Domestic Abuse Problems in America
Uploaded by sls465 on Apr 18, 2007
Domestic Abuse Problems in America
“It’s a dark, stormy night. In the house next door, a woman screams and there is the loud crash of a chair smashing against the floor.” As much as this sounds like a horror movie, it is non-fiction; these are the sounds of domestic violence, and this sort of thing takes place everyday. Between eight and twelve million women are abused each year in the United States (Evan Stark). Victims of domestic violence have trouble leaving abusers but when they do, there are many programs available to help them recover.
Domestic abuse has been around for many centuries. In the past, women were considered the properties of their husbands, and men were allowed to beat their wives with a stick as long as the stick was no bigger around than his thumb (Evan Stark). Putting the shoe on the other foot, men that were abused were thought of as “jokes. In France, for instance, battered men were made to wear an outlandish outfit and ride backwards on a horse around the village (Lisa Wolff). Even though domestic violence wasn’t taken seriously in the past, it was still a serious issue, though not as widespread.
Even though a man riding around town backwards on a horse may sound comical, it is just an example of the appalling things victims go through. For a long time, no one tried to stop these heinous crimes from being committed. It was not until 1871 that a man was denied the right to even moderately physically punish his wife. Even after that, violence still was not a big issue. In fact, it wasn’t until the 1970’s that women began fighting against this violation of their rights.
Many times, abuse can be confused with things such as discipline, but there is a big difference. Abuse is defined as: physical maltreatment (Merriam-Webster). When abuse occurs, it generally means that the abuser is confused or angry with their spouses, someone else, or a situation they are involved in, and they are not respecting their spouse’s rights. Discipline is only used to correct your behavior, and fighting is being confused or angry with your spouse, someone else, or a situation, but still respecting their spouse’s rights.
Domestic Violence plays a big part in the number of homicides each...