Nearly 24 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner (Chemaly) and one in three women are the victims of domestic violence. Whether it is physically, emotionally, or financially, domestic violence can take its toll on a person and change them in a way they have never experienced. Women that are victims often stay with their abuser because they refuse to leave, they interpret the abuse as justification of love, or the abuser makes excuses to get into the victim's head.
There are many ways that domestic violence can take place. Physical violence, sexual assault, economic control, and psychological/emotional abuse are the most recurrent types. Domestic violence can also come in the forms of cyberstalking, financial abuse,
…show more content…
They will try to manipulate and put the blame on the victim so they think it is their fault. The abuser will blame everybody else for their own personal problems. He/she will have the tendency to accuse the victim of cheating or lying, embarrassing the victim or putting them down, isolating them from friends and family, and showing jealousy of any time the victim is not spending with them. They also have more physical and severe tendencies such as forcing sex, forcing drug or alcohol use towards the victim, destroying property, preventing the victim from going to work or attending school and/or harassing them at either place.
The victims of domestic violence have many reasons and factors as to why they would want to stay in the relationship. Depending on their partner economically is a major reason to why they stay. Their partner may have given them little to no control with their own money. The abuser will tend to take the victim's money and control any income. If a victim would try to leave while the abuser has control of their money, they may not be economically stable enough to do
…show more content…
Three to four million children between three and seventeen years old are at risk of being exposed to th violence. Children experiencing domestic violence includes seeing the incidents, hearing the threats, and observing the aftermath. They will often times blame themselves for as to why the violence has begun to occur. Responses to the abuse by children include depression, guilt, fear, sadness and anger. The victim also fears making major life changes. They feel helpless, hopeless and trapped (¨Why Do Abuse Victims Stay?¨) and often times, the abuser will threaten to take the children, so the victim fears losing custody. They also fear physical harm to the children by the abuser.
Most women who are in abusive relationships have been with their partner for a period of time. They have become attached and would be emotionally unstable if they were to leave. Women sometimes feel like they can bounce back to the good part of the relationship. Emotionally abused women can experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can limit her ability to live a mentally and emotionally stable life. It can take a large toll and make the woman continuously question why the relationship went down the path that it did and what she could have done to fix
Domestic Violence is a widely recognized issue here in the United States. Though many people are familiar with domestic violence, there are still many facts that people do not understand. Abuse is not just physical, it is mental, emotional, verbal, sexual and financial. Many victims of physical abuse are also fall victim to these abuse tactics as well. An abusive partner often uses verbal, mental, emotional, and financial abuse to break their partner so to speak. It is through this type of abuse the victim often feels as though they are not adequately meeting their partner’s needs.
“Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is defined as a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors, including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks as well as economic coercion that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partners” (Peeks-Asa). When it comes to domestic violence many people don’t want to get involved, but if just one person took a stand maybe others would follow and potentially save a life, like the neighbors did in The Day It Happened by Rosario Morales. Domestic violence can happen to anyone at any time, there is no typical victim or perpetrator. The fact that there is no one specific group that domestic violence occurs in more than another, only makes it more difficult to get an accurate representation of just who is being affected by this crime. “Domestic violence and abuse does not discriminate” (Smith and Segal). Domestic violence can have specific victims such as a spouse or domestic partner, a child, or an elder. Domestic violence can affect men as well as women. Some types of domestic violence are physical, verbal or nonverbal, sexual, stalking or cyberstalking, economic or financial, and spiritual.
In this paper I will be telling you many different forms of domestic violence. I will include the physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, spiritual abuse, economic abuse, social abuse, and emotional abuse. I will also describe the "cycle of violence", teen dating violence, and why women stay with an abusive partner.
