Non Violent Attempts At Preventing Domestic Abuse

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

However, to ensure that social change occurs we need to take more of a radical approach and change the way in which women and men are represented in the media. We need to take this corrupt already existing system and make people (including men) realize that domestic violence is their problem too, and they need to challenge the socialization of gender roles. Since, education has large impact on many people’s lives classes should be offered in schools educating students about the socialization of domestic violence. These classes could potentially cause a decrease the prevalence of the issue. “The number of years a person spends in school has been shown to have a positive correlation with a decrease in both future victimization and perpetration of physical and sexual violence” (Gender-Based Violence and Education

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).

Nearly 1 million women experience at least 1 incident of domestic violence every year. (Leaving Abuse) Domestic violence is currently still an ongoing issue in today’s world and it is utterly socially unacceptable. I chose to talk about this topic because I’ve personally experienced this for myself, where in turn I’d like to present this topic as a learnable experience for others who may be going through the same thing. I would like to present the topic with my personal experience, how I have tackled this obstacle in my life and strategies as to how I think will best help other people who are going through this problem as well. Domestic violence can also be related to the conflict theory’s perspective, where I will be discussing this perspective’s views on the issue.

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.

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 (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

Within these domestic violence occurrences between couples, women have been the instigators of 71 (Rhymes 2014) percent of nonreciprocal domestic violence acts. With such high statistics of male domestic violence, men seem almost completely ignored by the lack of abuse shelters and violence advertisement in the media compared to the amount of attention is brought towards women regarding this issue. In modern society, we often accept the idea portrayed by media that “males are naturally abusive and that females are natural targets of male abuse” (Allen and Kivel 73) as violence has become a normal occurrence in every day life, but we seldom challenge the idea that men are the only ones to be violent towards their partners. Additionally, such generalization is also an extremely heterosexual view, excluding male to male relationships in the equation. By talking to many students at my university campus about this issue, I found that most people seemed to be misinformed and undereducated about what even constitutes as domestic violence. Since the first step of action towards any issue is awareness and knowledge, it is important that society has a

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.

There are various ways that the issue of domestic violence can be addressed. Through the resolution and prevention of domestic issues,

“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.

Domestic violence has become an epidemic in our society and must not be ignored. We as human beings all have feelings and opinions on this subject. It is just human nature to try and avoid confrontation of any sort, but even more so when getting involved in another’s domestic relationship. I cannot count the times I have heard someone say “it’s not my problem” or someone making that profound statement “mind your own business, this does not involve you.” This seems to be the general consensus when tallied and tolled. The statistics speak loudly and somewhere in our life time we will all witness the devastating effects of domestic violence on someone we love and care about and suddenly it becomes our problem. The statistics show 1 in 4 women experience domestic abuse in their lifetime. As stated by (Bancroft & Silverman, 2002)” men, are victims of nearly 3 million physical assaults in the US” (p. 4).

Domestic violence will always happen within society, and this is due to gender inequality. Gender refers to men and women having different socially constructed roles within society, we expect different roles from both men and women and we expect different behaviours from both genders, this can be constructed through our interaction with other people. We expect both genders to behave in different, for example we may expect women to be devoting mother and the father to be the one who goes out to work. As men will always see themselves as the sexes that are stronger. With the rise of what has become a global women's movement, the legitimacy and invisibility of such violence became challenged. Today, male gender-based violence against women is globally recognized as a health, economic development, and human rights concern (Amnesty International, 2004). When we think about domestic violence we normally assume that it is the male in the relationship that is the violent one. Feminists researchers claim that if we want domestic violence to end then structures of gender inequality must change. As domestic violence is now more understood, many victims are now willing to talk about it to even get help.