In reading Elizabeth Stanko’s contribution one becomes attentive to how females are to blame for the brutality of male violence. She states that “male violence against women remains a problem of women’s respectability not men’s behaviour” (4). Additionally, she cautions the reader throughout that male violence is condoned, even infrequently punished, by the Criminal Justice System. Stanko’s book offers a detailed analysis which takes the reader through the act of male violence and its aftermath for the victims.
Within the first section, Stanko addresses four violent crimes that are exerted by men– incest, rape, wife battering and sexual harassment. Stanko draws comparisons between victimised women in Great Britain and in the United States. Additionally, she refers to women of different ages, different financial standings and different ethnicities concluding that “no woman is immune from men’s intimidating, threatening or violent behaviour” (p.1). However, she makes the distinction that the violence women encounter may differentiate based on factors such as ethnicity, class, religion or age. However, Stanko outlines that sexual intrusions are a commonality and are a feature of every woman’s life “the sexually harassing comments, the slap on the face, the grab on the street” (p.1) are familiar acts. This is reflected in the work of Rhode (2014) who as a contemporary criminologist makes an extensive explanation of how male violence is still a common occurrence as stated; “the
Mandell argues that regardless of class, race, age, sexual orientation, woman are subject to male violence. Nothing can protect women in a patriarchal society. Violence against women ranges from verbal and physical abuse to sexual abuse, rape, pornography, battering and rape. (Mandell, Fifth Edition) Violence against woman is common and persistent. Thirty years ago, most forms of violence against women were hidden under a cloak of silence or acceptance. SOURCE Although, years later, it became apparent that violence against woman occurs on a massive scale; that no woman is immune. She emphasises that women are targets to be victimized. Men are socialised to objectify woman, legitimate aggression, and blame woman for their own victimization. ‘Where woman dominate, men have to resort to greater use of force to remain dominant’. (Mandell, Fifth Edition) They set the glass just high enough, so women cannot reach to break it, keeping the male in the dominate position.
This chapter will explore the laws and policies in place for male and female victims and perpetrators of domestic violence both nationally and internationally. These laws and policies will be analysed to determine their effectiveness and the protection they provide to male victims compared to female victims of domestic violence. Based on these laws and policies, this chapter will also examine resulting prosecution rates of female versus male perpetrator rates and explore the likelihood of male victims receiving protection against his female abuser. This chapter will also focus on exploring domestic violence in same sex couples and
Barbara Perry’s article “Doing Gender and Doing Gender Inappropriately” addresses violence and gender, and how gender is influenced through the way it is perceived in society. The construction of gender comes in polar extremes, with masculine dominant men and feminine subordinate women. Gendered violence is used to control women as a class. It is a systematic tool used by men to reinforce gender norms and patriarchal ideas of masculine superiority and feminine inferiority. It “terrorizes the collective by victimizing the individual”. Like any dichotomy, it has scripts, and to deviate from these scripts will leave you labeled as ‘unnatural’ and ‘immoral’. These scripts “constrain everything from modes of dress and social roles to ways of expressing emotion and sexual desire”. In Judith Lorber’s “A World Without Gender” we are introduced to the possibility of eliminating gender and how “degendering [would] undercut the patriarchal and oppressive structure of Western Societies”.
Challenge: Gender-based violence often connotes a culture of deep division between male and female. Handled poorly, the divisions and the hatred deepen, instead of providing chances to understand.
The term rape is defined as an ‘unlawful sexual intercourse by force, and without legal or factual consent’ by Gennaro Vito, Jeffrey Maahs and Ronald Holmes (2006) in ‘Criminology: Theory, Research and Policy’ (Vito, Maahs, and Holmes, 2006: p. 280). Rape can be in the form of the penis penetrating the vagina, oral, anal and an assault using a foreign object. However, there have been many controversies of what is rape and the use of force that is required. Several researchers, practitioners, legal jurisdiction, as well as, a few rape statutes involving coercive rape rely on the use of force as part of evidence in their definition (Vito, Maahs, and Holmes, 2006: p. 280). Rape can occur both in men and women, however, most accounts of rape indicate that majority of men are perpetrators and women are the victims. This essay will discuss the gender differences of rape victims and the connection of feminist criminology and labelling theory, and stigmatisation; as followed with case studies that are relevant with both theories.
Throughout history, women have continuously found themselves as the subjects of oppression. Although the treatment of women has drastically changed over time, women are still exposed to much of the violence that exists today. Per the National Organization for Women, “young women, low-income women and some minorities are disproportionately victims of domestic violence and rape” (National Organization for Women, 2016). Women-centered violence is highly prevalent and reoccurring all over the world, even in our local communities. Individuals may be hesitant to consider just how much violence against women affects their communities.
