Introduction This paper revolves around the topic Domestic Essay

Introduction

This paper revolves around the topic Domestic Violence which acts as a huge umbrella for other

forms like Intimate partner abuse, Dating violence, Domestic abuse Spousal abuse and Intimate

partner violence. Not only the word Abuse but all the above terms refer to same meaning which

is a married or unmarried relationship where one of the partners undergoes ill-treatment by the

other and this can happen sometimes by manipulation or brain washing also. The victims of this

issue, which are the men, women, teenagers or even the homosexuals emotionally, physically,

mentally, psychologically, sexually and sometimes there are deep economic losses too. There are

even a wide variety of ways in which this abuse can be carried out. There is different type of

abuses such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, psychological abuse and it is said that

stalking and abuse through the means of stalking also fall under the same category. This has been

something which is been going on for years and years. For instance, Rape and all the other forms

of sexual assault, exploitation, torture and a lot of other means are used in order to affect the

victims in a very brutal manner. But nevertheless, at a majority it always the women who are

getting affected by the men. From honor killing, rape or sexual violence or forcefulness happens

with the teenagers from school itself. At the same time, there were times were women were

deprived of their basic needs. For instance, records say that until the yea of 1701 women in the

United States were completely prohibited from working in the juries and were also prohibited

from voting until 1920.So as a result ,women have already fallen down from the view point of of

men in terms of pride and so this eventually leads to their ill-treatment(Dryden

Edwards,2016).Thereby ,the purpose of my essay is to reduce the occurrence of this crime and to

spread awareness about this issue.

4

Literature Review

According to the study conducted by the Canadian Women’s Health Network, about 65% so the

partners who been under the case of homicide have also been noted to have a history of family

violence along with the victim and these cases are much often between couples who are divorced

or separated. This is much similar to intimate partner violence where the police reported that the

female victims are always under the age 35.And unfortunenately,we also come to know that 25%

of the cases where the children or teenagers are assaulted are by their own family members and

the rate is in such a way that this crime affects the girl and as approximately four times greater

than the boys and again they are hurt and are committing sexual offences by a family member

itself(Canadian Women’s Health Network,2012).In the same way, even Ansari came up with the

data recorded by the Canadian General Social Survey for the year 2004 on Victimization by

about 645 men and 676 women as we all have a rough idea and have at least come to a

conclusion that the number of women in the victim list are much higher than the men. And the

results from that survey tells us that victims of any kind of violence be it sexual, mental or

physical ,it one and only leads to severe negative impact and those victims who have undergone

physical violence and danger are also experiencing increasingly growing negative impact in their

minds on their surroundings and also chronic patterns of control and violence We are also

alarmed by the fact that this survey was exclusively conduced for women as they were known to

have experienced the most painful forms of abuse. These results also suggest that there is also a

psychosocial impact which is been given by the act of the Intimate Partner violence and are also

influenced by nature of the abuse, violence and control experienced and most importantly varies

according to the gender (Ansara, D. L.& Hindin, M. J ,2011). In Canada the women have been

seriously facing this issue ever since the 1980’s. So DeKeseredy and Dragiewicz have written

5

about some progressive ways to overcome the negative impact of these issues and to deal with

the future challenges in their lives. We also come to know similar results from the other authors

which is that the women are assaulted at a higher number when compared to the rate of men.

These two significant authors wrote about highly dangerous male to female assaults occurring in

a secretive manner at times, in political and economic terms (DeKeseredy, W. S.& Dragiewicz,

M,2014).On one hand, as we are busy blaming the strangers and the family members which are

the distant relatives,etc.But here the Canadian Labor Congress has a different aspect on this

issue. A voice of a victim says that “The abuser would phone my workplace to see what time I

had left and phoned when I arrived to make sure I was actually going to work”. To get a clear

idea of this phrase, it means that the victim’s partner or husband used to call the victim’s

workplace to ensure that she has reached the office and not anywhere else and enquired about the

time when she left the office. It was also noted that the victims are always kept control over by

the abusers and they would barge into their offices. Similarly, the abusers also sometimes

prohibit the victims from doing their occupations as well. Records also say that about 80% of the

domestic abuse lead to the negative impacts on the jobs of the victims. (Canadian Labor

Congress,2015). Now let us go over the statistics provided by the Ministry of Status of women.

In 2002 homicide cases which involved domestic violence in Ontario involved 80% of

women,12% children and 8% men. But whereas in the year 2011, according to the Domestic

Violence Death Review Committee Report, this time 89% of the victims were female and

88% of them were male. So we can notice that rate of domestic homicides against men

remains and against females are dropping gradually.Also,the good news is that the rate of

homicides against the female partners and spouses have dropped 45% from 1991 to the year

2011.And we hope that this idea gets completely demolished(Ministry of the Status of Women,

Government of Ontario,2015).

