More than 24 million people of the United States of America are victims of relationship abuse in a given year. Women are not the only sufferers because it happens to men too. Stoprelationshipabuse.org defines relationship abuse as “a pattern of abusive and coercive behaviors used to maintain power and control over a former or current intimate partner.” Sources say that it can stem from childhood experiences or caused by alcohol. Facts and myths cloud the subject and create misinterpretations on the causes. Either of these can create detrimental effects to the victims. Abuse is a choice that can be influenced by outside factors. Relationship abuse is broken down into many categories. Some areas like emotional or physical abuse are more typical than economic or academic abuse. An abuser can prevent a victim from going to class or work just because he or she does not care for the people the victim is around at that certain place. Due to this, more than sixty percent of relationship abuse happens at home or private places; as a result, the perpetrator would not want outsiders to blame him or her. Men and women can both be the offender or the victim. Statistics show that one in four women are abused and one in seven men are abused. A majority of society believes men are the abusers and women are the victims; however, that just is not the case. The victims that seek help are typically women because men can let their pride get in the way. Men will view seeking help as not having
The CDC reports that nearly half of all men and women in the United States have been psychologically abused by a romantic partner, while around a quarter of women and 1 in 7 men have been physically abused [2]. This is a dramatic difference from areas like the United Kingdom, where 8.2% of women and 4% of men have been abused [3] One in three people experience abuse by a romantic partner by the age of eighteen [4]. In 2015, 87% of hospitalized abuse victims in New York state were women, and were admitted more often than male victims [5]. This can likely be partially attributed to traditional gender roles, which assume that men are “stronger” than women and are “weak” if they are hurt by a woman.
Abuse can have many different meanings, there is one in particular that takes control in many Americans relationship, “physical maltreatment” (Abuse). Sadly there is an increasing amount of young adults going through an abusive relationship or were in one. Many of the people that become abusers consider violence as a normal behavior because they have witnessed it on a daily basis. They than begin to mistreat everyone that comes in his or her way. An abuser is frequently interested in controlling their victims. An abuser’s behavior is usually manipulating, in order to make their victims
Male victims are often unrecognized by the media, because they do not fit the stereotype that is set. Again, it’s been drilled into our heads that men are the perpetrators and women are the victims. Men are supposed to be strong, while women are weak, making them the easier target. How could a male be a victim of abuse? According to the media, there is no way men can be victims alongside women.
Although women can be perpetrators, they are more often the victims of abuse than men. According to Blair, McFarlane, Nava, Gilroy, and Maddoux (2015), 92 percent of domestic violence offenders are male (p. 23).
Anyone can be a victim, any age, sex, race, culture, religion, education, employment, marital status or sexual orientation. Women however, are more likely to become victims than men. As for the perpetrator of abuse, they have no typical manifestation. In public the abuser may appear loving and friendly towards their partner and or family. They commonly have low self-esteem, and don't like to take responsibility for their actions. So they may try to hide the abuse by inflicting injuries that will not require medical attention. Abuse may be physical, emotional, sexual, and psychological. Abusive persons are usually people who like to be in control of other people. Here this form of control is usually a behavior, which is learnt as a means to getting what they want.
The Brigham Young University, lists the steps towards successfully eliminating the abusive factor in a relationship. First, understanding what an abusive relationship is like, and detecting whether you are currently in one. Secondly, supporting one’s dignity and acknowledging the importance of an abuse free household. Margaret E. Johnson focuses on the inner self structure. Realizing the problem, understanding the plausible consequences, acknowledging that the second party is wrong, and not letting their own self-worth go down, are just the tip of the iceberg in abusive relationships. In the other hand, being manipulated, going to court, divorce/ separation, are factors
When speaking about domestic violence the picture that comes to mind is that of a man physically abusing a woman. Domestic violence manifests itself in other forms other than physical abuse. Domestic abuse can also take other forms like emotional, psychological and sexual abuse. Recent statistics show that domestic abuse against men is also on the rise (Cook, 2009). This can be argued in two ways: that it always existed but only till recently men have been able to come out and report cases of abuse by their spouses without feeling victimized and that previously men were seen as the superior gender and the women’s role was to be submissive but with the
Every minute twenty four people are victims of abuse in the United States, that’s more than 12 million women a year. People seem to wear a mask until they are behind closed doors. Abuse has affected the victim and suspect both and there are many reasons for everything.
