Domestic Violence in a Global Perspective

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Introduction

Domestic violence can be viewed as a patterned behavior of physical aggression or assault; hitting, kicking, biting, battery or throwing object by one party to another, and/ or patterned actions meant to deprive one party within a given relationship freedom and rights to express him/herself in a manner or the provisions provided for by the society (Gerdes, 6). Domestic violence may take place in different form and /or types and in different stages of family development as the basic unit of the society, with forms such as emotional abuse; to the opposite sex through control and intimidation, psychological and emotional to the children perceived as a long term development of fear due to mistreatment, control and negligence, and criminal coercion, kidnapping or harassment to the neighbors conducted domestically, that is, by interfering with the domestic welfare of another family within the neighborhood. Emotionally, domestic violence can be viewed as activities and/ or behaviors by one party in the family that subject and expose others to psychological trauma to include anxiety, chronic depression and/ or post-traumatic stress disorders. In addition, domestic violence can be viewed and analyzed through sexual abuse; forcing undesired sexual behavior by one person upon the other within the family set up, which is usually referred as molestation, and can be defined as sexual assault if and when the force is immediate of short duration and infrequent. Definitions of domestic violence are wide and complex in analysis, context and scope, in this paper we shall look at different aspects of violence in relation to members of the family and the society at large, deriving the way forward and evaluating organization’s impact on the menace.

Domestic Violence in a Global Perspective

Domestic violence is and has been in the rise despite efforts by governments and other associated bodies to help mitigate and eliminate; talking different forms and being propagated by various factors in the society. For instance in the analysis of domestic violence we cannot rely only on the physical, sexual and psychological abuses in an intimate relationship and /or marriage but by incorporating effects of the violence to other members of the family or social setting, gives a broad and vivid picture. In addition, by unearthing the different forms of abuse, factors that propagate them, effects it has to the immediate parties and third parties and suggesting the way forward, calls for intervention of sociologists and other stakeholders. It should be noted that domestic violence and abuse does not discriminate in that, it happens in heterosexual couples and in the same sex partnerships; all age groups and ranges, ethnic backgrounds and economic levels, and while for gender women seem to be the most affected, men are also abused (Lockhart, Lettie and Fran, pp.33-37). This has led to emergence of various definitions and classifications of domestic violence such as: acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within family or domestic unit or between current or former spouses and partners, whether or not the perpetrators have had shared the same residence with the victim or not. Others have included practices such as female genital mutilation; child abuse, verbal abuse, dowry related violence, marital rape, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation. The major purpose associated with domestic violence is to gain and maintain control over the spouse or members of the family with the “unfair” tactics of subjecting the victims to fear, guilt, and intimidation, and threats of hurting the victim or people around them, in order to keep the victims under their thumb.

Types of Domestic Violence, Motives and Causes

Sexual Abuse: This is whereby force or threat is used by the perpetrator to obtain participation in unwanted sexual activity; coercing the other partner irrespective of the relationship and whether consensual sexual activity has had occurred before. The unwillingness of one party on grounds of disability, illness underage immaturity and /or inability to understand the conditions of the act; inability to decline participation and the inability to communicate his/her unwillingness to engage in the act due to intimidation and pressure, makes it a domestic violence which can happen to any of the spouses and/ or member of the family (Gannon, 6). This translates to marital rape for married couples, sexual exploitation to other members of the family and rape to other members of the society; which can be propagated by drug abuse and alcoholism, genetic or brain dysfunction, marital conflict disorders, jealousy and or mental complications.

Economic / Financial Abuse: This is whereby the perpetrator takes the financial control over the victim(s) by denying them the financial grants to a point that they have little or no money for their own and/or derailing channels and people they can associate with for financial gains or independence that they cannot advance careers or acquire assets. The violence in this case is based on the economic inabilities of the victim such as inability to find gainful employment due to lack of effective education and training and specialized skills; with perpetrator’s main aim of making victims depend on him/her (8). This kind of abuse can be pegged on insecurity of one of the spouse, need for power and control over the spouse and the family unit as a whole and behavioral aspects of the perpetrators and their perspective on economic environment.

Physical Abuse: This involves acts that cause injury, bodily harm, pain and other kind of physical suffering such as hitting, slapping, knocking, chocking and burning. This may also take form of denial and/deprivation of functions and requirements of survival such as medical care, sleep and/or physical force of the victim to engage in an act unwillingly such that in the process the victim is physically abused (10). The major causes of this abuse can be attributed to psychological disorders such as psychopathy, mental illness and behavioral weaknesses of the perpetrator.

