Rape and Intimate Partner Abuse

Intimate partner violence has been a significant issue for centuries in all countries. "Since 1974, nearly 2,600 spousal homicides have been recorded in Canada" (Bunge, 2002). Of these homicides, more than three-quarters have been against women. Although through feminism and the women's liberation movement, there has been a slight improvement in the incidences of violence against women, there has also been a drastic change in the perception of the issue by society. After reviewing the most recent literature on violence against women and victimization through intimate partners, it has become prevalent that there are now two crucial stances that are taken. The first position is that of the women being victimized as the

The first guest speaker to present was Doreen Lesane, an Advocate against Domestic Violence. She gave a general power point presentation on what domestic violence is and how to properly assist a client in that predicament. She goes on to explain that domestic abuse and domestic violence are consider two different forms under the law. The law does not recognize domestic abuse as a criminal act and is categorize as nonphysical form of abuse. As a social worker our goals is not to get the client to flea an abuse relationship but to provided serveries to better Accommodate client by helping them create safety nets. Prof. Elaine Reid makes a startling claim, woman are more likely to be murder when they are trying to leave an abuse spouse, and this is also refer as separation violence. Nevertheless it is important not to judge these individual and to handle the case in a professional matter. As social workers it is essential that we safety guide our client with their approval, out of domestic situation by providing resource, support, understanding and professional services.

There are usually not many reports made about same-sex violence because many were ashamed or thought their situation would not get heard. These individuals feel like their problems would be determined less serious over heterosexual abuse situations. “Lesbian and Gays are more reluctant to report abuse to legal authorities because they fear that they are showing a lack of solidarity among the gay and lesbian community. Many individuals may think there is a difference between the risk factor among heterosexual couples and same-sex couples, however there is no major difference. Also, according to Seccombe (2015) “The rate of abuse in gay and lesbian relationships is similar to or even higher than that in heterosexual relationships, around 25 to 30 percent” (p.322). As we look at the lesbian and gay community we see that they just want to fit in, so this is another reason their stories become unknown. There are many reason to think only woman get victimized, men are victimized, as well. To add, the individuals who describe themselves in the female role are victimized, based on the gender norms where woman should be unassertive and house labors instead of being in the workforce. So, therefore, there is not a major difference or any difference between the risk factors between the heterosexuals and the lesbian and gay intimate

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

Walter (1969) gave a comprehensive definition of violence as “destructive harm including not only physical assaults that damage the body, but also techniques of inflicting harm by mental or emotional means” (p. 24). However, in the context of intimate relationships, the definition of violence requires more aspects to be determined. The basic questions to be asked when defining domestic violence proposed by Hegarty, Sheehan, and Schonfeld (1999) in their article A Multidimensional Definition of Partner Abuse are 1) which relationships should be included as domestic? And 2) how should violence in domestic life be defined? To answer these questions, Hegarty et al. said that it is important to choose the appropriate definition that is most relevant to the purpose of the studies. Dutton (2006) defined domestic violence in his book Rethinking Domestic Violence as “any violence occurring between intimate partners (same sex or other sex, married or unmarried) and against children” (p. 3), but further said that he will only focus on intimate

Before taking this course on family violence, I had an idea what was Intimate Partner Violence. I have always believed that Intimate partner violence involves only married couples. I had also thought that violence between a married couple consider the only force of using physical abuse only. Fortunately after reading about partner violence, I have learned that there was more than just one type of abuses. For example, I never thought that sexual abuse could happen between a couple. In addition, I learned that intimate partner violence does not consider only married partners but also partners who have same sex genders, and are unmarried.

“Domestic violence is a type of abuse by one or both partners in marriage, friends, family, dating or cohabitation” (Aziz & Mahmoud, 2010). There are many forms of abuse from verbal and emotional to physical that often escalates over time in intensity for the victim. Data from the criminal justice system, hospital patient medical records and mental health records, police reports, surveys and social services reports of thousands of women revealed that many are injured and killed as a result of violence from someone close to them. “The US Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) defines domestic violence 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 regardless of race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender” (Robertson & Murachver, 2009). Researchers and the criminal justice system have not been able to agree on a clear definition to domestic violence which can range from physical injury, stalking, verbal abuse and humiliation, denial of shelter and access to money, and intimidation through aggressive behaviors. The definition of domestic violence may vary but the results from physical injury, mental and emotional trauma, and sometimes even death can last a life time.

