The dark side issue of interpersonal relationships chosen in the essay is intimate partner violence or abuse. The focus of the paper is on the intimate partner violence among married couples in America, especially the battering of women by men. Black women are the ones who prevalently experience this issue. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as domestic violence. Domestic violence is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the infliction of physical and psychological injury on a family member by another. The law defines domestic violence as acts of a felony or misdemeanor committed by one spouse against the other (Natalija, 2014). Journalism has a huge ability in helping end the vice of intimate violence through responsible communication strategies. Therefore, communication can be used as a strong tool for solving the dark side issue of domestic violence within marriages.
Occurrence of the Issue in Marriage Relationships
The issue of the plight of the battered women started to gain attention in the nation when Farrah Fawcett portrayed a spouse subjected to battering in a television movie referred to as The Burning Bed . In this program, the physical and psychological torture experienced by battered women in their homes is depicted (Schiffer, 2015). Domestic violence is a painful crime that affects many women in their houses. The issue of domestic violence has been problematic in the United States of America for a long time. It has a quite rich history, which can be shared in this particular paper.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
It is important to note that domestic violence in the United States of America is a form of crime which takes place among couples in homes. Domestic violence involves various criminal activities. Notably, the battering of women is among the many types of domestic violence which exist in the country. Today, the government and non-governmental agencies recognize domestic violence, especially the battering of women as a major social problem. In fact, there are now many laws put in place to help fight against violence directed at women in homes. Although the issue of domestic violence transcends the gender lines, it has been established that most of the victims are always women. When it comes to physical violence, women are always the biggest victims with men being notorious aggressors.
Notably, scholars who have researched the problem of domestic violence view it as the source of oppression in marital relationships. The concept of domestic terrorism has now emerged where one partner in a marital relationship applies to control, power and physical abuse to instill systematic rule over another in psychological terms.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that women had six times higher rate of physical violence victimization than men in the year 1995. The statistics of the National Crime Victimization Survey indicate that about 876,340 violent crimes did happen against women in the year 1998. For the cases of physical violence against men by women, it is always in retaliation. The aggressors in cases of physical violence are always men.
The battering of women is a social problem that has its etymology in the medieval cultural practices and norms that sanctioned male chauvinism. Before the mid-1800s, many legal systems used to legitimize the beating of women as a form of disciplining process. It was normal for a man to batter his wife whenever he felt she had done a mistake. Women were expected to always remain loyal to their men (Harper, 2017). They were like children before their husbands. This background informs the current trend where women are the biggest victims of domestic violence. Battering of women by their husbands was regarded as a legitimate means of exercising authority. However, the sense of illegitimacy in the act of wife battering emerged with the declaration made by the Body of Liberties of the Massachusetts Bay colonists, who asserted that a married woman needed to be free from the oppression of her husband. Furthermore, political agitation of feminists in the 19th century changed the public opinion regarding battering of women. During the Civil War, as most men led the struggle against slavery, leading feminists championed for the rights of women in marriages (Blackmon et al., 2017). They fought and agitated for the emancipation of women in homes and pressed for the realization of gender equality. These feminine groups advocated for the installation of the fundamental rights of women as human beings equal to men in terms of abilities and potential. They wanted an end to the legitimization of women battering across the country.
Notably, Tennessee became the very first state in the United States of America to formally abolish wife beating in marriages. A number of other states followed the example of Tennessee by implementing laws prohibiting women battering (Field et al., 2017). Importantly, women were encouraged to seek separation and divorce from men who beat them. It can be ascertained that the modern interest in domestic violence and women battering started with the women’s movement of the 1970s. Today, the term domestic violence literally means women battering.
Characteristics of the Phenomenon
Battering women implies to physically abuse somebody or literally to beat a person. For the purpose of this paper, battering will simply imply beating women in homes. The issue of battering African American women is a huge social problem that needs to be addressed. Experts in the field of human rights opine that African American women are always at the greater risk of experiencing battering meted on them by their husbands. It is also postulated that the plight of the African American women who experience battering may not be changed any soon as a result of the complex underlying causes, which mostly stretch back into the far past (Gross & Hicks, 2015). Understanding the main factors that cause the social problem of prevalent battering of the African American women is necessary if the hope of ending the vice is to be established. The incidences of battering black women during domestic violence have become so serious that they are a new source of deaths in places like North Texas.
