Domestic Violence Wounds Run Deep

Domestic violence is as old as recorded history. There have been reports of domestic violence since the dawn of time, in every country. Throughout history domestic violence has been legal and socially acceptable, until recently. Two major elements have sealed the status of woman for more than six thousand years. Those elements are male dominance, and the concept

Domestic violence is an important issue because many believe that it’s only a male-to-female action but it’s also female-to-male abuse. In addition, many assume that domestic violence is only a physical act but there are other forms of abuse such as psychological, sexual, financial and emotional. John Hamel, a licensed clinical social worker and editor of the journal Partner Abuse said, “A lot of people don’t see domestic violence in the home as a crime, so they tend to downplay it.” Because many follow this ideology women would be brutally beaten. In addition, men are seen as the head of the household because he provides the basic needs for his family, putting him in

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

Domestic violence is skyrocketing in our society. In the U.S., as many as 1.5 million women and 850,000 men were physically assaulted by their intimate partner last year, and numerous children abused by their parents. These sad criminal acts will continue to grow in our society, unless our community takes action to stop these crimes.

The United States has a long history of domestic violence. Nearly six million American women will be battered by their spouses every year (United Way, 1998). Tradition gives men the right to control their family including their wife. Violence

Women are still today ostracized in some countries and it is still deemed “alright” to put women down by verbal or physical violence. Still in a lot of countries in Africa and in the Middle East do not have laws against domestic violence and this leads to lots of unnecessary deaths toward women that go unpunished. Nearly 40% of deaths toward women is due to their intimate partner. (Huffington Post) It is viewed in most of these countries that it is alright to hit women to “put them in their place.” It has been a big problem not just in the United States, but in these foreign countries women are to believe that it is alright for their intimate partner to do this to them because they are deserving of it. This is so ethically wrong because no matter of what race, gender, religion, etc… nobody should ever be put through anything like that of the sorts. It is great to know that in some of these countries that women are striving to move forward and to have domestic violence laws put into place. Like in Saudi Arabia, this is a known country that has had issues on women rights finally passed a bill that outlaws domestic violence in 2013. The biggest problem with domestic violence in these countries is that the women are afraid to speak out to this issue due to the lack of laws in place for women. Women have also have had it instilled in their minds that they should be shamed by having their husband, boyfriend, or even their brothers beat them. Domestic violence is an epidemic that needs to be spoken about. 1 in 4 women have been a subject to some form of domestic violence. In the United States this is still an epidemic because statics show that a woman is beaten every 9 seconds in the United States. (Huffington Post) This is a horrifying statistic to know that a woman is that vulnerable to domestic violence. Domestic violence has

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.

One finding in this article from The National Violence Against Women Survey, found that 41.5% of female victims and 19.9% of male victims reported being physically injured by domestic violence (Tjaden & Thoennes,

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.

The history of domestic violence goes back all the way to the start of mankind. Ever since lower people were taken advantage of by higher people in society. The men were much stronger than the women which resulted in the women usually being the ones abused. In the beginning, the man had every right to abuse his woman. If you stare back into the 1940’s and 1950’s you will notice that little was done to stop domestic violence. The police would get involved but would leave the situation to be resolved by the family members. As suggested in the peer-reviewed article “Domestic violence past and present” by Anna Clark, policemen would just tell the man to composed himself and the woman to stop aggravating him. For example, in the sentence “Before the 1970s, judges and police officers still saw wife beating as a trivial offense—policemen would tell husbands to calm down and wives to stop annoying them, and cases rarely came to court. Popular culture depicted wife beating as a joke, and psychiatrists saw it as a pathology of the

Domestic violence isn’t just towards women, but is also a large issue against men ("When it"). This issue seems to be very underminded and society becomes one sided on the topic ("When it"). Cindy Boren from the Washington Post proves this saying “According to a 2010 study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 5 million men had been domestically abused in the prior year. And the same study found 40 percent of cases of severe domestic violence were perpetrated on men. About 1 in 4 women (24.3 percent) and 1 in 7 men (13.8 percent) have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner.”("When it"). Violence is violence period, and it is all wrong regardless of gender.

It has been around for so long and is still happening today. There is never an easy solution for domestic violence, but I do have a recommendation for women who are facing domestic violence now. My recommendation is having the courage to look inward, meaning to questioning your own attitudes and making a positive change where it’s necessary. Another critical issue that women also face is teen pregnancy. It’s a very serious issue to the point where America even has a teen pregnancy show. I feel that with this type of issue being abstinent is the key to not dealing with pregnancy but if you are active just making sure to protect yourself and your overall

Domestic violence is not a label that can be boxed and defined. No, it is emotions of pain, fear, shock, confusion, and most surprising, love. It is difficult for many to comprehend if not brought up within a violent home; the true, passionate emotions that fall as a burden upon the victims, who often stay quiet. What brings the traumatic pain to domestic violence is that a person who is supposed to cherish and love another, ends up creating fear and panic when even mentioned. Domestic violence, which is indeed a form of abuse, is an issue that needs to be handled with delicate, yet able coherence. Within the society of America, the fight against domestic violence needs to be accepted instead of ignored. In doing so, there are many questions

Back in ancient times all the way to the early 1900’s we only see documentation of wife and child abuse but that has changed since modern time. Now days it is not only a woman, elder, or child who can be the victims of abuse but we are now seeing men become the victim. Isn’t that a huge difference compared to back in the day. We as society have literally turned the tables on the definition of what an abuser is.