Xuan Yao
Professor Martin
English 114B
15 March 2012
Battered Women
Domestic violence and emotional abuse are behaviors used by one person in a
relationship to control the other. Partners may be married or not married;
heterosexual, gay, or lesbian; living together, separated or dating. Battered women are
the victims of the domestic violence. They are many kinds of domestic violence:
physical assault (hitting, pushing, shoving, etc.), sexual abuse (unwanted or forced
sexual activity), and stalking. Name-calling or putdowns, keeping a partner from
contacting their family or friends, withholding money, stopping a partner from getting
or keeping a job, and intimidation are the examples of the abuse. Domestic violence
happens in all kinds of families and relationships. Persons of any class, culture,
religion, sexual orientation, marital status, age, and sex can be victims or perpetrators
of domestic violence and society should be made aware in order to help those who
suffer from domestic abuse.
There are several causes for domestic violence. The one reason why there are so
many battered women are there in the world is because of alcohol use, drug use, and
stress. In many countries, men are the master of the family, so they are suffering from
stress. With this situation, they use alcohol or drug to release their stress. Many men
who are drunk choose abusing women to vent their stress. The girl who was eighteen
years old was battered by her overdrunk father. Her father was addicted to the alcohol,
and if he was drunk too much, he would fly into a temper. She became punching bag
of her father. She was always hit badly so that her face was unrecognized. Alcohol
adds women’s pain.
Childhood experience is also a cause about the domestic violence. Many abusers
have horrible childhood where their mother was abused by their father. This
experience will let them form a thought that it is normal to abuse a woman. The
parents’ behavior will affect the child directly. However, they never know that no one
deserves to be abused. The only person responsible for the abused is the abuser.
Some traditions in cultures can lead to domestic violence. In the some countries,
men’s positions are higher than women’s in their society. They think that women
should obey men have been a custom and deep rooted. If women do not obey the men,
they can punish women by domestic violence or emotional abuse. In some place of
Africa, men are the king of the world, and they decide everything. They regard
women as their accessory, and they are used to battering women. The culture has
significant influence, and add the domestic violence.
The other cause is that many battered women are shamed and afraid of showing
their experiences. Actually, being abused is not their fault, and they do not need to
respond to this. Just remember that if a person being abused, they are not alone. They
just need to speak out about their unlucky experience, and help is available.
There are many reasons why women may not leave. Not leaving does not mean
that the situation is okay or that the victim wants to be abused. Many battered women
choose to forgive because their boyfriends/husbands say that it will not happen again.
The abuser often acts like the abuse never happened, and may give gifts to the victim.
In that case, many battered women choose to believe them and give them one chance.
Fortunately, if their boyfriends/husbands change, they will have their new life. If not,
violence will not stop. The domestic violence still remains, and may become even
more violent.
There are some data showing how many women are suffering from domestic
violence. Stats7% of women (3.9 million) are physically abused by their partners, and
37% (20.7 million) are verbally or emotionally abused. Every 9 seconds a woman is
physically abused by her husband. 95% of assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are
committed by men against women. 30% of women presenting with injuries to the
emergency department had injuries caused by battering. The statistics listed above are
only cases that have been reported. There are still many women who endure undo
harm and violence. In the world we already know or we never know, many women
are in a patchouli-scented purgatory.
How to help the battered women and what can be done for them becomes serious
and should not be ignored in the society. At first, we should set up some special
organizations for the abused women. Launch social forces and media power to
produce propaganda that domestic violence is wrong. We should enhance women’s
consciousness of their rights. Furthermore, more and more people should do their best
to help the battered women because they are vulnerable groups in the society.
Everyone’s goal should be to let more people be aware of this problem and pay
attention on it.
Works Cited
"Domestic Violence." Introduction. Divorce Online. Web. 19 Mar. 2012. <http://www.domesticviolence.org/>.
