Domestic violence is a serious problem in society and there are misconceptions that men are seen as the abusers and cannot be the abused. There are stereotypes that women are seen as the gentle gender, so they cannot be violent. Most domestic violence cases involve women being the victims, and it leaves men often overlooked as a victim, so they are not taken as serious as if a woman was the victims. Male victims are more likely not to report their abuse because of societal norms that men are seen as strong and can take care of themselves. All these misconceptions that men cannot be victims are problems men face, from gender stereotypes, to not having domestic violence services catered towards men, and societal norms that men can take care of …show more content…
Women have always been known as the weaker gender and are protected more often when it comes to violence because of their lack of size and strength, but their difference in size does not mean they are harmless, it means they have to do whatever it takes to inflict pain in any way possible. Women are motivated to use violence in ways of intimidation, anger, and punishing misbehavior by their partner (Straus 338). In the book Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence, Cook notes “’although there were fewer female assaulters than males, women would appear more dangerous than men when they actually become offenders’” (20). The patterns of violence used by women tend to be to throw something or to use a weapon (Cook 22). Women are more protected in domestic violence and when they initiate violence it is most likely because it was self-defense but men are not allowed to use self-defense because the man defending himself is deemed the attacker, even if they were not the ones to initiate violence. Even when the police are involved and they know the victim is a man, they are always going to protect the women first and assume the man was the assaulter. Men are ultimately stuck between a rock and a hard
Domestic violence has been plaguing our society for years. There are many abusive relationships, and the only question to ask is: why? The main answer is control. The controlling characteristic that males attribute to their masculinity is the cause to these abusive relationships. When males don’t have control they feel their masculinity is threatened and they need to do something about it. This doesn’t occur in just their relationships, but rather every facet of life. Men are constantly in a struggle for power and control whether it is at work, home, during sports, or in a relationship, this remains true. So the only way for them to get this power is for them to be “men”; tough, strong, masculine, ones that demand and take power. Where is this thirst for control coming from? Is it the natural structure of a man or is it a social construct? The answer is that it’s the social construction of a patriarchy that results in this thirst for control due to fear. The fear is being emasculated, whether it is by gayness, or femininity. Men use the fear created from domestic violence to gain control, but yet women do have some control in a relationship it is this vague boundary of how much control that leads to domestic violence.
Although domestic violence is a significant societal problem, which continues to receive public and private sector attention, intervention and treatment programs have proven inconsistent in their success. Statistics by various organization show that many offenders continue to abuse their victims. Approximately 32% of battered women are victimized again, 47% of men who abuse their wives do so at least three times per year (MCFBW). There are many varying fact...
Domestic abuse is a significant and threatening issue in the United States. Sadly, the rates of this shameful violence are increasing. This violence is not limited to the privacy of relationships and homes, it occurs everywhere and in all relationships. Football player, Ray Rice portrayed an act of domestic violence when he punched his wife and knocked her unconscious on February 15 of 2014. Women are heavily affected by this abuse and it’s the leading cause of injuries on women. According to crime reports (qtd. in “Domestic Violence”), one woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds in the United States. Also, according to a report (qtd. in “Domestic Violence”), domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in the United States, more than car accidents, muggings, and rapes combined. Domestic abuse is not simple, it has a historical context to it, it creates abusive cycles in relationships, and it links to economic statuses.
Domestic violence and abuse takes place within family-type intimate relationships and forms a pattern of intimidating and controlling behaviors, which overtime escalates (Dennis, T. 2014, p 1). It can also cause physical psychological or sexual harm to these relations as well (Gul & Faiz, 2013). Domestic Violence according to Fairtlough (2006) is “the misuse of power and the exercise of control by one individual over another, generally by men over women, with whom they have been in an intimate relationship. It assumes a wide range of abusive physical, sexual, and psychological behaviors.” Dennis argued that domestic violence has become a serious societal and public health issue and is a major risk factor for psychiatric disorders
Each year approximately 4.8 million acts of physical or sexual aggression are perpetrated against women while 2.9 million physically aggressive acts are perpetrated against men within the United States (Edleson, Ellerton, Seagren, Kirchberg, Schmidt & Ambrose, 2007). Many of these incidents take place in the presences of children, which make these figures even more disturbing (Evans, Davies & DiLillo, 2008). Research indicates that 40.2% of United States battered women responding in national surveys state that their children have witnessed one or more abusive events (Edleson et al., 2007). Overall 66% of research samples regarding childhood exposure to domestic violence reported to having direct exposure to the abuse (Barnett, Miller-Perrin & Perrin, 2011).
However, it is too often overlook that domestic violence may not only occur in terms of a man meting out violence against a woman but could also render a man as the victim too. Many times people turn their backs on male victims of domestic violence (Murray, S. & Powell, A. (2007). Due to the focus on violence against women, men lack a proper or even popular framework to fight domestic violence when it occurs that they are victims (Cruz, 1996). There is also a stereotype that only women can be victims of domestic violence. This makes it hard for men to open up and report when they experience violence from a partner (Cruz, 1996).
