Is Domestic Violence a Gender Issue, or a Human Issue - Research Paper Example

Topic: (A1) Domestic partner violence is indeed a gendered phenomenon; the National Violence Against Women Survey found that from all the physical assaults that were examined, 85% were against women, and that only 7.4% men had reported to being assaulted by their partner as compared to 22.1% women (The Facts About Domestic Violence, n.p). the NVAWS also found that 1247 women were killed by their partners, compared to the 440 men who had been killed by their partners. As it can be seen, women seem to bear the brunt of domestic violence more heavily than do men.

The reasons for this gendered violence range from many factors, from psychological to economical reasons, and I will attempt to elaborate more on these triggers of violence and also offer solutions marital partners can take to put an end to domestic partner violence. Firestone claims that there are two very important psychological factors that influence why domestic partner violence occurs; a "destructive thought process," and what is called a "fantasy bond," (Firestone, n.p). The destructive thought process that Firestone mentions refers to the case where the abuser has this thought in his head that he/she must abuse their partner; the abuser keeps imagining negative things that he/she assumes that their partner is thinking of them, for instance, "She/he is controlling you.

Dont let her/him act like you are weak," (Firestone, n.p). In my opinion, men are more likely to act upon this inner voice than are women, because there are external pressures from society on men to act a certain way; men today are still expected to be strong and dominant and powerful, and when imagine that their wives are acting in a way that makes them look unmanly, they lash out at their wives on the whims of this "inner voice," (Firestone, n.p). Also, the "fantasy bond" that Firestone mentions, refers to the belief a person has that he/she is only complete with their partner; this belief also supports the idea that one person in the relationship has power over the other (Firestone, n.p). For me, I believe men like to imagine that they are in control in this "fantasy bond," since patriarchal values extol them to be more powerful than women; this entitles men to physically abuse their partners.

Panda and Agarwal offer an economic reason for why men are more likely to physically abuse their female partners; for him, womens economic dependence on men sets the scene for them being physically abused, (Panda & Agarwal, page 824). He claims for example that when a woman has her own house, the risk of marital violence is reduced since this property is a signal of her "strength," seeing as it acts as her escape from the abusive relationship, (Panda & Agarwal, page 825). Nevertheless, apart from economic reasons, Panda and Agarwal found other reasons why men would abuse their female partners from a study conducted on the households in Kerala, India; husbands abused their wives when they thought she had not cooked food properly, or when she was not looking after the house or children appropriately, or "dissatisfaction with her dowry," or because they did not like the way their wives behaved with people outside the home, (Panda & Agarwal, page 832).

In my opinion, women can protect themselves from being abused by locating themselves as far away as they can from their abusers; womens shelters, relatives or friends homes could be ideal places to take refuge in. Women must also report the abuse as soon as possible; in the US any person over 18 can petition for "civil protection order," (The Facts About Domestic Violence, n.p). It is also important that the men who are abusing their partners must enter rehabilitation centers that teach them compassion, self-control and self-reflection (Firestone, n.p).Works citedFirestone, Lisa.

"Why Domestic Violence Occurs and How to Stop It." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 25 June 2013. .Panda, Pradeep, and Bina Agarwal. Marital Violence, Human Development and Womens Property Status In India. N.p.: Www.amherst.edu, 2005. Pdf. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/92318/original/Marial%2BViolence%252C%2BHuman%2BDevelopment%2Band%2BWomen%2527s%2BProperty%2BStatus.pdf"The Facts about Domestic Violence." Http://www.vaw.umn.edu/. N.p., 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 June 2013. .