Essay on Double Standards between Men and Women

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: a taboo issue in our society, where the discussion is shut down by fear of instability or vulnerability. A crime, hidden from plain view, behind closed doors, that harms up to half a million innocent individuals every year. Someone is experiencing some form of domestic violence as we speak as for every 15 seconds there is a woman beaten around the world, and for every hour as many as 115 children are abused. Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is a violation of human rights. It involves violent, abusive or intimidating behaviour carried out by an adult against a partner or former partner to control and dominate that person.  Violence of any form should not be accepted in our modern society it nurtures fear and hatred, and it should not be locked away as an allowable social norm. We should be better than that.

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

One of the main and most discussed double standards when it comes to gender is the fact that men are praised for being promiscuous, while women are put down and called names. This double standard goes way back in the societal memory. Evolutionary psychologists suggest that these gender differences have resulted from males’ and females’ different reproductive capacities. A woman can go have sex with a man, but she then will be limited to carrying his baby for those nine months. In the meantime, the man can go out and have sex with many women, and have all of

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.

On average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year, this equates to more than 10 million women and men. 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime. When judges come across domestic violence cases, they are often frowned upon. Because we live in a world there are huge double standards when it comes to domestic violence and our men are on the bad end of the deal. When a man commits domestic violence he is punished very harshly. But when a woman commits domestic violence she gets cheers, chuckles or is all too often ignored.

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.

There are five different ways he will try to get the woman back. One way is for

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.

“Why are we so surprised and appalled that men hit and abuse women who are physically smaller when women regularly hit and abuse small children?”(Sherven 63). Sherven classifies that men and women should be treated equally when it comes to Domestic Violence.

The existence of a double standard for Women today is a main reason why women become extremely radical. Women that do not appreciate being stereotyped and discriminated against, protest in forms of rallying and with lawsuits against people or institutions of society. The areas of society that use or even enforce a double standard against women may consider women to be inferior to men. This idea of superiority is discrimination. Often the work place, sports, and within homes do we see this idea of a double standard for women.

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.

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.

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

“Every year in the United States there are over 3 million incidents of domestic violence. That means that every nine seconds a women is beaten by her domestic partner” (Findeley). There are many women that stay silent when being abuse by their partners. The consequences of staying quiet when obtaining abuse can be dangerous and can also lead to death. Many women do not recognize the importance of the fact that there is in speaking out if they are being abuse by their partner. No woman should take domestic abuse by their partners. Every woman deserves a healthy relationship; A healthy relationship involves trust, respect, and consideration for the other person. Domestic abuse has gotten worse during the past years and is still rising up. One can see that domestic abuse can occur everywhere. Domestic abuse is considered a crime and woman should not keep silent when being abuse.