It is agreeable among scholars that women in America are always at an alarming risk of being battered. This factor has made domestic violence to be considered as an endemic vice in the country. Despite this alarming nature of domestic violence against black women in the U.S., the criminal justice system has always continued to ignore them. The attention given to addressing the plight of battered African American women is quite minimal. In fact, when battered women raise their experiences to the criminal justice agencies, they are not believed because of the state of denial which engulfs the whole society (Wuest & Merritt-Gray, 2016). The fact that the battered black American women do not decide to leave their partners makes claims made by them to appear unbelievable and fictional.
People expect that complaints should be genuinely be made against husbands when wives are already out of the estranged relationship. It is like the whole country does not understand the dynamics involved in domestic violence and issues of battering women. The situation faced by black American women in the United States is even worse because their experiences are ignored by agencies who think it is part of the culture of the black race. Understandably, the African race is normally associated with the behaviors of male chauvinism and battering of women by men in homes (Johnson & Loscocco, 2015). When the African American women victims raise their issues with the relevant institutions like hospitals, they are always ignored leaving them with no meaningful solution. It is a quite sad situation for women who are of the African American race.
Circumstances that Cause Intimate Violence in Marriage Relationships
Studying the plight of battered African American women is quite important since it will provide information needed to develop policies that can be used to eradicate the problem. Normally, agencies interested in fighting the vice of domestic violence within the communities of the United States lack the useful information regarding its origin. It is important to note that knowledge of causes that lead to the battering of African American women is necessary for the development of the strategies aimed at curbing this vice. There are various causes of domestic violence against the black American women.
The first relevant theoretical orientation of the paper will be battered women’s syndrome. This theory explains the psychological effects of victimization. It also gives some of the coercive techniques applied by men to subjugate women. There is also the vicious cycle of violence theory, which portrays the battering of women as a generational phenomenon. Lastly, there is the theory that explains domestic violence as a cultural practice. This specific theory acknowledges the cultural practices of black American women as the main cause of domestic violence against them. Notably, race, ethnicity and class matters have started to gain attention from scholars are emerging areas explaining social problems experienced by the marginalized women. Despite the fact that women from all races experience battering, demographic data on victimization indicates that the African American wives are the biggest victims of domestic violence in homes. Much of this trend is associated with the issue of culture practiced by African people.
Importantly, cultural and social contexts are now crucial when it comes to establishing reactions of people to a problem in their community. This theoretical framework shows the way domestic violence is differently understood within the context of African culture. In fact, physical aggression on a woman by a man is not seen as a form of violence within the African cultural context. The African culture places a man over a woman within the hierarchy of the family. Men are expected to use all means possible to ensure they remain effective heads of the homestead. Therefore, physical aggression during domestic violence is normally regarded as a means of ensuring the man keeps control of the homestead. In the culture of African people, a man is the only person who can correct his wife. A woman cannot correct a man. Beating is used as a form of discipline meant to ensure women correct their purported wrong ways.
Therefore, domestic violence is caused by a number of reasons including generational cultural beliefs and practices. There are cultures which believe a man is always at the top hence cannot be challenged by a woman. Furthermore, domestic violence is said to be a result of poverty as parents struggle to raise their children. The stress that is associated with lacking basic needs within the homestead leads to the conflicts between intimate partners. Notably it is important to note that disregard to the fundamental international human rights is part of the causes of domestic. Domestic violence denies women their basic necessary freedoms.