The article constructs domestic violence as an issue of gender, race and socioeconomic status. Women are identified as the “majority” of victims (Taylor 2014). Consequently, the article conceptually represents domestic violence as events of intimate terrorism where one partner violently terrorizes the other partner to gain complete control over the relationship, which is entirely perpetrated by men (Johnson 2012). With that said, Johnson (2012) points out that majority of domestic violence is situational couple violence, where both the man and the
So the question is, how can we solve gender violence? There are multiple approaches on how we can resolve and prevent this issue. In Jackson Katz’s Ted Talk, “Violence Against Women – it’s a Man’s Issue”, he argues that men are bystanders to the violence that
In our debate we discussed whether women are just as violent as men. The pro side of the debate said yes women are just as violent as men, and the opposing side said men are more violent than women. In the yes side of the debate violence was described as physical and emotional assaults. As in violent acts carried out with the intention of causing another person physical pain or injury, no matter whether actual injury occurs, and any unjust, cruel act, or maltreatment of another human being. In the no side of the debate violence was just described as physical assaults, and not emotional assaults. This paper will discuss both sides of the debate, and the pros and cons of the arguments made by both sides.
In relation to this, domestic violence is a major issue. It is a controversial subject at hand in today’s society and many people are affected, whether it is public or privately known. This type of family violence is complex and many people ask why it is so violent and why it is considered violent. To respond to these questions, an article was released on countries that outlaw domestic violence. This article stated that “in recent years, sexual harassment has been publicly acknowledged as harmful to women, and countries are taking the first steps by adopting legislation prohibiting it” (www.unicef.org). Because of many speculations and confusion, domestic violence is categorized into specific offences: marital rape is a criminal offence and sexual harassment laws. “[The] laws that criminalize gender-based violence are positive steps but they offer not guarantees. Worldwide, even where laws are in place, prosecution of perpetrators is rare, and successful prosecutions uncommon” (www.unicef.org). Although these laws are passed and enforced in many countries around the world, violence still occurs and women are still being violated and abused, whether it is publically or privately, in a family relationship.
It is often forgotten that abusing a partner is not just a personal injustice, but denial of the right of a person. Due to society’s little to know action to assist these victims, it seems to be an accomplice in the abuse against a person. This has brought the conclusion that while there still exists instances of domestic violence, especially affecting women as largely as the numbers show, then there is no equality among the sexes. The roots of domestic violence or women battering has been traced to the time when women were viewed as the property
According to Philip W. Cook, U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) in its survey for 1992-1993, which was signed to produce more accurate reporting of intimate crime than surveys of previous years, one million women and 143,000 men were intimate violence. In previous studies, women reported an annual average of 572,032 spousal abuse cases, whereas men reported an annual average of 48,983 cases. Between 2001 and 2005, the average annual number of intimate crime cases declined again-dramatically for women, but less for men: 511,000 women and 105,000 men, respectively. The total number of victimized women in this survey continues to show evidence of decline. Although there has also been somewhat of a decline in the number of victimized men, the relative percentage of male victims continues to increase over the years, for example, from 15 percent in 1993 to 17 percent in 2005(abused men). This is a direct example which shows the increase in male victims and decrease of female victims in few years. Philip cook sets an example how many men’s are victimized by female
Domestic Violence is a human tragedy, and has been a part of life for many individuals. It is not subjective to a particular group, race, or culture. Historically, the feminist movement preserved the theory that domestic violence is a growing matter because of the continuous power differential between the male gender and the female gender. Remarkably, this approach on domestic disputes unveiled the inner workings of barriers men, women, and children would face when in a domestic violence situation. The feminist theory emphasizes on studying “the gendered nature of all relationships…which aims at understanding how gender is related to social inequalities and oppression” (Marsigila & Kulis, 2015, p. 148). Disastrously, an ignorant notion that once dominated our culture was the belief that emotional agony was less painful than physical brutality. However,
Eighty five to ninety percent of the world’s convicted murderers are men. That means that around only one in ten are women. This figure should feel startling, but doesn’t – after all, aren’t men the more violent sex? Bear in mind, though, that over two thirds of all murder victims are men. In 2011, men were murdered at the rate of more than once a day. Men are more likely to become involved in gangs, drug related violence and street crime – but also more likely to be victims of it. While that probably isn’t likely to shock you at all, this might. In the years of 2011/2012, 40% of spousal murders in the United States were perpetrated by women. In the same year, more than 800,000 men were victims of domestic abuse. Now, the obvious question to ask is why domestic violence against men is underreported, and largely ignored by the general media. The answer always starts with the victim.
In the text “Male domestic abuse victim: men are scared to come forward” Nomia Iqbal a presenter and newsreader for BBC 5 live - the BBC's national radio service that specializes in live news, phone-ins, exclusive interviews and sports commentaries, has reported “Mark Kirkpatrick was found on a street in Lancashire seven months ago after his former partner Gemma Hollings attacked him with a pole, hammer and a glass bottle.”. Iqbal said that Mark still bears the scars on his face and body. Her position is important, because states the fact that men aren’t the only predator in the relationship. I think that men tend to be afraid women, because women threaten men with their children and with weapons. In the text “Help for Abused Men” Melinda Smith a M.A., Senior Editor, has a master's degree in psychology and over 15 years of experience as a health writer and editor, states that an abusive wife may hit, kick, bite, punch, spit, throw things, or destroy your possessions to make up for any difference in strength. Smith claims that women may attack you while you're asleep or catch you by surprise. Her position is important, because she shows that women tend to use weapons, because they aren’t strong enough. Less and less men are reporting female violence against men, because women threaten them with their own