In the past century, America has made great leaps in terms of equality. With the efforts made by the civil rights and suffrage movements, all people gained the right to vote. We are even moving forward with marriage equality, and currently fifteen states recognize same-sex marriage. But regardless of all of our progressive institutional movements forward, we continue to socially oppress women. Men’s violence against women has grown to be an internationally recognized epidemic, and will continue to grow unless measures be made to stop it. Domestic violence continues to be prevalent in the lives of many families, and is the primary cause of homelessness in half of cases for women in children. Many women have been forced to alter their behaviors out of fear of being sexually or physically assaulted. One out of every three women is sexually or physically abused in their lifetimes. The first thing that comes to mind is, there are a lot of people abusing women out there. Many people with opposing ideas may claim that men can be victims of violence perpetrated by women, but in instances not used for self-defense, it is rarely part of a systematic pattern of power and control through force or threat of force. In fact, 99% of rape is perpetrated by men, but when confronting men about the issue of violence against women, it is often combated with denial. Jackson Katz writes in his book, The Macho Paradox, “We take comfort in the idea of the aforementioned child-rapist murderer as a horrible aberration. A monster. We’re nothing like him.”(Katz 30). The sad truth is that most women who are raped are raped by men they know, or even men they love. Many men have a hard time believing that saying that most violence is perpetuated by men does not...
National data gives us an indication of the severity of this issue. When 1 in 5-woman report being victims of severe physical violence (NISVS, 2010), we must ask ourselves if enough is being done to prevent this from occurring. From a historical point, there has always almost been a distinction from men on woman violence. Based on the disparity of cases reported, male inflicted violence on females is much higher and prevalent. When the perpetrators of DV, and IPV are predominately males, we can no longer dismissed this issue as a cultural, or
Domestic Violence Statistics states, “Around the world, at least one in every 3 women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime” (1). The United States Department of Justice 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” (para. 1). Domestic violence is a crime that numerous citizens fall victim to in every country. Anyone can be a victim of domestic violence regardless of race, gender, sexuality or religion. Being a victim of domestic violence can affect a person’s way of life permanently and the way these victims interact with other people can become a difficult task and can eventually affect their future. Domestic violence is substantially wrong because it can cause drastic permanent effects in a person’s life, can cause physical, emotional and intellectual damage, and affects a child’s state of mind of what is normal and what is not if they are in a domestic violent atmosphere. While women are usually victims of domestic violence, men are victims of this crime as well. The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney states that, “According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, men account for approximately fifteen percent of the victims of reported intimate partner crimes” (Clark County Prosecuting Attorney, par.1). Physical, emotional, economic and physiological abuses are all forms of domestic violence that many people would consider to fall under another crime. There are many crimes that many citizens commit, but domestic violence is one of many that should not be taken lightly.
Most people in society are one sided when it comes to domestic violence. Most people automatically think domestic violence as men abusing women. Most people believe domestic violence is associated with gender. For instance, some people associate men with violent, destructive, and belligerent behavior. While women are often seen as innocent, fragile, and vulnerable. For many years men were the ones showing violent behavior, so most people believe men are usually the aggressor. Many people believe men should never abuse a woman, and if he does he will charged and most likely serve jail time. Although, women are not viewed the same way. Over the years women have become just as aggressive and violent as men have been portrayed. Many women who are violent are given a pass if they abuse a man. More simply, their behavior is overlooked, because they are not seen as a threat to society, so they will most likely not be jailed or punished for their behavior. In addition, there are many resources to help women get out of domestic violence situations. For instance, there are hotlines they can call, shelters they can visit, and support
The Duluth model, developed in 1981, became the first multi-disciplinary, community wide program designed to fully explain domestic violence. Its primary aim is to reduce interpersonal violence against women and it is now the most widely used model worldwide. The Model uses the “Power and Control Wheel” to help men understand there abusive behaviour and to convince men to use nonviolent behaviour outlined in the “Equality” wheel. It holds abusive men fully accountable for their violence and provides safety for victims of violence. However, many men who have perpetrated feel no sense of power and control in their lives (Dutton & Starzomski, 1994). The Duluth model deems interpersonal violence as a wilful exertion of male dominance over women to conform to the norms of society. In this view, the model does not assume that dom...
But we don 't really know why men choose to be violent towards women. A study of the mothers of child abuse victims shows that battering is the most common context for child abuse, that the battering male is the typical child abuser. Feminist theory in domestic violence emphasizes gender and power inequality in opposite-sex relationships. Feminist theory also has to do with gender equalities and how men still believe that they are the superior sex.
To begin with, the definition of domestic violence is “the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another” (“What Is Domestic Violence”). Ranging from grown women to young children, many are victims to abuse. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States” (“Statistics”). Just by calculating, that is 28,800 people who are abused in just ONE DAY! The scary part is that this number does not even account for the numerous cases that are not even told. Many victims are threatened or even hurt so bad that they must keep their mouth shut in fear of even worse abuse to come. Of
Domestic violence is a terrible curse to all those involved. It inflicts harm on the victim, the perpetrator and witnesses, whether they be children or not. While support services have long been available to assist women and/or children overcome any issues that arise as a result of domestic violence, these services have left out a significant portion of victims, those that are male. In 2012 The Australian Bureau of Statistics found “That 33.3 per cent of victims of current partner violence during the last 12 months were male” (ABS, 2012) and “37.1 per cent of victims of emotional abuse by a partner during the last 12 months were male” (ABS, 2012). This shows the amount of victims that are being left behind by domestic violence support networks in their current state, despite their good intentions. For such a painful and difficult time it is not adequate to leave one third of those suffering behind.
Domestic violence is skyrocketing in our society. In the U.S., as many as 1.5 million women and 850,000 men were physically assaulted by their intimate partner last year, and numerous children abused by their parents. These sad criminal acts will continue to grow in our society, unless our community takes action to stop these crimes.