“Being a victim is supposed to set you free; it acquits you of any agency, any sense of responsibility to the person who did you harm. It’s not your fault, they say. Leave him, they say. Nobody ever tells you what to do if leaving isn’t an option.” Imagine how a woman, especially in the 1920’s, felt to be in this position.
Life is all about balance. From balancing your diet to your working life and personal life - people often forget to balance their approach to social justice issues; one being the issue of abuse. While society has come a long way in terms of raising awareness and taking action against abuse, men - the minority of victims - are often left out of the conversation. In the process of fighting against abuse, society has created a stigma of only men being the perpetrators of abuse. As a result, this has prevented male victims from seeking help from the law and from society. This reality is horrifying and unfortunate because both genders are being abused, yet society holds different perspectives. Abuse can happen to anyone regardless of your age, gender,
Every year in the United States, One in four women are victims of the domestic violence; however, this is only based on what has been reported to the department of justice (Stahly 2008). While men are also victims of domestic violence, women are more often the victims. Moreover, 90% of domestic violence is male initiated. In severe cases domestic violence ends with victims being murdered. More specifically, domestic violence resulted in 2,340 deaths in the United States in 2007, and 70% of those killed were females (CDC 2012). Many people think that victims have the option of leaving and many people blame victims for putting up with the abuse; what many people don 't know is, victims of domestic violence have many reasons preventing them from leaving their abusers, these reasons include, isolation, having children bounding them with the abuser and lack of financial support. "It 's never pretty when you leave an abusive and controlling relationship. The warden always protests when a prison gets shut down," says Dr. Steve Maraboli (qtd from web). Whether a victim stays or leaves their abuser, the outcomes of both situations are not always as easy as many people predict. In some situations, the outcomes of leaving may be very dangerous for both the victim and her children.
Our culture refuses to hold women equally accountable as men for their participation in Domestic Violence. Women’s behavior whether perpetrator or victim, is understood and passed off as socialization or poor economic status. On the other hand men are held fully accountable for all of their behavior. “Despite the tough guy stereotype all boys are encouraged to embody and the abuse many bear as a normal
Disregarding male victims of abuse is largely due to the perpetuation of a second stereotype-that a man must be masculine through displaying strength and dominance. This juxtaposed with the stereotype
When people hear about someone being abused, your mind automatically thinks of a woman or child. Most of the time, people think of a man being the abuser not the victim of abuse that is happening. However, there are hundreds of thousands of men who experience domestic abuse each year. “On average, nearly twenty people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. For one year, this equates to more than ten million women and men.” (Vieira).
Abuse can happen to anyone and occur anywhere. Many people are victims of abuse and remain silent about the cruel treatment. Abuse is a violent way to communicate with someone and is always meant to inflict pain or fear. There are many different types of abuse, such as physical abuse, which is unwanted contact with a person by hitting, scratching or any skin to skin contact. Verbal abuse involves saying hurtful or belittling words to a person, such as threats or insults. Financial abuse involves a person having full control of another person’s money and deciding what they can and cannot buy. Digital abuse is verbal abuse online, such as cyberbullying. All these different types of abuse have a negative effect on people, damage their personal perspectives. The most common type of abuse is physical abuse. Often, when people hear about physical abuse, they automatically assume that a woman is the victim and a man is the perpetrator. However, this assumption is wrong. Men can be a victim of abuse. Research suggests that, over the past year, there have been more male victims than female victims. The abuse of men is often overlooked and never considered as a serious issue because of stereotypes of men tell us that they are stronger than women and can protect themselves. However, women can be invisible abusers and the effects of abuse on men changes them.