Domestic Violence

        Violence against women                                     

          Violence

The person who promised to love, protect and cherish you hurts you the most. What would you do if it happened to you? It is a question that is not easy to answer and a question that some do not have to think about. Everyday, women and children face the dilemma of what to do with violence. Women and children want to stay, want the violence stop, but what happens when it doesn't and they have no choice but to leave.

Violence in the home or with a partner is not an isolated incident. Violence is present in every race, culture, economic status and society. Violence, used as a method to control another or others, to break down the confidence, self-esteem and equal partnership. Abusive partners will keep the others "walking on eggshells." not allowing the abused know when or what will set them off, so the abused will always feel  oppression , never knowing "when they are right or wrong."

 I would like to write about resources that are available to women and children, in the community I live and work in. The community has resources and options available, if one does not know about the options, it can create a barrier for many women when deciding to leave a violent relationship. I would like to share the knowledge I have, based on 20 years of working in the field of violence, women’s support and violence prevention.

"Domestic Violence" is a term used by the courts, police, community resources, the media and many other community services to define the illegal imbalance of power, in the family unit. I prefer to call it" violence,” I do not like the term "Domestic, “ this expression waters down the serious impact that violence has on  every person exposed to it." Domestic",  implies that the violence is now tamed in some way just as we refer to house pets, as" domesticated", meaning the animals, are tame enough to live with humans. Implications of the term"domestic" also suggests, violence committed against a family member, is not as serious as violence committed against a stranger.

Violence in the family comes in several forms physical, sexual, emotional, financial and verbal.

Physical violence can include, hitting, slapping, punching, choking, kicking, pushing or any other unwanted physical touching. It also includes threats of doing "these things" to another person.

Sexual violence can include unwanted touching, sexual gestures, force of sexual acts to or by another person, withholding money or necessities, aggression and rape.

Financial abuse can include, one person controlling all the money, refusal of money for necessities such as food, shelter and heat, taking a partners income, not including a partner on the financial decisions of the family and making a partner account for every penny spent.

Emotional Abuse can include, not giving affection, the "walking on eggshell effect" having the household always unsure of your mood and how you will respond to a given situation, constant disapproval,

Verbal violence can include name calling, degrading, screaming, threats, and embarrassing a person in public

www.bcsth.ca

www.wrsfv.ca


Cite Photograph

Leclair, Ryan. Violence against women. 2012. studymagazine.comWeb. 5 Jan 2013. <studymagazine.com>.