Domestic Violence is a form of abuse in which women are hurt either physically, sexually, or verbally in their own home. Usually, the aggressor is a man who feels he has power over women such as a husband. The aggressor though, never hurts the woman just once and a cycle in which the woman is being abused develops.
It starts with the incident in which the woman is abused; either hit, raped, or verbally brought down. Then, there is the making up stage in which the aggressor apologizes for what he has done and makes false promises such as that he’ll never do it again. Then comes the calm stage in which both the victim and the aggressor are happy, calm, and keeping their promises to each other. After, there’s the tension building in which the victim feels as if anything she does might upset the abuser and he can hurt her again. The abuser starts to become angry, he brakes his promises and then the cycle starts all over again and it never ends.
Some people wonder why domestically abused women stay in the harmful relationships?
Many women decide to stay with their partner because they have been taught since a young age to be dependent on their partner economically or emotionally. Some of the women do not work because they take home to take care of their families and therefore are tied to their artier because they have no way of taking care of themselves and their children financially. Another reason why women stay in an abusive relationship is because they want to keep their family stable. It is harder for the women who have children to separate from their husbands because they do not want their children to suffer. Some children turn on their mothers and might blame her for destroying the family, therefore some women rather suffer in a relationship than tear her family apart.
Some of the signs od somestic abuse are very clear and people involved in a woman's life (who is domestically abused) may see a difference in their attitudes now to how they would act before. Some signs though, such as the thoughts and feelings going through a woman's mind are never obvious and that is a reason to why Domestic Abuse can never go away; because women are afraid to speak their minds due to their abusive partners.
In summary, milions of women around the world suffer from domestic abuse. Most never escape their realities because they are economically or emotionally dependent on their husbands, and others care more about their family than themselves. Domestic Abuse is a serious crime in the United States, but very few aggressors are punished throughout the years because women are afraid to speak about what is going on in their lives.
Domestic Violence has been going on for years, and throughout this time woman are routinely seen as the victims. Men overpower woman to make themselves seem masculine and feel pwerful. Often the "bread winner" takes control of the household just because he feels he is making the money so he also makes the rules. One Think I immediately thought about was the movie Enough starring Jennifer Lopez. She plays a character who is being abused but is affraid to o against her husband because of the physical abuse he will punish her with. She even tries to get a restraining order, and putting him in jail. As she seeks for help she realized that it is not her idea of a family to have her daughter suffer, which you talk about as one of the factors as why woman stay in abusive reationships. One thing that opened my eyes was the fact that as she seeked help to help protect her and her daughter there were always ways in which he could come after her and how nothing could truely protect her. I think that is a major reason why woman continue to be the minority in the house. Men's anger builds up as woman try to have a say, or overcome the power they try to show. Over the years domestic violence has been brought up as in issue in the media such as movies like Enough. Which also brings me to say, these issues of domestic violence have not stopped; there has just been a point where woman tire and start to think not every issue can be turned into a movement.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Melanie, Domestic Violence is an issue that has been brought up throughout the years. I think it has always been going on, but women are now less scared to speak up against their husbands because they feel more independent now. The reason why women fell less frightened, maybe is because nowadays, more women are becoming stronger in the sense that they are recieving an education, just like men, and are able to get stable jobs rather than stay at home all day raising kids and taking care of the family.
ReplyDeleteJust because more women are speaking up now though, does not mean that all women do it now. Referring back to the movie Enough, it took Jennifer Lopez's character a really long time to stand up for herself and face her husband. She was scared of him because he had money, he was a man, and he was powerful enough to control her. She was also scared for her daughter because she feared that she might get hurt by her dad if he ever got too angry. Even though in my opinion she did not do the right thing by sneaking into his house and literally confronting him, it was a very powerful scene in the movie that brings attention to women power and how we, as women, are just as capable as men to take care of ourseves.
Overall, even though more women are speaking out against domestic violence now, there is stll more than half f the women abused who never actually talk to anyone about what goes on in their lives.
Suleyma Garcia
DeleteI too believe that domestic violence is a very important issue that is still not quite being addressed at the level it should be. As you addressed in your post, many women stay with their abusers because they have been taught from a young age to be economically and emotionally dependent on their partner. I know that personally this has been something that I have had been taught the exact opposite of throughout my life. I've never considered the opportunity of not working or at least having some type of fallback education and job. I know that I never want to be faced with this struggle and be forced to remain in such a horrible relationship because I put all of my trust into my husband. I think that this is one of the most important lessons that need to be taught to young girls in order to give them the power later in their life should they be faced with domestic violence.
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