Notably, poverty is also a major cause of intimate partner abuse and violence in marriage relationships. It is has been noted that the incidence of domestic violence is quite high in the families that are poor because they lack basic needs and engage in blame games. Poverty is yet another major challenge to international human rights. There are many people around the world living below the recommended daily expenditure level. These people wallow in the vicious cycle of poverty. It implies that they cannot get themselves out of this situation. Poverty denies households many basic and fundamental rights. For instance, poverty makes families unable to access good health care, food and shelter (McCarthy, 2017). Major towns in the developing countries have people living in the streets. Such people cannot afford homes. Importantly, poverty denies children access to education since learning is nowadays costly. Such children cannot secure good employment in the society when they grow up because of lack of the requisite qualifications. Notably, children growing up in poor families end up developing developmental disorders, which is a challenge to the realization of international human rights for all. It is known that poverty is the origin of the huge inequality within the society.
Role of Communication
Communication through journalism has sometimes been a major contributor to the issue of intimate partner violence. When movies are used to show scenes of men beating their wives or ladies battering men, the issue of domestic violence is advanced in the community. There are some communications which tend to show battering of women as the strongest sign of control and authority demonstrated by a husband within the home. It, thus, means a man who cannot beat a wife is not the leader of the home. These perceptions are normally channeled through journalism in times of media debates broadcasted live on televisions. Believably, this explanation shows the manner in which the media tends to contribute to the vice of battering intimate partners.
Communication can strongly offer a lasting response and solution to the issue of intimate partner violence within the society. In fact, communication may be the only meaningful way through which the society can effectively respond to the vice of domestic violence. Firstly, communication may be used to create awareness in the community regarding the negative impact of intimate partner violence. Indeed, there are many negative things that may happen in a family which is marred by intimate partner violence as well as abuse. Notably, the decision taken by women after an experience of physical violence is always one that involves killing the partner. Review of literature shows that most women are taking lives of their husbands because of being victims of battering for long time. Interestingly, since the society tends to view battering of women as a legitimate and normal thing, women do not have options on where to go after such experiences. They decide to stick with their men and kill them as the only solution when the experiences become unbearable.
Through journalism, communication can be used to report and shame all the individuals who batter their spouses in marriage relationships. Such people need to be announced to the public so that they receive public ridicule and also be brought to book through the legal means. When the media through gets viciously opposed to the issue of intimate partner violence and abuse, the whole society will internalize the idea and experience substantial reduction in the case of domestic violence. Communication has to simply be used in maligning and negatively portraying domestic violence as a vice.
Communication may also be used to advise married couples best ways of resolving emerging differences. There are numerous amicable means through which married couples can always be settling down issues of contention without resorting to physical abuse and violence. It is only through communication that such means can be made known to the public. In this manner, communication will have been used to strengthen marriage relationships among intimate partners.
References
Blackmon, S.K.M., Owens, A., Geiss, M.L., Laskowsky, V., Donahue, S. & Ingram, C.(2017). Am I My Sister’s Keeper? Linking Domestic Violence Attitudes to Black Racial Identity. Journal of Black Psychology , 43 (3): 230-258.
Field, C., Cherukuri, S., Kimuna, S.R. & Berg, D.(2017). Women accused of homicide: the impact of race, relationship to victim, and prior physical abuse. Advances in applied sociology , 7 (08): 281.
Gross, K.N. & Hicks, C.D., (2015). Introduction—Gendering the Carceral State: African American Women, History, and the Criminal Justice System. Journal of African American History , 100 (3): 357-365.
Harper, S.B. (2017). No way out: severely abused Latina women, patriarchal terrorism, and self-help homicide. Feminist Criminology , 12 (3): 224-247.
Johnson, K.R. & Loscocco, K. (2015). Black marriage through the prism of gender, race, and class. Journal of Black Studies , 46 (2): 142-171.
McCarthy, M. (2017). ‘What kind of abuse is him spitting in my food?’ reflections on the similarities between disability hate crime, so-called ‘mate’ crime and domestic violence against women with intellectual disabilities. Disability & Society , 32 (4): 595-600.
Schiffer, M.A. (2015). Women of color and crime: A critical race theory perspective to address disparate prosecution. Arizona Law Review , 56 (4): 1204-1225.
Wuest, J. & Merritt-Gray, M., (2016). Beyond survival: Reclaiming self after leaving an abusive male partner. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research Archive , 32 (4): 1-6.
