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What is domestic violence? Domestic violence is the use, or threatened use of physical force, violence, a deadly weapon, sexual assault, or the intentional destruction of property. It is behaviour that has the intent or impact of placing a victim in fear of physical injury, and a pattern of behaviour resulting in emotional and psychological abuse, economic control, and / or interference with personal liberty that is directed towards the following: a current or former spouse, or a person with whom the abuser shares a child in common, or a current or former intimate partner. Domestic violence is behaviour emotional, psychological, physical, or sexual abuse that one person in an intimate relationship uses in order to control the other. It takes many different forms and includes behaviour such as threats, name calling, isolation, withholding of money, actual or threatened physical harm and sexual assault. Most domestic violence is committed against women by their male partners.
It also occurs in lesbian and gay relationships and is common in teenage dating relationships. Womens Stories: My husband constantly came home after a long days work, frustrated and irritable. Hed walk in the door, eat his dinner, look up at me, and say, Marsha, I want to have sex. My three year old and seven year old children were always in bed and asleep at this time of night, so they could never hear my pleads for Jamie to stop. Hed never listen to me. In the end I just gave up and agreed to have sex with him.
This went for 6 months before I built up the courage to leave him. My partner is over protective. He doesnt let me visit friends or family, but instead says that I have to stay at home. Once my mother was sick and needed my help, but when my partner discovered that I left the house, he just snapped and completely lost it.
He began to shout abusive threats and criticism at me in front of my four-year-old son, and also began to throw anything he could get his hands on at me. After it all happened he would return back to normal, take me to the hospital, and make up some reason as to why I got so hurt, this time saying that I got drunk and fell over. This wasnt the first time that he had done this to me, and he told me that he would try not to do it again, providing that I stuck to the rules. I knew in his heart that he really did love me, which is why I decided to stay, like every other time he abuses me. Why dont women leave from abusive relationships? All too often the question Why do women stay in violent relationships?
is answered with a victim-blaming attitude. Women victims of abuse often hear that they must like or need such treatment, or they would leave. Others may be told that they are one of the many women who love too much or who have low self esteem. The truth is that no one enjoys being beaten, no matter what their emotional state or self image. A womans reasons for staying are more complex than a statement about her strength of character.
In many cases it is dangerous for a woman to leave her abuser. If the abuser has all of the economic and social status, leaving can cause additional problems for the woman. Leaving could mean living in fear and losing child custody, losing financial support, and experiencing harassment at work. Although there is no profile of the woman who will be battered, there is a well-documented syndrome of what happens once the violence starts. Abused women experience shame, embarrassment and isolation. A woman may not leave battering immediately because: - she realistically fears that the abuser will become more violent and maybe even fatal it she attempts to leave. - Her friends and family may not support her leaving. - She knows the difficulties of single parenting in reduced financial circumstances. - There is a mix of good times, love and hope along with the manipulation, intimidation, and fear. - She may not know about or have access to safety and support.
Domestic violence is not new. Victims of this crime have been speaking out and naming the abuse perpetrated against them for a long time. Stereotypically, the victims are primarily referred to as woman, and the abusers referred to as men. This is because at least 95 % of the victims are women and 98 % of batterers are men. But it is important to recognise that violence also occurs in gay and lesbian relationships, men are victims of domestic violence, and women sometimes abuse heterosexual relationships.
Regardless of gender, the pattern of behaviours that a batterer uses to gain control is always the same. Mens Stories: My wife in one of her drunken rages took our daughters baseball bat and used it to smash the locked door to my study, where I was trying desperately to meet a deadline. And since Im over 6 feet tall and muscular, I wouldnt get much sympathy posing as a abused man! I had thought of calling the police that night.
When I recalled this incident to my divorce lawyer some time later, his response was: Its a good thing you didnt, because the police probably would have arrested you. My son was married to a violent young woman for a few months before he left her. He is much larger than her and is a one time amateur boxing champion. She never used weapons, so she never came close to hurting him physically.
But she hit him whenever she got the notion to, she cut up his clothes and threw them in the yard, she destroyed the trophies he had accumulated in various sports competitions since childhood, and she destroyed a wedding album my wife had made for them. Neither party was blameless, but the physical violence was all hers. If my son had ever hit her, there would have been evidence for weeks. I was in a hellish marriage with a woman who had difficulty controlling her rage, which would frequently erupt with her hitting, verbal abuse, and screaming. If fighting with her did occur, it was self-defence; if she threw a punch or kicked, I defended myself.
In one particular case, after she initiated the fight by kicking and throwing punches, she called the police to report me as the violent abuser! When they responded, I was seen as the bad guy, not the victim. Statistics: - One in five adolescent girls will experience a form of sexual or physical violence in her lifetime, according to the journal or American Medical Association. - In the US, a woman is abused every nine seconds. - The AMA and the FBI estimate that 4 million women are abused every year. - Family violence kills as many women every five years as the total number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War 54000 men and women. - Approximately 50 % of all homeless women and children in the US are fleeing from domestic violence. - Child witnesses of domestic violence are victims of child abuse at a rate 1500 % higher than the national average. - Ina 36 month study of 147 children, ages 11 to 17, from homes where wife beating was a major problem, all sons over th...
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Research essay sample on Domestic Violence Sexual Assault