•44% of percent of lesbian women and 61% of bisexual women compared to 35% of heterosexual women experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime

Long-term Physical and Mental Health Effects of Domestic Violence, written by Kavita Alejo, seeks to find out whether victims of domestic violence are affected in the same way and/or to the same degree based on their gender. Which sex is affected more by domestic violence? She examines both, the long-term physical effects and the long-term mental health effects. The author uses published statistics and studies conducted on the prevalence of domestic violence in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships to answer her question. The author’s purpose of this article is to research domestic violence that occurs in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships, examine the effects of short- and long-term health, in order to provide potential interventions to fight against domestic violence.

The purpose of this piece is not to come to conclusions about how abuse in the LGBTQ community is worse or better than other groups’ experiences with domestic abuse. There is no conceivable logic in attempting to minimise certain groups’ experiences in order to maximise attention towards others; instead this piece will examine these specific issues on a deeper level.

Marital rape, or spousal rape, had been an exceedingly controversial and touchy subject in the United States since the first feminist movement in the 1960s. In this paper, marital rape and spousal rape will be used interchangeably. One of the many challenges in addressing the topic of marital rape, is defining what behaviors should be considered rape. Rape is defined as the unlawful compelling of a person through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse (Dictionary.com). The legal definition of marital rape, however, differs within the United States. Nevertheless, marital rape can generally be defined as any non-consensual interaction or penetration (vaginal, anal, and/or oral) obtained by force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the person or another (Cal Pen Code § 262). Most research having to do with marital rape has included couples who are legally married, separated, divorced or cohabiting with the understanding that the dynamics of sexual violence in a long-term cohabiting relationship are similar to those of a married couple (Mahoney and Williams, 1998). Currently, there has been no study of marital rape that has included married or cohabiting gay or lesbian couples. The reason there is a lack of representation of gay and lesbian couples on

Studies on domestic violence have been carried out for decades. In recent years, scholars have been paying attention to domestic violence in the context of non-heterosexual relationships. They have called for intensive research of lesbian intimate partner violence (IPV) and into the experience of lesbian survivors (Walters, 2011). There is a myth regarding lesbian utopia. The myth originated from the idea that societies in which friendships and relationships are void of men are protected from the natural control and power men possess over women in the patriarchal society. This utopian myth has the perception that since lesbian relationships are composed of two women, then a kind of default egalitarianism is naturally created. Such a myth encourages the delusion that lesbian communities are more enlightened than

Reflecting on the path my answer might take, it is possible that the resources and services available in Ottawa reflect a heteronormative belief about society. Put another way; the services could reproduce the erasure of lesbian experiences of partner violence. In this sense, the experience of heterosexual women and lesbian women could be conflated, and all women offered the same services. That being said, lesbian women may not have their needs met in a way that is concrete or meaningful. Consequently, it is necessary for service and resources that respond to intimate partner violence to offer services outside of a heterosexual lens to better meet the needs of lesbian survivors.

There are many forms of child abuse. Not only can children be physically abused, but they are also in danger of experiencing sexual abuse. In the more recent years, child sexual abuse has come to the attention of a larger part of society. As such, it is becoming more openly discussed. Child sexual abuse is a growing problem, and the stories that have begun to circulate around the world work to illustrate just how serious the problem is. Despite what society is lead to believe, the sexual abuse of a child is the least common out of all forms of child abuse. Out of the different types of child abuse, neglect is the most common, followed by physical abuse, and then sexual abuse comes at the bottom. Still, of all the cases of child abuse reported to and substantiated by authorities, approximately 15% of them concerned sexual abuse. ). It is possible that there are more cases of child sexual abuse, however, and they simply are not being reported. Due to the number of undisclosed cases of child abuse, researchers have conducted various prevalence studies over the years to determine the true number of sexual abuse of children. These studies have determined that around 20% of women and 5-10% of men in America in were sexually abused as children. A great deal of controversy surrounds the number of male victims of child sexual abuse, due to a lack of quality studies. The problem with prevalence studies is that they don 't all share the same definition of abuse, nor do they share

Marital rape is rape committed by the person to whom the victim is married. Many decades passed before there was ever a law against marital rape, even today India, along with other countries do not have a law against it. Some people will say marital rape is impossible and others will say it is totally possible and is considered an actual rape.