Domestic Violence Amd Women
...We need to stop this before the problem
develops into anything bigger than it already is.
The battered woman, it has been said, lives in a world of terror and her
home is her prison (Berger, 1990, pg. 35). For many hundreds of years people
weren't worried about domestic violence. In fact, a popular family journal, the
Journal of Marriage and Family, did not include a single article on domestic
from 1932 to 1969 (Berger, 1990, pg. 27). Suddenly, more women
came out and told of the abuse they had once suffered.
Researchers report that 1.8-2.9 million women are battered yearly. Not
only do the victims suffer physical pain, but they also have to deal with
emotional and psychological pain. The victim may have to face reoccurring
nightmares, and may never want to trust another man. Much too frequently,
the victim blames themselves. The typical response of an abused/battered
woman is, "I provoked him . . . I was being a bad wife, mother, and
housekeeper," (Peled, 1995, pg. 141). The very sad part about the violence,
beside the physical and emotional stress, is that most likely they know the
offender or abuser.
So, why, why would a person who is loved, want to abuse their spouse or
girlfriend? One of the key responses . . . Jealousy. The husband may become
very suspicious, afraid of losing his wife. The abuser sees his wife or girlfriend as a
possession. The only way, they think, to relieve this built up anger is
aggression. To improve their self-esteem, they abuse the victim physically,
emotionally, and sometimes, sexually. Another key factor in wife abuse is
alcohol. When the man is stressed, he turns to alcohol to relieve it. Little does
he know, that the alcohol...
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