Religion And Domestic Violence Essay

Prior to the 1800’s, the majority of legal systems regarded ‘wife beating’ as a way in which a husband could assert his dominance and authority over his wife. Within the 1970’s, attention to domestic violence began with the woman’s movement, principally through the introduction of feminism and women’s rights. In recent years however, the way domestic violence is viewed has changed. Previously, domestic violence only occurred within marriage, predominantly against wives and therefore formalised through the use of a marriage contract. Within modern society, domestic violence can now refer to

State (Miccio, 1999). Through the rule of thumb, any conduct that resulted in black eyes, welts, and split lips constituted no violation of the law. Husbands would not be prosecuted if they beat their wives with a stick no thicker than the diameter of their thumb. This rule of thumb, in effect, gave husbands the right to use physical force as a means to control their wives behavior and women were left at the mercy and control of their husbands. In 1870 the “subtle chastisement” law in the United States ended, but women saw little improvement in the prevalence of domestic violence (Ball, 2002).

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

There are many theories out there that try to explain why domestic violence happens. Some like family violence theory say that it is passed down through the family because basically what you see is what you will do. Others say it’s a chemical imbalance or its based on other things. I believe that it is a little bit of all of the theories but the Culture of Violence Theory is playing a huge role today in helping shape our young children’s minds as to what is now acceptable. During this assignment we will look at four different types of examples of how the Culture of Violence Theory is doing just that.

The United States has a long history of domestic violence. Nearly six million American women will be battered by their spouses every year (United Way, 1998). Tradition gives men the right to control their family including their wife. Violence

Although there are now laws against domestic violence, the issue still seems to be present in the 21st century. Once given an blind eye to is existence for decades people are now forced to face the fact that domestic violence is an major issue no matter when and where it may occur. In this essay I will be addressing the issues of:

United States social history has had many defining moments in which attitudes of domestic violence has changed. However, some of them did not make a huge impact or movement enough to change society’s views. Per class discussion, we learned that for many centuries women were seen as property of men and used as reproduction. There was a lack of respect and being beaten was part of them norm but at the same time men were considered the women’s “protectors”, which is ironic because women needed protection from their husbands. To top it all off, divorce was looked frown upon, leaving women no choice but to stay with their partners.

This is evident in violent relationships in rural areas. In Southern Appalachia, where men are still believed to be the primary breadwinners and dominant ones in the household, domestic violence continues in private. In a great deal of homes, one will find that a woman is still expected to stay at home while taking care of the house, the children, and the man. As stated before, old biblical scriptures are used to justify such roles. Until fairly recently, women have remained solely dependent on men due to the inability to vote or own property. Men often times used this as a way to control women. Women had nowhere to go and she was expected to stay with her husband no matter what. Without having a means to provide for herself or her children, she had to endure the beatings. This type of behavior, aside from causing harm to the woman, also caused harm to the children that witnessed it. Often times, young men that grow up in a violent home think that it is okay to treat others in a violent way and young women believe that it is okay to be treated as so, never breaking the cycle of male

Knowledge of domestic violence is becoming prevalent in the United States and around the world. Family violence, teen dating violence and intimate partner violence are being talked about openly more; they are also becoming known as abuse and not something that is just “ok” or “just how a person is”. Beliefs and laws are changing toward nonviolence as discussed in this report.

The early 1800’s most legal systems accepted “wife-beating” as a husband’s right and a part of his entitlement to control his wife in every way, Female activists caused a drastic change, because by the end of the 19th century, most courts denied that husbands had any right to chastise their wives. Ever since the 1980’s domestic abuse is the most reported crime on file compared

The roots of intimate partner violence (IPV) stem from unequal power, where men have been thought to be more superior to women. Women and children have long been looked at as the property of men and therefore violence has been used as control. Individuals have used scriptures from the Old Testament of the Bible to justify their reasoning behind beating their partner. Old laws have plagued the books in America that has given men permission to beat their wives. The “rule of thumb” saying stems from an old court case called State V. A.B Rhodes where a husband was found innocent because the judge stated that his wife was allowed to be “punished” with a stick that was no bigger than her husband’s thumb (Clark, 1929). Unequal power between men

ace and religion, along with sexual orientation are huge factors when it comes to domestic violence. Certain races have more of a history of domestic violences cases. In this article, it talk about how black offenders outnumber white offenders in the U.S. Army. This is odd because of how much white soldiers outnumber black soldiers in the Army (Journal Of Family Violence 15.2 (2000): 199-20.) Religion also plays a huge role when it comes to domestic violence. Through texts, traditions, teachings and doctrine, religious communities and institutions convey values and belief systems to their members. In addition, members often have direct support or counseling relationships with religious leaders who may provide guidance or instruction. Religious

The history of domestic violence goes back all the way to the start of mankind. Ever since lower people were taken advantage of by higher people in society. The men were much stronger than the women which resulted in the women usually being the ones abused. In the beginning, the man had every right to abuse his woman. If you stare back into the 1940’s and 1950’s you will notice that little was done to stop domestic violence. The police would get involved but would leave the situation to be resolved by the family members. As suggested in the peer-reviewed article “Domestic violence past and present” by Anna Clark, policemen would just tell the man to composed himself and the woman to stop aggravating him. For example, in the sentence “Before the 1970s, judges and police officers still saw wife beating as a trivial offense—policemen would tell husbands to calm down and wives to stop annoying them, and cases rarely came to court. Popular culture depicted wife beating as a joke, and psychiatrists saw it as a pathology of the

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

Since the beginning of the human race, domestic violence has been present. However, it was not until recent centuries that people began to look at it as a crime. To many people, in many cultures, domestic violence was seen as not only acceptable, but necessary in some situations.