Non-fatal and fatal domestic violence incidents are interconnected to specific demographics and social groups - Term Paper Example

Non-fatal and fatal domestic violence incidents are interconnected to specific demographics and social groups [Date] Contents Topics pg. no 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………3-5 2. The issue of domestic violence and its different projections …………………………5-7 3. Some statistical instances of domestic assaults ………………………………………7-8 4. Different forms of domestic violence – its psychological and religious associations. 8-9 5. Domestic assaults associated with gender bias and demography …………………….9-10 6. Racial associations with domestic violence …………………………………………10-11 7. Does the ‘awakening help?…………………………………………………………..11-12 8. Concluding remarks……………………………………………………………………12 9. References ……………………………………………………………………………..13 Introduction Different social scholars and social institutions have defined domestic violence in different ways. At the same time, looking into the basic psychological aspects it is evident that execution of the domestic violence follows a particular pattern, which is almost same in different societies, demographics and social groups. It has been observed traditionally that women are the main targets of domestic violence. Both in developed and developing nations, plight of women have remained same even in the modern era. People have become more conscious about their rights as well as proper execution of such rights but women seem to be deprived from asking for such rights. It is due to this reason that Carl G. Buzawa gas observed, “…it is a problem of women in marital relationships being assaulted, and the terms wife abuse or wife battering are most appropriate….the act of battering occurs just as frequently among couples who are dating or living together but are not married. From this perspective, the term violence against women captures the essence of the problem.” (Buzawa, 2002, p.13) It is not that due to such acts of domestic violence among genders that, women only suffer from injuries. Men also suffer from such acts of domestic violence but statistics reveals that the rate of women injury is more than that of the males. There are several instances that the act of domestic violence has been initiated by a woman but once compared to the violence caused by their male counterparts, it is automatically proved that violence caused by the females are far less severe than that of the males. In this context survey done by the National Family Violence Survey (NFVS) is extremely important. National Family Violence Survey has cited that “the injury rate of women was 6 times higher than that for men.” (NFVS; as quoted in Buzawa, 2002, p.13) Another survey, done by the same organization exposes the startling data that in 1998, almost among 1 million reported domestic violence crimes, 85% was inflicted over women. NCVS survey conveys that more than 50% of the total victims of domestic violence were women, whereas only 32% males were reported to be the victims of domestic violence caused by women. (Buzawa, 2002, pp.13-14) These data clearly pronounce that the male patriarchal domination over the existing social pattern is one of the main reasons for the tragic plight of women. It is a fact beyond any doubt that the existing social condition plays a major role in enhancing the tragic condition of women in the hands of their male counterparts. Social scientists identity the existence of a structural symmetry in the patterns of violence, inflicted over women in the Western social pattern. It is a matter of normal human conscience that causing torture over fellow human beings is a crime but at the society has regarded males as the “human beings” and women as commodities or elements of sensuous pleasure and luxury. Such observations clearly suggest that society and its elements play important roles in determining the degree of tragic plight of women. Religious factors are essential elements act as main resources for the determining the condition of women in a society. “Christianity, Judaism, and other patriarchal religions simply affirmed male-dominated family structures that were already in existence.” (Buzawa, 2002, p.57)Males have always received a kind of advantageous position that that of the women as they received a greater deal of support from the religion. Thus, from the ancient times the religious systems played important role in determining the factor of domination over women at the domestic level. In addition to this, financial situation of a particular household have always played crucial parts when it comes to infliction of domestic violence over women. Depending over this ground, it has been observed quite frequently that females have become subjects of domestic violence at a greater rate if the household suffers from financial crisis. More acute the degree of financial crisis is the rate of infliction of the domestic violence is equally greater. It is not that women in financially prosperous households survive from being subjects of domestic torture but such torture takes entirely different form. Psychologists often analyze the situation of women in the ways that as their male supporters always remain at a constant level of frustration due to unstable financial condition of the household, at the psychological level they start searching for an outlet to purge these frustrations. It is their authoritative outlook towards women that they consider women as socially inferior to them. In the past, women were mostly dependent over men for their essential provisions and such observation has given birth