Women 's Fight Against Domestic Violence

Feminism has not changed today, but its focus has changed. Many women today have good education and employment opportunities just like men, as the early feminist fought for them. Now, after getting all these, men are now discriminating them and at times abusing them in order to undermine their hard work and potentiality. Men are doing all they can to undermine the success women have been able to acquired, however, today’s feminism is struggling to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape as well as discrimination.

“Every year, in the United States there are over 3 million incidents of reported domestic violence. Every year, 4,000 victims of domestic violence are killed.” (Domestic Violence: Disturbing Facts about Domestic Violence). Domestic violence is a crime that is not just committed in the United States, but worldwide. This crime is committed every day, every hour, every minute, and every second. Anybody can be a victim or the abuser. This can happen to any child, man or woman. This is a horrific crime. Women are more likely to be the victim in domestic violence than men. “Forty-five percent of all violent attacks against female victims 12 years old and older by multiple

Violence against women is a substantial public health problem in the United States. According to data from the criminal justice system, hospital, and medical records, mental health records, social services, and surveys, thousands of women are injured or killed each year as a result of violence, many by someone they are involved with or were involved with intimately. Nearly one-third of female homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2001). Throughout this, many will read about intimate partner violence also called

“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.

Some signs of an abusive relationship occurring are: feeling unsafe or nervous around the other person, constantly being negatively criticized, or feeling emotionally helpless. A highly recommended way to stop the abuse is to leave the relationship as soon as possible. Most people have trouble doing this because they feel afraid to take any stance against the controlling abuser. Abusers have a way of making their victim feel as though they deserve the brutal treatment they are receiving. They are usually very talented at making excuses for their wrongdoings and terrible actions.

Domestic violence is violent or aggressive behavior pattern in a relationship between two partners within the home. Domestic Violence typically involves one of the individuals I the relationship to be controlling and wants to take advantage and control of the other. The University of Louisiana at Monroe needs a new organization that can make a difference and give both women and men a sense of hope and safety; this solution should be the National Coalition against Domestic Violence (NCADV). The National Coalition against Domestic Violence is an organization that was founded in 1978 in Washington, D.C. The NCADV began at the United States commission on Civil Rights hearing for battered women. The organization focuses on domestic violence in the home and society-wide violence and factors which perpetuate violence against women and children.

In the early days of the battered women’s movement, feminists wanted to establish new forms of structural organization by distancing themselves from the hierarchy of mainstream institutions. However, one of the problems radical feminists had was the funding of their autonomous institutions. Feminists faced the challenge of creating autonomous institutions that would engage with mainstream institutions (Reinelt and Ferree, 73). While liberal feminists wanted to reform existing political institutions, radical feminists were in favor of organizing alternative autonomous institutions. Although more battered women’s shelters started to form due to the support of local and state governments, radical activists feared that these shelters would become

Domestic violence is a serious and complex plague of society that affects all, but women make up the largest number of victims in most case studies. In the United States alone, "1.5 million women are raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner each year. More than 500,000 women victims require medical treatment, and 324,000 victims are pregnant at the time of assault" (Berlinger, "Taking" 42). Numbers like these show how intense the situation of domestic violence truly is. "Two women a week are killed by a current or former partner and domestic violence accounts for 22% of all recorded violent crimes" (Jamil 70). Domestic violence takes such a large number in percentages regarding violent crimes, yet often is

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.

Domestic violence is defined as a persistent pattern of abusive behavior in a relationship in which it’s used for one partner to gain power and control over the other. Such violence may be physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological. According to The National Domestic Violence Hotline, an average of 24 people per minute in the United States are victims of some sort of domestic abuse by an intimate partner. Unfortunately, many of these victims suffer physical, psychological and social side effects.

The social and criminal justice benefits that are in the growth of the anti-domestic violence movement, and the anti-violence against women movement is the new family violence option. The family violence option help screen women that have been in domestic violence which waves these women rights to have to work under most federal program. This amendment could be add to the Housing Opportunity act of 1996. This act can get the housing authorities to start screening for domestic values.The problem is very few women disclose of the actual domestic violent.These problem ease when train profession in domestic violence advocate work with welfare caseworkers to help with these case otherwise these people feel pity by the caseworker. A lot of time,

I think feminist theory would work well with this population because they are victims and they need empowerment so they can start the healing process, and I do think feminist theory would do this for them. you know there is a belief that the violence has to be life threatening before it is an issue for concern and that is a shame. I feel that domestic violence starts small many start with belittle the other maybe its playful and in front of friends so you shake it off and you think nothing of it, and within time its not a big deal, but usually by this time there is another escalation until it becomes a bigger problem. I do feel that we need more preventative measures to catch the abuse early on before the threat of violence occurs or becomes

Every year in the United States, One in four women are victims of the domestic violence; however, this is only based on what has been reported to the department of justice (Stahly 2008). While men are also victims of domestic violence, women are more often the victims. Moreover, 90% of domestic violence is male initiated. In severe cases domestic violence ends with victims being murdered. More specifically, domestic violence resulted in 2,340 deaths in the United States in 2007, and 70% of those killed were females (CDC 2012). Many people think that victims have the option of leaving and many people blame victims for putting up with the abuse; what many people don 't know is, victims of domestic violence have many reasons preventing them from leaving their abusers, these reasons include, isolation, having children bounding them with the abuser and lack of financial support. "It 's never pretty when you leave an abusive and controlling relationship. The warden always protests when a prison gets shut down," says Dr. Steve Maraboli (qtd from web). Whether a victim stays or leaves their abuser, the outcomes of both situations are not always as easy as many people predict. In some situations, the outcomes of leaving may be very dangerous for both the victim and her children.

Many abusers threaten their victims with physical harm or even death. These threats are believable and taken quite seriously by the victim. When attempts are made by the victim to leave, the abuser usually escalates the violence, Threatens to kill the victim, children and himself. Out of fear that the abuser may carry out the threats, the victim will stay in the abusive relationship (Herbert & Ellard, 2004).

Quite often, the abusers of women are not strangers but men known to the victim. Intimate partner violence, which includes abuse and marital rape, is one of the most common forms of violence against women (Blanchfield et al., 9). While advertisements in the 1950s treated domestic violence as a gimmick, this acceptance of abuse is not an issue of the past. In February of this year, Russia’s president signed a law into action that decriminalized domestic violence – a law which nearly all of Russian lawmakers voted in favor of. As long as the attack was not a repeat offense within a year’s time and the victim only suffered minor injuries, like bruises or slight abrasions, the offender will face fifteen days of jail time with a possible fine of $500 (Solomon). In a country where domestic violence is part of life, this piece of legislation is a step back for safety of all women. This law allows a man another opportunity to hurt his wife before he is punished; governments should aim to decrease violence instead of letting it slip by.