6

Theoretical Perspectives

One more saddening aspect about this issue is that even when somehow the victims gather the

courage to go and inform the cops regarding the abuse, it’s up to the authorities to decide upon

their speed of their investigation. For instance, let us take the example of Dawn Crey, her case

time limit was still acceptable only because her very own brother Ernie Crey was an activist and

advocate exclusively for their own community which is the aboriginals or the native. So having

such influential people such as Janice Acoose who worked at the First Nations University as a

professor, Constable Eric Chrona who was an aboriginal himself, Lynn Terbasket is a total

necessity as from the RCMP report we came to know that more than half of the victims who

were missing and murdered belonged to the native or the Aboriginal community as they

somewhere will definitely boost up and encourage the authority to take up the cases .But on the

other hand ,comparatively powerless people such as the friends and family of Dalleen

Bossee,Ramona Wilson could only worry about their missing and murdered loved ones and the

maximum they can do is the walking ritual till the location where they were last seen to the

location where their bodies were found to show that they still stand straight to fight for the

injustice which has happened to their daughter,aunt,mother,sister or friend and will always be

there to support them and will always maintain a consistent and string hope that some or the

other day they will return back to their families(Finding Dawn, Christine Welsh, National Film

Board of Canada).

Policies

I think now its high time and the women; men and all the victims have had enough, and it is the

time to stricter the existing rules and to create more and more efficient rules which can stand up

7

to any level. Because not only domestic violence, but all kind of violence can happen anywhere

office,school,workplaces,communities or even in your vicinity irrespective of gender,caste,age or

mental ability.So,first of all before we take action on the abusers ,we first have to spread

awareness about how do you know it if you are abused, as sometimes many people fail to

understand this pivotal point when being in a relationship. And then now the next step would be

to make people aware about who and where should they contact when abused. Always inform

the cops immediately and give all the information you can regarding the abuse. Refer a women’s

welfare association or an organization, family center or at least a counselor and also going to a

hospital or health care center and getting a normal checkup is mandatory.Also,in Canada

exclusively you will get better steps to go ahead from National Clearinghouse on family violence

which is a kind of a resource center for information about abuses an violence within your own

family and the Government of Canada’s Family Violence Initiative(Canada, H,2010).

Discussion/Conclusions

As of now as we have discussed now what does domestic violence/abuse actually mean as many

people fail to understand the meaning behind it and often end up confusing it with terms like

sexual violence, child abuse,rape,assaults,etc.Went through pretty much a variety of statistics and

where are threats coming from indoor as well as outside, how does it impact the victims and the

main fact that the women are affected at a higher rate when compared to men .And that people

are getting assaulted ,affected though a lot of means be it under the name of assault or

sometimes even in the name of relationships surprisingly. And finally wrapped with what and

how should you act in case if an abuse to yourself or even your neighbor or loved ones and also

spoke about the really needed but hardly spoken about case which is Finding Dawn So we did

see in some of the articles which we just went through and realized that women of all the ages

8

are getting highly vulnerable day by day. So, from my point of view, there should be a special

immunity or power which should be given to the women exclusively, which is the allowance to

defend herself in case of an assault or abuse even at the cost of that criminal. And most

importantly, make the authorities understand that rich or poor or high or low does not

mater,everyone is equal and the police should always work at a higher pace for all the missing

and murder cases if we do not want another victim just like Rehtaeh Parsons.Well,sadly still

many people in Canada itself are unaware about her, she was one such fighter who literally was

left with no help after her assault and had no option but to click pictures of herself in order to get

those criminals behind bars and fight for justice all by herself(Violence against Women, lecture

material, SLATE).So let us all come to a conclusion hoping to reduce the occurrence of crime

rapidly by not only spreading awareness all along the globe but all make sure we develop at least

one brave soul just like Rehtaeh Parsons in our homes and vicinity.

References

Ansara, D. L., & Hindin, M. J. (2011). Psychosocial Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence

for Women and Men in Canada. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(8), 1628–1645.

Canada, H. (2010, June 22). Violence and Abuse. Retrieved from

DeKeseredy, W. S., & Dragiewicz, M. (2014). Woman Abuse in Canada: Sociological

Reflections on the Past, Suggestions for the Future. Violence Against Women, 20(2), 228–244.

9

Domestic violence in Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved from

Dryden-Edwards, R. (n.d.). Domestic Violence Facts, Types & Effects. Retrieved from

_symptoms_of_intimate_partner_abuse

How does domestic violence impact people at work? (n.d.). Retrieved from

Ministry of the Status of Women, Government of Ontario. (n.d.). Statistics: Domestic Violence.

Retrieved from

violence/domestic_violence.shtml

National Film Board of Canada. (1970, January 01). Finding Dawn. Retrieved from

Retrieved from SLATE: M4: Explaining why crime occurs critical theory and feminism, Lecture

material, Violence against Women(p3).