to the realization that women are always dependent over men. Consequently, men have the complete right to enjoy all sorts of authority over woman. Thus, men have taken it for granted that women are the best avenues that can be used as outlets to purge out their angst. Looking in the modern social scenario we clearly understand that People who live in poorer neighborhoods, with less resource and fewer employment opportunities are more at risk to domestic violence offending and victimization than others. The issue of domestic violence and its different projections The United States of America Department of Health has clearly defined the term domestic violence as, “a continuum of behavior ranging from verbal abuse, physical, and sexual assault, to rape and even homicide. The vast majority of such violence, and the most severe and chronic incidents, are prepared by men against women and their children.” (DoH; quoted in Shipway, 2004, p.1) Though the term “domestic violence” incorporates within its scope behaviors of violence and abuse in not only in different-sex relationship but also same-sex relationships, violent approach of women against men and violence of one family against the other, due to pervasiveness people have started to consider that domestic violence essential means violent approach of men against women. Such domestic violence occurs in different forms that “often combine physical, emotional, psychological, sexual and financial abuse.” (Shipway, 2004, p.1) There are different types of domestic violence, yet most common of all the forms are rape of women by their male counterparts and different types of sexual assaults. Social scientists have observed that though the criminal acts like rape and sexual assaults are rampant in the society but the total number of incidents related to domestic violence would easily surpass any other forms of crime in the society. Even the “post-modern” world, condition of women is so pathetic that they do not feel themselves secure enough to go to the police and report about such criminal activities. Thus, according to a survey in 1998 over total number of criminal activities happening in the society we find that among total number of crimes committed only 27% of them are reported to the police accordingly. “Furthermore, as domestic violence is recorded only in terms of physical and/or sexual assault, the numerous women subjected to emotional and psychological abuse almost certainly do not appear within criminal, social or healthcare statistics.” (Shipway, 2004, p. 5) Though acts of domestic violence caused by men over women receive different names from people, but deep in their psychological plain the male feel themselves much superior to women. Thus, they subconsciously consider that inflecting torture over women provides them with a particular kind of self-satisfaction and it is also a method to exhibit their superiority over women. The issue of domestic violence over women received a great deal of emphasis since the evolution of the feminist movement. Though the earlier researchers did not provide much focus over the aspect of female torture by males from the perspective of “gender, power, or structural dimensions of violence”, but the feminists writers and scholars started providing a great deal of importance to these aspects, while discussing the factor of female domination. “Feminist writers, in contrast, emphasized such issues and began to reconstruct rape and other forms of male violence as forms of power and control....Feminists began to look for causes of male domination in societal institutions rather than in physical strength or biological instinct. From a feminist perspective, male-perpetrated violence against women is considered to be a form of social control used to maintain a subordinate social and political status.” (Harway, ONeil and Biden, 1999, p. 19) Considering such feminist interpretations in the modern contexts, it can be said that domestic violence are mainly directed against women and as the number of domestic violence is increasing in every year, it automatically signifies that plight of women has remained unchanged in the society. People, especially the males consider deep in their psychology that women are not human beings but they either act as the elements of physical pleasure for them or they are merely acting as outlets for purgating their personal level frustrations as well as anxiety. Some statistical instances of domestic assaults According to the Bureau of Statistics in US, women are almost six times more likely to undergo violence from intimate partners. The percentages of women who faces physical assaults from their intimate partners from different countries show that New Zealand has a higher percentage (35 percent) of assaulted women compared to USA (22 percent, Canada also has a higher percentage of the same (29 percent) compares to USA but lower than Egypt (34 percent). (“Ending Violence Against Women”, 1999) Reports from Paraguay and Philippines reflect the assault percentage of women as a low estimate of 10 percent. However the rate of intimate partner assaults has fallen down from 1993. However according to Fiebert’s study of 219 surveys on intimate partner violence the conclusion is that “women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partners” (Fiebert, 2009). Coming to lesbian relationship, domestic violence is as common as that against women coming from heterosexual relations – “In lesbian relationships, the "butch" (physically stronger, more masculine or wage-earning) member of the couple may be as likely to be the victim as the batterer, whereas