The Problem Of Female Violence

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.

Violent crimes towards women have been an ongoing issue in American history. The National Institute of Justice and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked together in 1996 to sponsor a National Violence Against Women Survey (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). They interviewed men and women eighteen years of age or older and were asked questions based on violent crimes.

As mentioned before and regarding gender, women are far more likely than men to be victims of domestic violence (Kimmel and Holler, 2011, 375). Sev’er (2002) suggests an interesting finding regarding men and women who have fallen victim or have witnessed domestic abuse in their childhood. In her findings, Sev’er concluded that in comparison to non-violent men, violent men were three times more likely to have witnessed violence as a child, meanwhile, women who were raised in violent homes were twice as likely to fall victim to a form of domestic violence as opposed to women who were not raised in non-violent homes (109). As a child, if their role models, such as their fathers, got away with violence, they would assume that violent behaviour was acceptable (Sev’er, 2002, 109)

Over the past forty years, studies and research have constantly found that women and men engage in violence at similar rates. Family Violence Surveys suggest that “The phenomenon of husband battering” (1977) is as, if not more, common than wife abuse. However, despite the plentiful evidence and studies that support this fact, violence committed by females is largely ignored throughout the areas of literature and media. These areas, instead, choose to consistently suggest that domestic violence is only committed by males. Through this action, or inaction, to recognize the general topic within the discussion, the occurrence of female

After reading this chapter, I am shocked over how much violence towards women goes underreported. I knew beforehand that victims of gendered violence do not report their situation to the police for various reasons, ranging from fear to shame. However, I did not know that reporting of gendered violence is especially rare in communities with women of color. Realizing how minority communities expect the female members “...to maintain silence about sexual assault, to protect ‘family honor and community integrity’” (p.265) was both frustrating and heartbreaking. The fact that the community the woman is a member of, during the time she needs them the most, expects her to continue suffering with her current situation was depressing to read. I can understand how the minority community, and the minority victim of abuse, may want to keep the police out of their situation because of reports about police brutality. However, their denial of receiving help due to stigma against police, who are the most capable for ending the victim’s abuse, was tragic to learn about.

The authors tested their hypothesis by consulting the records of National Survey of Violence and Threats of Violence Against Women and Men in the United States, 1994-1996, and conducting logistic regression models against the data.

Domestic violence is an issue in almost every corner in the world. It is a public health and human rights issue. The accepted levels of violence have changed with history and varies between societies. Here in the United States, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, on average nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused. 1 in 3 women have been victims of physical violence from an intimate partner. The presence of a gun increases the risk of homicide by 500%. On average 3 women are killed each day by an intimate partner, Intimate partner violence is 15% of all violent crime. An analysis done by Every Town for Gun Safety found that 54% of mass shootings were related to domestic or family violence. This paper will be looking at the problem of domestic violence in the United States through the sociological conflict feminist theory.

The earliest literature reference to domestic violence against men can be found in the studies of Suzanne Steinmetz (1977,1978) entitled, “The Battered Husband Syndrome.” She hypothesizes that the incidents of husband-on-wife beatings rivals the incidents of wife perpetrated batterings, and that it was husband abuse not wife abuse that was underreported form of domestic violence. Steinmetz used two United States populations, a broadband nonrepresentative group and a random sample in New Castle, Delaware in the form of police reports and family surveys. The small study found only small differences in the percent of men and women who resorted to violence in the context of pushing, shoving, or hitting with hands or an object. This suggested early on that domestic violence is not a one way street. Husband beating is a serious issue and needs attention due to the fact that it is grossly underreported. Steinmetz received numerous criticism from her colleagues on this concept. In later studies, Murray Straus, Richard Gelles, and Suzanne Steinmetz (1980), authors of the book, Behind Closed Doors: Violence in The American Family, supports Steinmetz’s earlier studies in finding that women acted violently during marital affairs compared to a similar number of men who act violently in the United States. The study used 2,413 family surveys, finding in majority of them that the level of violence was a mutual or bilateral activity, with only 27% of cases finding that husbands were the

Throughout the years, there have been immense efforts to expand knowledge about the experiences women have endured in violent relationships. The emergence of internal, external risk factors, correlates, and causes of intimate partner violence has increased rapidly in recent decades. Although there has been a rise in many supportive groups, there are still various barriers that exist and prohibit women from seeking help to detach themselves from a violent relationship. In reading Roz story, I have learned of the many barriers to understand, “why couldn’t she just leave?” Although this question may have no straight answer and may even have hindered implications, I feel that patriarchy plays a role in this intimate partner violence. The

Every day, women experience violence at the hands of men. Somehow, in our society, even rape and assault have fallen into a moral grey area. With the controversy surrounding [that], few pay much thought to the less extreme, but far more common acts of molestation. While smaller attacks are considered innocuous by many, they too can have long lasting effects of and we as women have no way to ever escape.

Millions of adults each year in the USA are affected by intimate partner violence (IPV). “The National Violence Against Women (NVAW) survey conducted from November, 1995 to May, 1996 indicates that each year an estimated 8.5 million intimate partner victimizations occur among the US population ages 18 and older” (Fang & Corso, 2008, p. 303). “As recognition of IPV as a serious societal problem increases, more attention has been directed to risk and protective factors for IPV perpetration, especially the link between child maltreatment, victimization and future perpetration of IPV” (Fang & Corso, 2008, p. 303). More than 80 percent of all victims are maltreated by one or both parents. Several studies have found that children who have experienced child maltreatment (neglect, physical abuse, or sexual abuse) are more likely as adults to conduct IPV. Of these children, 54 percent suffered neglect, while almost a quarter, 23 percent, suffered physical abuse and nearly 12 percent of the victims were sexually abused (Fang & Corso, 2008).

There is an undeniable definite role of biological sex differences in behavior and violence. In every country and every culture, men are more aggressive and more violent than women (Wright, Tibbetts, and Daigle, 2015). This is the most consistent and universal finding all over the world at every point in history, despite dramatic socialization differences across cultures and time periods. Male and female differences reflect stereotypes, patriarchy, and oppression throughout history.

There is a copious amount of differences between men and women, but what about a difference in violent behavior? Is it possible for women to be just as brutally violent as a man? Many researchers have wondered the same exact thing and have started to explore what exactly constitutes a violent woman. Since violence is a very broad term that holds more than one meaning, it is difficult to define the term “violent women” in the first place. However, there are extreme cases of violence that makes it easier to compare and contrast men and women. One way of addressing this question of whether or not women can be just as violent as men is to see if women are capable of fitting the social criteria of a serial killer. While there are some differences among the genders when it comes to killing, there are many more similarities, which means that extreme violent tendencies between men and women might not be that different after all.

Aggression is seen through demonstration of masculinity and toughness (Cote, 2002). However in reality and empirical data do not support Cote’s statement, like in a study done in Philadelphia, where non-white females have homicide rates two to four times higher than the rates of white males as cited by Barkhuizen (2010). Due to stereotyping and the norms of the society, battery, abuse, and violence done to men are neglected and not treated as serious as battery on women.

According to Kimmel, he states that that some women use violence as a tactic in family conflict while also understanding that men tend to use violence more instrumentally to control women’s lives. (Kimmel, 24 Researchers like Straus try to prove that women are the instigators to these physical altercation, and that creates a high amount of domestic violence. He said that according to 466 women involved in a violent relationship, their partner struck the first blow 43 percent of the cases, they hit first in 53.1 percent of the cases, and they could not