Relationships and families are quite challenging due to the differences and personal differences that exist in the families. According to various statistics more than two-thirds of women in the world have been violated by their spouses. Statistics in the U.S. demonstrate that between 53% and 65% of married women have been violated during their married lives (Dutton, 2011). The world is changing, but some of the issues such as gender inequality has resulted in perpetuating such horrendous acts with some communities such as Africans supporting such brutality in the name of disciplining the wives.
The preference of physical violence tends to have declined due to the laws and regulations that forbid such acts, but it is still evident that over 50% of all physical abuse is never reported to the police (Dutton, 2011). Unlike physical violence that criminal justice can prove a crime was committed due to the bruises, emotional and psychological attacks are difficult to determine in courts hence the rise of this form of violence. The growing trend of non-violence attacks among the spouses is increasing, and the lack of prosecution due to the lack of evidence is baffling hence the need to understand the concepts of BWS and changes needed to ensure that such crimes are prevented due to their scope and degradation aspects. Therefore, this study aims at determining the current elements of psychological BWS that makes it difficult to prosecute the perpetrators of the crimes thus forcing the women to feel helpless and continue enduring the violence in self-blame and pity.
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Paper Arrangement
The realization of the objectives is dependent on defining the concept of BWS, and the types in the background section. The life cycle of BWS that tend to limit the ability to end such crimes. These two sections are followed by the literature review that comprises of past studies in the area which will help understand the various issues faced with prosecuting the offenses. It helps illustrate the reasons most women stay in the abusive relationships as it will depict the characteristics of both the victim (wife) and the men who are the perpetrators of the crimes. Lastly, the paper proposes changes that help reduce the vice and enhance women empowerment.
Background
Studies on BWS have increased since the 1970s mainly due to the rise of feminism. Multiple psychologists and sociologists have defined BWS. For instance, Parker and Schumacher in 1977 termed BWS as the complex symptoms of violence that women have endured at any time, severe, deliberate and repeated for three or more times that causes demonstrable injury from their intimate partners or husbands with the verifiable injuries including some of the minimal bruising (Hong, 2016). The definition tends to differ with Walker’s at the end of the 1970s definition that defines the concept as women subjected to repeated dynamic or psychological behavior by a man to coerce her into doing something he wants the woman to do without any concern of her well-being or rights.
Walker’s definition is the most inclusive and most accepted in the field of the study due to his acknowledgment that not all the BWS are violent or can be proven with injuries such as bruising (Walker, 2017). The complexity of the issue of BWS resulted in the most criminal justice system to establish batterer intervention programs (BIPs) in the bid to end of the abuses.
Walker’s definition depicted that BWS can be in the form of:
Physical violence that includes slapping, bruising, punching, and chocking among other forms of violence imaginable. The ability to prove such crimes due to the injury of the victim has resulted in most abusers to employ other means of coercion.
Sexual Abuse it a form of physical abuse but it is limited to attacking the genitals of the woman. For instance, there are cases where women have been raped by their spouses, inserted objects or forced to engage in sex with the friends of husbands for the pleasure of the man, or in the intention to degrade the woman. These gang-rape are not in the approved by the wives.
Psychological Abuse involves the use of all non-violent attacks such as emotional torment, verbal abuse, refraining economic resources, stalking, destruction of pets, limiting the interaction and freedom of the wives to communicate with their families or friends, threats of death harassment, and excessive possessiveness. Although this type of abuse represents all forms of non-physical attacks, physical attacks result in self-denial and post-traumatic disorder syndrome (PTSD) (Hong, 2016). Thus, the aftermath of the attacks can be included in the psychological abuse since the partner will remind the wife of the physical attacks that she will be subjected to if she does not do as he says.
The Life Cycle of BWS
Walker’s role in the study resulted in the creation of the life cycle of BWS claiming that the attacks do not take place at the same time. The sequence is divided into three phases with different characteristics.
The tension-building phase
This first stage that consists of building anger and fall out that causes disappointment. The anger clouds the man’s judgment and miscommunication. The failure to communicate leads to the screaming and minor battering such as slaps or shoving but can also include verbal abuse. The women tend to suffer the minor mistreatment in their attempt to prevent escalating the violence, but in so doing they demonstrate a passiveness that makes the man think that they are accepting their role in angering them (Walker, 2017). Inadequate communication or help result in battering progressing to the second stage.
Acute Battering Phase
It is the worst and most tormenting. The physical brutality increases and psychological torment raises to levels that the woman feels helpless and she is concerned about her survival in the case of physical beating or insanity if the torment is psychological. Studies have demonstrated that some men have taken away the keys of the cars from the usual place or moved their spouses’ cars from the parking and making them search and feel as if they have lost their mind. The torment can also include deprivation of all economic support and even taking all the wife’s credit cards, ensuring they are dependent and cannot move. Suicide attempts are high with the failure to find a way out whereas in some cases the woman may kill the husband (Walker, 2017). The torment at this stage can take weeks without seizing thus making it the most dangerous phase as it has resulted in death or mental breakdown.