in heterosexual relationships, the male partner (usually the stronger, more masculine, and wage-earning member) is most often the batterer” (Rose, 2000). Except crimes like sexual assaults and rape men account more as victims of assaults in USA. (Bureau of Justice Statistics 2009) The 1994 statistical results show, “Intimates committed over 900,000 victimizations of females and about 167,000 victimizations of males.” (Bureau of Justice Statistics 1994) The statistics prove that certain domestic assaults may vary across nations and society irrespective of economic status but social groups and gender certainly mattered while considering the difference in figures. Different forms of domestic violence – its psychological and religious associations Looking into the current condition of the society, the social scientists have suggested that different forms of domestic violence can be classified in two ways, namely a) Non-fetal domestic violence and b) Fetal domestic violence. It is from the terminology itself we clearly understand that certain forms of domestic violence that cause physical injury to the victim but does not amount to death of the victim are knows as non-fatal domestic violence. On the other hand those forms of domestic violence, resulting in serious injury to the victim, consequently causing his/her death, are known as fetal domestic violence. “Non-consensual physical violence is recognised as unlawful by the criminal law, subject to limited defenses, and gives rise to a wide range of potential criminal offences.” (Lockton and Ward, 1997, p.90) According to broad classification these forms of criminal offences include within its scope both assault and battery. Most of the offences, associated with sexual assault as well as crime as regarded as the non-fatal criminal offence, whereas domestic violence, as it amounts to causing serious harm over the victim and finally causing his death, is regarded as the fatal domestic violence. In modern social pattern, especially in the Western developed nations, domestic crimes of both these nature are increasing at a drastic rate. Not only on the personal grounds but at the same time professional field also women are increasingly becoming subjects to male domination. Such dominating approaches are not only characterized by typical patriarchal mental set-up, aiming at controlling women but at the same time such offices often take more brutal forms, which exhibit the frustration of males as well as their subconscious sado-masochism. Due to such mental set up the males often fancy deep inside their psychology that women must be tormented and mutilated in such ways. Thus, these male finally, through the method of inflicting violence over women, actually provide a typical patriarch satisfaction to their psychological state. This is the particular point, where most of the men across different social cultures and different societies become similar. If we look into the social context of the nations, mainly dominated by Christian outlook, we will find that somewhere in their psychology people are sticking to the Biblical myth that women are representative of Eve, the eternal Temptress, who tempted Adam, represented by men, and finally resulting in their Fall. Thus, women are supposed to suffer punishment due to such actions. Christian religion imposes several restrictions over women that are mainly aimed at violating their spontaneity. Though in the Western developed nations women have adopted progressive steps and they have learned to defy the oppressive methods, but their plight has not changed much. Looking at the statistical reports we clearly find that condition of women in Western society is no better than other women in other parts of the world. Domestic assaults associated with gender bias and demography The statistical reports of United Kingdom is suggesting that since 1981 different methods of domestic violence over women have enhanced to a great extent, and currently it amounts to almost 240%, compared to that of the earlier period. Such surveys also disclose horrible facts that clearly show how weird the condition of women is in the society. According to the survey done by the U.K. Home Office in the year 2001 it shows, “In the United Kingdom, two women every week are killed by a man with whom they have had, or are having an intimate relationship.” (Shipway, 2004, p.5) In the other developed nations including U.S., Canada, Australia, the situation of women is almost the same. Both in U.S. and Canada women become subjects to sexual harassment and offences to such an extent that it would put the very question of women safety at a challenging position. It is quite surprising to observe that, governance of both the nations have become to some extent reluctant towards the matter of women harassment. Though they have come up with several laws that are aimed at ensuring the safety of women in the workplaces as well as outside, but there is no such explicit sings that would give common people with the message that the issue of women harassment has decreased to a considerable extent in the nations. Though most of the legislators have expressed their great concern over the issue of inflicting domestic violence over women but in the real social plain they have remained startlingly reluctant. Condition of women in the context of Australia is no better in comparison to these countries. In this country, women from indigenous background are subjects of torture from the male section of the society. They are not only targeted to inflict physical violence but at the same time, they are also main aims for verbal, psychological