from their husbands. To top it all off, divorce was looked frown upon, leaving women no choice but to stay with their partners.

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”

Domestic violence is 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 through physical and emotional abuse. Women are much more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence with 85 percent of domestic abuse victims being women and 15 percent being men. (http://www.americanbar.org/groups/domestic_violence/resources/statistics.html) Too many women have been held captive by domestic violence -whether through physical, financial, emotional abuse or a combination of all three- it is a serious epidemic in our society that needs attending

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 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

One can only imagine how uncomfortable the lives of women who are experiencing or have previously experienced domestic violence is. Can you imagine, living every day in constant fear that today might be your last? That today could be the day that your abuser finally snaps, and life as you know it is over in the blink of an eye as you are trying to dodge that punch to your precious temple. Domestic violence was defined as an assault, threat, or intimidation by a male partner. (Abbott, Johnson, Koziol-McLain, & Lowenstein, 1995) Every year an estimated 2 million to 4 million woman in the United States are reportedly abused by their alleged male partners. Many of these women are ruthlessly physically assaulted, and thousands end up losing their life to the battle. (www.mayoclinic.com). These such statistics are flabbergasting. Many are under the impression that Domestic abuse only appears through physical violence – a fight of some sorts, but it is in fact prevalent in psychological abuse as well. Domestic violence occurs in several various unfortunate ways, such as verbally, mentally, and physically. Domestic violence is a widely spread issue throughout the United States. It is unfortunate that women are still being seen as inferior in comparison to men in today’s society. Women on average make only 77 cents to every dollar earned by men working in the same position. (Glynn, 2013) It is evident that men do also experience Domestic violence, but