Emotional/ Psychological Abuse: This can take form of public humiliation, control on what the victim can or should do in certain settings, implicitly blackmailing the victim, isolation from friends and family and/ or deliberate actions to make the victim feel embarrassed. Emotional violence also can be viewed as degradation and depriving of the basic resources and necessities such as security, independence and happiness and denial of access to basic commodities such as food clothing, shelter and disownment (7). The major causes of this pegged on the perpetrators need to be in control and power, psychological problems, jealousy, brain dysfunction and behavioral aspects of the perpetrator.

Verbal Abuse: this involves threats of harm, profanity and emotionally abusive behaviors that comprise of language and exchange of words. This may take form of humiliation false accusations, name-calling and ridicule, disrespect, criticisms and/or manipulating others to submit to undesired behaviors or isolate victims from support systems. This kind of abuse can be caused by biological or genetic/brain dysfunction of the perpetrator, the need to be in control and power, behavioral tendencies of the perpetrator and psychological disorders such as self-esteem, poor impulse control and sudden bursts of anger by the perpetrator.

Impacts of Domestic Violence on Children

Domestic violence is associated with creation of fear, anger and social stress, confusion, lack of innovations and depression; factors that affect personal growth and development of the spouses and the family unit at large. During different stages of development, children look up to the parents as role models and they depend on each of them for different purposes in that the father has his roles and children children’s expectations from them vary proportionally. Studies and researches have shown that children who have been exposed to domestic violence and other forms of abuse had a higher chance of developing mental and physical health problems; impacted by how the child develops emotionally, socially, cognitively and behaviorally. Socially, the interaction activities in children are affected with characteristics such as aggressiveness, anxiety and attitude to other members of the family and authority. Cognitively, comprehension problems attributed to anxiety and confusion state during abuse, post-traumatic stress disorders and arrogance contribute to lack of skill development, understanding and concentration affecting the child cognitively (Sterne et.al pp12-15). In addition, the cases of child neglect by any of the spouse, direct physical abuse to cause ripple effect and real time mother to father conflict/ abuse have been correlated with moral uprightness and physical growth and development of children.

Globally, programs have been established to help mitigate and eradicate domestic violence and child abuse such as Verizon and D.C Councilmember Anita Bonds who have honored several Washington based non- profit Organizations in their fight against domestic violence and abuse. Others include Ayuda; Domestic violence Survivors empowerment program, Asian-Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project; providing direct services for the survivors including mental health and counseling, Becky Lee’s Women Support Fund; teaches young men to become allies and leaders to end violence against women and girls, Latin American Youth Center; implementing healthy relationships programs to educate young adults about avoiding dating problems, building healthy relationships and serving as peer activists, Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care, and many more.

Children from abusive families have a great likelihood of being abusive in their adulthood and within the process of growth and development in that the traits they might genetically inherit or experience will be carried with them as they grow. The cycles of violence in domestic abuse shows common patterns of aggressiveness, belittling and violent behavior propagated by real time violent or abuse experiences, guilt they develop with, cognitive fantasy and planning they develop in the process, making them more susceptible to being violent and abusive (Cleaver, 3).

Conclusion

Domestic violence may be undervalued depending with the context and geographic location or circumstances of occurrence but its effects are inhuman and a threat to the existence of family and society at large. Effective measures by the involved parties, that is, the spouses and the family and relevant stakeholders such as authorities and well-wishers, should be addressed to curb the vice and ensure sustainable relationships in the family for a better society.

Works Cited

Gerdes, Louise I. Domestic Violence. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Print.

Sterne, Abigail, Liz Poole, Donna Chadwick, Catherine Lawler, and Lynda W. Dodd. Domestic Violence and Children: A Handbook for Schools and Early Years Settings. London: Routledge, 2010. Print

Lockhart, Lettie L, and Fran S. Danis. Domestic Violence: Intersectionality and Culturally Competent Practice. , 2010. Print.

Gannon, Theresa A. Aggressive Offenders’ Cognition: Theory, Research, and Practice. Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2011. Print

Cleaver, Hedy. Child Protection, Domestic Violence and Parental Substance Misuse: Family Experiences and Effective Practice. London: JKP/Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010. Internet resource.