and sexual abuse. Racial associations with domestic violence When it comes to causing domestic violence over women, perhaps the worst type is observed in the form of racial discrimination. Women from African-American background are subjects of humiliation and ignominy in every step of their lives in the country. On one hand they are oppressed by their own people and outside people from so-called higher social ethnical background torture them. Suffering of the back women has continued since more than 400 years ago. Though black women have gained much of their social status and respect, yet they have remained the subject but their condition has not changed to any greater extent. Women from African-American background are still considered that they belong to the lowest level in the social hierarchy. Thus, their position automatically makes them subjects of torture and humiliation by the male patriarchal society. Does the ‘awakening’ help? Shifting our vision to the other social system of the world, we see that the degree of plight for women are changing but there is no such change in the core process of torture by the male section of the society. In the Western World, as the women are empowered by the enlightenment of education, they at least have the courage to raise their voice against the torture and humiliation that they have to suffer. Comparing the condition of women in the Western Society and the condition of women in other parts of the world, we can say that in the Western World women are at a better condition that their counterparts, as they have the minimum knowledge to raise their voice against social tyranny but in the other parts, namely, most of the developing or underdeveloped nations, women do not simply have any voice to speak against the kind of torture they are experiencing. Even today most of the societies believe that women must not be provided with any opportunity for self-liberation. If such procedures are allowed, it will be a boost for the social evils to enhance at a greater rate. There are some societies that have put a specific set of rule for women to act. If, these rules are violated then women are tortured, brutalized, mutilated even murdered and the leaders of the society announce that these are God’s way of purifying a woman from her Sin. Such social teachings have affected the state of belief of a male to such an extent that he also adopts the ways to control the woman and with the purpose to purify her, he keeps on inflicting domestic violence over her on a regular basis. Concluding remarks Rate of education in the developed and developing nations are much low than that of the Western developed nations. That is why people commonly consider the women as an essential element for providing sexual satisfaction. It is due to this reason, the rate of rate of raping women are increasing to a great extent. At the same time rate of inflicting domestic violence over women are also on a high. It is due to the social oppression women do not get the opportunity to expose their condition to the appropriate legal and social institutions. Almost throughout their entire life they remain as salves to the patriarchal social system. Though people, who are responsible for the governance of the system often claim that condition women in the society has changed several times than that of the past, but actually women have remained at the same pit that they were before. Women are becoming victims of both fatal and non-fetal domestic violence but the worst tragic plight is that they do not find anyone, who would support them against such oppressive approach of the society. On one hand all the paths of their progress have been stopped and on the other if they are asking for assistance from the males, most of the times they receive negative feedback. Thus, it is not hard to understand that plight of women in different societies have remained same. Looking at the kinds of fetal and non-fetal domestic violence that women have to face in different nations, demographics and social groups, it can be said that types of such torture over women are interconnected at the core. References 1. Biden, J.R, ONeil, J.M. Harway, M, (1999), What causes mens violence against women?, SAGE 2. Bureau of Justice Statistics (1994) Sex Differences in Violent Victimization, U.S. Department of Justice, available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/sdvv.txt (accessed on April 7, 2009) 3. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2009) “Violent crime victims”, available at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_v.htm (accessed on April 7, 2009) 4. Burton, M, (2008), Legal Responses to Domestic Violence, Routledge 5. Buzawa, C. G., (2002), Domestic violence: the criminal justice response, SAGE 6. “Ending Violence Against Women”(1999), The Center for Health and Gender Equity, Series L, Number 11, available at: http://www.infoforhealth.org/pr/l11/violence.pdf (accessed on April 7, 2009) 7. Fiebert, M. (2009) “REFERENCES EXAMINING ASSAULTS BY WOMEN ON THEIR SPOUSES OR MALE PARTNERS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY”, Department of Psychology, Available at: http://www.csulb.edu/~mfiebert/assault.htm (accessed on April 7, 2009) 8. Rose, S. (2000) “Lesbian Partner Violence Fact Sheet”, National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center, available at: http://www.musc.edu/vawprevention/lesbianrx/factsheet.shtml (accessed on April 7, 2009) 9. Shipway, L., (2004), Domestic violence: a handbook for health professionals, Routledge 10. Ward, R, Lockton, D, (1997), Domestic violence, Routledge Read More