The dynamics surrounding the decision to leave or stay, and possible consequences are very complex. There are various reasons victims may either opt to stay in an abusive relationship. Feelings of fear, shame, hopelessness, and the inability to provide for themselves are common factors. However, one of the primary reasons is some people do not realize they are victims. Quite often abusers can be very charismatic using apologies, affection, and promises to end the negative behavior to control their victims. Unfortunately, this tactic can create an emotional sense of conflict as the victim begins to reflect on the good times, while battling with the reality of the present. This type of behavior often predicates or serves as the prelude to the cycle of abuse theory, a component of the Battered Woman Syndrome; thus being the primary reason victims find it difficult to leave. In an article entitled “When Love Hurts” by Jill Cory and Karen McAndless –Davis, various facets and resulting impact of domestic violence are explored and correlated to BWS. In making the correlation between the cycle of abuse of and BWS, the cycle of abuse is the eighth component of the Battered Woman Syndrome (Fulero & Wrightsman, 2009) defined as a distinct pattern having three
“Such a woman faces two major obstacles: fear and finance -- fear for her safety and that of her children and a lack of money to support herself or them. The most dangerous time in the life of a battered woman is when she attempts to leave her abuser. Threatened by the loss of control, the batterer is likely to become even more violent and may even try to kill her. There are simply not enough shelters to protect all the women who need them” (1).
Women will continue to suffer from domestic violence unless there is some sort of intervention to help them. When dealing with this population, it is essential to create a safe environment where the woman can talk freely about the abuse without any retaliation from the abuser. When someone comes into a therapeutic session, everyone deserves to be treated with respect and care. This in turn will create a sense of hope that a different type of life can be possible. Also, knowing that there is a support system can help the woman begin the process of change. Despite this, the process of leaving the abusive partner is slow (Warshaw, n.d.)
“Women have throughout history been the most victimized by someone they knew (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence pg. 1) Most abusers usually start out with emotional abuse because it makes the target emotionally weaker and less likely to fight back. It also probably has the most different ways to inflict abuse. Characteristics of emotional abuse usually consist of putting her down, making her feel bad about herself, name calling, mind games, humiliation, making her feel guilty, and think she’s crazy. A more specific action would be using the children to make her feel guilty about them (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence pg.2). This is usually done by using visitation to harass her and or the children, using the kids to relay messages, and threatening to take them away( National Coalition Against Domestic Violence pg.2 ).Abusers are also known to use things like “coercion and threats”( National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Pg2 ). “Two of the most common threats are to leave them or commit suicide” (National Coalitional Against Domestic Violence pg 2 ). “Most domestic abuse cases are never reported to the authorities (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence pg.1 ).” This is probably due to the fact that most are too ashamed of what is going on and feel that they let it happened or they deserve the horrible ...
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.
When some people are asked this question they automatically say the answer is not because they feel that a person who is a domestic violence abuser can’t change their ways and they will always have that urge in them to abuse the person they say they care about or love. Research might have a different answer to this question. First, a person might ask what qualifies as domestic violence in order for a person to be considered one.
Domestic violence, we all hear about it, in fact over 6 million kids witness domestic violence annually. Many people believe that domestic violence isn’t a huge issue but it has major effects that can result in physical injury, physiological trauma, and sometimes death. Annually, 37 billion dollars are the health costs of domestic violence, 37 billion dollars that could be put to better use. The consequences of domestic violence can cross generations and truly last a lifetime, therefore community programs, education and intervention, increased censorship in television, and harsher penalties as well as easy accessible help needs to be a focus throughout high schools as well as throughout the mid-twenties.
A common problem in the world today is domestic abuse. Many times the male of a household abuses the woman and children that they life with. Although there are opportunities to safely get out of these situations, women too often stay. While this seems crazy that anyone would even think of staying in a situation of such violent nature, the reason is for more astonishing. Many times the women of these relationships love their abuser. An article written by a woman named Amanda
Thesis: In my paper, I will be examining the different types, possible causes, and effects of Intimate Partner Violence, and what treatments or programs are available to combat this growing problem in America. Regardless of differing approaches to fight it, statistics show that women all across the world suffer from the effects of domestic violence at a similar rate independent of class, race, or religion.
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, there are more than 960,000 annual cases of domestic violence in the United States, 85% of the domestic violence victims are women, and women are eight times more likely than men to be a victim of assault by an intimate partner conservatively estimate that at least 11% of women in the United States are involved in abusive intimate relationships.
“One woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds in the United States” (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). Domestic violence can interfere with the husband-wife relationship because one spouse is always in constant fear of the other. This violence could vary from physical abuse to ps...
A lack of emotional support may also be a reason to stay, women may need to go underground to flee their batterer. They may be required to re-locate, change their identity and their child's' identity, in the process they may lose contact with their families and thus lose support. A woman may love her partner. She remembers how he used to be, she thinks she can make it work. She believes that if she breaks up the family she has failed as a wife and as a mother. In some religions and cultures it is inconceivable for a woman to leave her husband.