Domestic Violence Essay with Annotated Bibliography

There are many different types of domestic violence. Physical abuse is the most obvious form, but this is not to say that outsiders always recognize it. Generally, physical violence causes bodily harm, using a variety of methods. Slapping, pushing, throwing, hitting, punching, and strangling are only a few methods. An object or weapon may or may not be used. There is not always physical evidence of physical abuse such as bruising, bleeding, scratches, bumps, etc., therefore, absence of physical marks does not necessarily mean physical abuse had not occurred. Physical abuse sometimes escalates to murder (Morris and Biehl 7, Haley 14-17).

Sexual abuse includes any sexual act in which one person has not agreed to it. A woman can be sexually abused by means of, but not limited to force, coercion, blackmail, threat, or embarrassment. Sexual abuse may occur when a woman is forced to perform, watch, or in any other way engage in sexual acts. This includes but is not limited to vaginal, anal and oral sex, fondling, touching, disrespect of privacy, such as showering, being forced to watch pornography or view pornographic pictures, being forced into sexual poses, or being verbally abused in a sexual manner (Morris and Biehl 36, Haley 14).

Mental or psychological abuse has the most expansive list of methods. Mental abuse is harming a woman emotionally or psychologically and has an endless list of effects. This type of abuse may take form verbally by being humiliated, destructively criticized, removing self-confidence, yelling, threatening, accusing, or even remaining silent, overly authoritative, or disrespectful. A man may emotionally abuse his partner by destroying something important or sentimental to her or threaten to take away th...

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...Stoltenberg writes feminist thought from a male's point of view. He focus's on sex: male sexual aggression, rape, sexual violence, pornography, and sexual identity. He offers several suggestions as to why men act in a "masculine" way and asks provocative questions throughout his essays. He points out why it is important that men join the feminist struggle.

Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity. Dir. Sut Jhally. Media Education Foundation, 1999.

Jackson Katz shows how violence in the media perpetuates, reinforces, and promotes violence in society. He points to how violence is gendered and that the media and society ignores the fact that men are almost always the perpetrators of violence. Katz explores how the media and society create masculinity. The title is a pun that refers to the masculine "guise" that guys put on to prove their manhood.