Tovar 1

Christian Tovar
Professor Olivas
English 201
13 November 2016
Domestic violence
Throughout the route of ones lifetime, there are countless events that
shape personalities, actions, and mentality of that individual. Some events
can affect an individual in a positive way, while others head towards a path
that leads them into a deep void a person continually faces and affects them
in a negative way. A justice-related issue that people experience relevantly in
our society for many years till now is in relation to victims who are battling
domestic violence. Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical
assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a
systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner
against another and especially includes physical violence, sexual violence,
psychological violence, and emotional abuse. There are victims not knowing
where to go and this could actually be an issue with support system. Often
times a victim is injured in a domestic dispute and Police are the first to
respond and make a lasting impression. The real situation of domestic
violence is it has a major impact the childs health and it continues to grow,
As much females experience domestic violence, men go through a much
more brutal situation and should seek help, and government should support

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and develop better male services due to men not having enough services as
women due.
Domestic violence is a vicious cycle that affects everyone it encounters
with, it is literally chained to the abuser, but a child who experiences
domestic violence till he or she is in those footsteps of the abused parent will
be the next generation to give out domestic violent actions. Domestic
violence may affect our relatives, but it affects more on the people our
future: our children. According to the NCTSN (The National Child Traumatic
Stress Network) they say, Domestic violence poses a serious threat to
children's emotional, psychological, and physical well- being, particularly if
the violence is chronic. From the UNICEF, estimated by their researchers are
staggering, about 275 million children worldwide are exposed to domestic
violence in their home. Children that are exposing to a battering environment
can lead them to be fearful and anxious, when the next event triggers, they
never feel safe, feeling powerless to help their mother. The 1996 National
Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect found 2.8 million reported cases
of child maltreatment, a rate of 41.9 per 1,000 children. Children need to be
safe and secure home, free from the violence and loving parents that shows
they care and protect them.
Domestic violence evolving around a childs mind from daily
experience can actually trigger a short-term effect. It can increase anxiety
about parents ending up being separated, nightmares, intense worry about
their safety or the safety of a parent, or if the accruing domestic violent

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event continues, it could lead to a long-term effect on children: physical

health problems, Behavior problems in adolescence, and emotional
difficulties in adulthood (NCTSN). From the story Shattered and Beaten could
reflect to the experiences of children. Alicia, the child in the story tells her
story about her domestic violence experience seeing her mother, brutally
beaten by her father constantly. Both, the abuser and the abused
experienced domestic violence when they were children, Alicias mother
coming from a domestic violence experience themselves, her mother beaten
by her father but she became an orphan when her parents had the car crash.
And the father actually learned his behavior from her mother drinking and
actually abusing the father. Every night she heard her father rage at her
mother, Alicia feeling guilty due to not helping her mother from her abusive
father, but she was only five and little while her father was big, wanting to
save her mom from her pain and suffer but just couldnt. When she grew
older, she worried so much that she started eating a lot to lower her stress
level, while in reality children would eat to calm them down or have a bad
habit to relax and drive through the endless storm.
As children are facing domestic violence in their homes and are
affecting them slowly, it continues to affect them in their education. As
preschoolers they start to develop expressing their emotions. While living in
a domestic violent environment, they start to become confused with the
mixed messages with what they see versus on what there told. As they get
into the school age, they are more aware of their personal reactions to

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violence and may worry about their mother being harmed. As the ages six
through eleven, they have their primary self-concept revolving around
academic and social success. But with domestic violence interfering with
their school success, they become distracted (Michigan State University
Extension). With schools, they should improve their system to recognize
Children responses at an earlier age, as well as understanding the parents
responses. With schools, they should develop strategies to cope with the
child to create a world of difference to them.
While women or mothers face domestic violence, there are rare untold
cases of actually men also face domestic violence; women arent the only
victims of domestic violence. As classified from the short story Shattered
and Beaten, Alicias Father got his behavior from her mother, from the story
it stated that his mother was violent towards her father, for example
throwing pans across the kitchen, and dealing the raging of the mother.
There has been research from the 2010 National survey by the center of
diseases control and Department of justice that more men than women
where actually victims of intimate partner physical violence and over 40% of
sever physical violence was towards men (Bert H. Hoff, J.D). As women do
have problems leaving from there abuser, men as well face a problem of not
exiting the abusive relationship. There are various reasons they choose not
to leave, while its a sacrifice they do for their children which is about 89
percent, some men are committed to marriage for life and the stats of it is
81 percent, 71 percent of men actually would not leave because they are too

