admin We have been writing about and documenting domestic violence for nearly a decade now. The one thing that has always puzzled me is where do people learn how to mistreat their partners? Is it a question of circumstances such as alcohol, drugs or poverty? Or as I suspect, is it something that boys see their fathers doing with impunity and figure that’s the way it is?
As I started to do some research for this topic, I discovered some startling statistics. “Every 9 seconds in the U.S. a woman is assaulted or beaten. Around the world at least one in every three women has been beaten or abused in her lifetime. And men who, as children, witness their parent’s domestic violence were twice as likely to abuse their own wives than sons of non-violent parents.”
That last little snippet gives some credence to my theory that it is a learned trait. Even more shocking is that well over 50{0d344128b9dc3e1b34e90cc80856d1b8d47f216c439c96543b7bb0e9f3734051} of all women who have been physically abused by their partners have never reported it to a governmental agency, shelter or police.
According to a recent survey among women 92{0d344128b9dc3e1b34e90cc80856d1b8d47f216c439c96543b7bb0e9f3734051} of the respondents listed reducing domestic violence and sexual assault as their top concern.
One thing that I have observed in the last decade or so is that police are reacting and responding more aggressively to reports of domestic violence. A lot of that has been because social pressures around them by activist groups. I remember reporting a decade ago that there were more shelters for animals than for battered women. That may still be the case. I do know that shelters now are jam-packed with little or no room for new victims.
So it continues to be a leading social issue that doesn’t get as much attention as it should. Maybe in some small way our contribution of writing articles about it will help. Domestic violence in one way or another has touched a few of my grown girls now women. That is one reason why this mild-mannered guy has turned semi-activist.
As long as domestic violence continues to be a leading cause of injury to women – more than car accidents, muggings and rapes combined and as long as 20{0d344128b9dc3e1b34e90cc80856d1b8d47f216c439c96543b7bb0e9f3734051} of teenage girls who’ve been in a relationship with a boyfriend are threatened by violence if they break up, women will live in fear.
One of the things that they can do is take some basic self-defense classes and learn how to defend themselves against any kind of assault. Then women should arm themselves with some kind of self-defense product such as a pepper spray or a stun gun. Learn how to use it and don’t be afraid to use it.
Finally, develop an escape plan which may involve friends, relatives or church members. You don’t need to live in fear for the rest of your life.