Tranquil or Loving Phase
Most men believe that subjecting their partners to suffering is a way to discipline them and once they feel that they have learnt their lessons, they stop the torment and replaces it with care, concern, and love similar to that depicted during the couple’s honeymoon (Walker, 2017). The changes in behaviors are based on the guilt by the abuser thus promises never to repeat such a thing to the wife. The love shown following the torment result in fooling the woman that the man is changed and will never subject her to such torture or abuse. The tenderness shown following a phase of acute battering makes the wives believe their husbands or spouses, and in most cases, they are more likely to end the prosecutions to avoid ending such a romantic stage of their lives. Therefore, women refrain from testifying in the courts or terminating the suits.
The three stages are likely to happen again, and with the continued ability of the man to fool the wife, in the loving phase, the woman becomes accustomed to the abuse as she has learnt that the man can never change. These women acquire a degraded role and acceptance that they are meant to be abused which causes the development of learned helplessness and recognition of their inability to change their situation.
Literature Review
Since the 1970s the field of BWS has grown tremendously with the scope of the topic ranging from dysfunctional families, violence in families, and criminality studies among other psychology and social sciences. According to Khanna (2015) the studies provided the government with changes in the policies to ensure the reduction of violence in the families. The creation of battering investigation programs (BIPs) have in countries most developed nations have increased the rates of arrests of domestic violence. However, Khanna is adamant that the system does not enhance the safety of the wives or victims and their children as it is dependent on the ability to prove physical injuries. It becomes impossible for psychological abuse victims to show that they were abused scientifically. The trend of perpetrators choosing non-violent tactics to abuse their intimates demonstrates that over 95% of the domestic abuse will go unnoticed (Khanna, 2015).
The inability to prove scientifically that psychological abuse has been committed or is ongoing results in the people women enduring 5.3 years to 7 years before they can access help from the social communities or friends (Paradis, 2017). Studies demonstrate that the women encounter difficulties in obtaining support from the police or the courts. These studies claimed that following interviews with over 2000 victims, reporting their abusers resulted in being accused by the police or courts as exaggerating or fabricating the abuses (Dutton, 2011). The learned helplessness also makes the women feel and look, unworthy mothers, when they appear in family courts and health system also diagnose the women with PTSD or other pseudo-psychiatric disorders thus implying that they are the cause of the problem (Hong, 2016 & Khanna, 2015)). The turn of events results in lowering the self-esteem to the lowest levels possible and in the bid to remain close and care for the children, the women are more likely to stay in the abusive relationships rather than move away.
The criminal justice system failures to determine the cause of the conditions of the victims have resulted in women killing their husbands if they feel it is the only way out of the abusive relationships. In the U.S., about 12% of murders are committed by women with over 95% of the murders involving women in abusive relationships. Victims of physical abuse are more likely to engage in self-defense killings, for instance, stabbing a husband when he is beating her with a knife, than the victims of psychological abuse. However, mental abuse victims are more likely to kill their abusers when the perpetrators least expect it for instance during their sleep, but the law does not consider such killings as self-defense thus subjecting these women into life-imprisonment for murder (Hong, 2016). Studies demonstrated that the male stereotyping roles and responsibilities could lead to low self-esteem among the males who feel that they do not receive the respect they deserve thus resulting in such abuses. Social norms, religion, and culture tend to accept domestic violence with the over 50% of the women who run from these abusive marriages hounded back to their homes (Graetz, 2005). These socio-cultural and religious-based assumptions on the role of women have caused the women to remain in the abusive marriages due to shame, economic dependence, and isolation that makes them lack a place to go (Graetz, 2005). The failures of the legal regulations shut the door that is meant to protect such victims hence the need for change.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The paper demonstrated that psychological abuse if the most challenging type of abuse to prosecute and is currently dominating the BWS. The failures of legal policies and social factors tend to facilitate the continued abuse. Several studies, including this paper, calls for change in the law investigating the causes of victims’ pseudo-psychiatric disorders before accusing the women as unworthy parents and reducing the stereotyping about exaggerations to ensure that the women are willing to report the abuse. It is difficult to scientifically prove the psychological abuse in BWS hence the need for investigators to map the changes in social aspects, depression and family ties about the reported abuse. These investigations will help develop a strategy to arrest and reduce this type of BWS. Lastly, women empowerment is essential to ensure that they oppose all forms of BWS rather than becoming victims of the loving phase which results in learnt helplessness.
References
Dutton, D. (2011). Battered Woman Syndrome as a Legal Defense: History, Effectiveness, and Implications. Partner Abuse , 2 (3), 382-384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1891/1946-6560.2.3.382
Graetz, N. (2005). The Battered Woman in the Jewish Tradition: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil. Journal Of Religion & Abuse , 6 (3-4), 31-48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/j154v06n03_05
Hong, R. (2016). Do Psychological Studies of Battered Women harm the Issue of Woman Battering?. Theology And Praxis , 50 (0), 221-258. http://dx.doi.org/10.14387/jkspth.2016.50.221
Khanna, D. (2015). Battered Woman Syndrome: Its Repercussions and Implications on Women of the Present Era. International Journal Of Clinical And Experimental Medical Sciences , 1 (2), 7. http://dx.doi.org/10.11648/j.ijcems.20150102.11
Paradis, C. (2017). Assessment of Intimate Partner Violence and the Battered Woman Syndrome. Psychiatric Annals , 47 (12), 593-597. http://dx.doi.org/10.3928/00485713-20171107-01
Walker, L. (2017). The battered woman syndrome . New York: Springer Publishing Company.