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attached; in other words, in love. There are women that would head that
path to show threats of doing suicide if their spouse or partner leaves them
and its about 26 percent. And the last well known reason men wont leave
their partner, here is when the table turns, about 24 percent men actually
feels the fear beneath their skin and have thoughts that their partner would
murder him (Mankind Imitative). Women could just as likely to be aggressive
towards there partner as men, and its possible females could be even more.
There are problems of violence against men and are handled
differently. There been some studies that have shown, and people see on the
news or known someone who had been through domestic violence. It shows
that women who assaulted their male partner are more likely to avoid arrest
than men who attack their female partner (Felson, Richard B). Men fear that
if they report to the police, they law will be assumed to be the aggressor,
and will be placed under arrest. The U.S. National Family Violence Survey,
carried out by Murray A. Straus and Richard J. Gelles on a nationally
representative sample of 6,002 couples, and found that when a female called
the police to report domestic violence, the man was ordered out of there
house in about 41.4 percent of the cases. When table turn, when a man
called the police, about 0 percent of the women were ordered out of the
house.
As domestic violence is an important social problem in our country,
government should support and improve their system when it comes to
domestic abuse. The lack of service for male victims of domestic violence

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was well observed and surveyed that one of domestic violence shelters in
California confirmed the fact that most shelters do not admit males (Gale
opposing viewpoints). According to Psychologist David Fontes, he has
observed that "if a male victim happens to show up at a domestic violence
center, they may try to help him, but are unlikely to have an active outreach
program or services specifically set up with his needs in mind. There were
shelters that turned a male survivor and former victim of a abusive
relationship, Ray Blumhort, after he contacted the shelters, they let him
down, And said that after a year once he founded therapy, he still hasnt
found a supported stable group for abused men.
When it comes to women being the victim once again, the question is
why they still stay with their male partner. Women may not leave while they
abused and their responses to their situation would almost show as
expression of love. Domestic violence for some people actually believes that
it is not a crime and is used for good purpose. While there are some people,
who argued that domestic violence is not a crime and it is good thing for the
women to be abused by their husband to show whom the men in the house
is and who takes the decisions. However, in the actual reality, abuse is
abuse, not women, but men make mistake and still end up being beaten.
Both male and females honestly dont know where to go if a female gets
abused and call the police, its possible the male could forgive her but the
cycle still continues. While a man calls the police, its possible, and most
likely will be arrested.

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As people view domestic violence in a different perspective, there are

untold stories others face. While women go through a rough path of domestic
violence, men are also in the shadows and are not supported enough and
face the stress and violence to do whats best, and make huge sacrifices for
their children as well. But with the experience children face, the cycle of
domestic violence continues if they are not supported and guided to a
happier path. Domestic violence is a large social issue that is being dealt
with on a daily basis. With developing system and supporting each other
more, it can be an excellent way to stop abuse in our society today.

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Cite Sources
"CDC Study: More Men than Women Victims of Partner Abuse." SAVE: Stop
Abusive and Violent Environments. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.
"Domestic Violence Impacts Children Differently at Different Ages." MSU
Extension. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2016.
"Domestic Violence." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2015.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Accessed 17 Nov. 2016.
Felson, Richard B., and PaulPhilippe Pare. "Does the Criminal Justice System
Treat Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Offenders Leniently?" Justice
Quarterly 24.3 (2007): 435-59. Web.
Kaur, Ravneet, and Suneela Garg. "Addressing Domestic Violence Against
Women: An Unfinished Agenda." Indian Journal of Community Medicine :
Official Publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine.
Medknow Publications, 2008. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.
Mahnkey, Mark. "Domestic Violence Against Men Is a Serious Problem."
Domestic Violence, edited by Louise I. Gerdes, Greenhaven Press, 2012.
Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,