Author: Andre Coleman

Outline the main features of Durkheim’s approach to sociological analysis, and discuss how this may be used to understand suicide rate.

Durkheim was a French positivist, with an emphasis on functionalism, which revolves around a biological analogy where in society, is seen as an organic whole with each component working to maintain the others, similar to the human body. Its main interest is seeing how these parts create a stable whole.

One of the main areas of Durkheims approach is the focus on social facts, these are social phenomena and ways of thinking and behaving that restrain individuals in some manner or other and can include institutions such as the state and education. They appear from collectively formed rules and practices, be they religious or secular and are beyond our control as individuals. Because of these social facts individuals have littler or no control over their own actions, rather than constructing their own world they are directed by the system as society needs certain social behaviours and phenomena to survive. These social facts are passed on from generation to generation and shared among the individuals. From this perspective it is not individual will that drives behaviours but rather the common norms and values of society that shape ones consciousness. “Not only are these types of behaviour and thinking external to the individual, but they are endued with a compelling and coercive power by virtue of which, whether he wishes it or not, they impose themselves upon him” (Durkheim, 1895 pp50). These social facts form the basis of a collective consciousness, which Durkheim sees as ‘the body of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society’ (Durkheim, 1893). This collective consciousness promotes solidarity, forging a common bond between individuals in a society, creating a form of order and stability. Without a form of moral consensus there would be conflict and disorder “From where interest is the only ruling for each individual finds himself in a state of was with every other” (Durkheim, 1973, p89) Since the collective consciousness is a social fact it too constrains individuals to act in terms of the greater good and for the good of the society and is deeply imprinted on the individual as without it there would be no society as we know it. These social facts can have problems if they regulate too much or not enough, without enough control the individual would give in to their own wants and desires, with too much they would feel repressed, inevitably both will lead to deviance, that being going against the norms and values of society.

From a collective consciousness come two forms of solidarity, organic and mechanical. Organic solidarity is based upon a dependence that individuals in an advanced society place on each other. It is common among societies where the division of labor is high. Though individuals perform different tasks and often have different values and interests, the order and survival of society depends on their reliance on each other to perform their specific tasks. Mechanical solidarity on the other hand is based upon the similarities among individuals in a society, within it people feel connected through similar work, education and religious practices. It primarily exists in societies that possess a low division of labour where this is little interdependence between individuals and where there is a basic or lack of organisation and compared to societies with organic solidarity there is more value placed on religion, society and its interests and there is a greater collective consciousness and less emphasise placed on individualism, that being where you count yourself as an individual rather than part of a group, putting yourself first etc (Haralambos 2004 pp??). From organic solidarity and individualism can come anomie, this is a sense of normlessness, where norms themselves are unclear, broken down or unregulated “If the rules of the conjugal morality lose their authority, and the mutual obligations of husband and wife become less respected, the emotions and appetites ruled by this sector of morality will become unrestricted and uncontained, and accentuated by this very release; powerless to fulfil themselves because they have been freed from all limitations, these emotions will produce a disillusionment which manifests itself visibly…”(Durkheim, 1972, p. 173) He noted that it was common in societies that possessed a less defined collective consciousness and a higher amount of individualism”…The state of anomie is impossible whenever interdependent organs are sufficiently in contact and sufficiently extensive. If they are close to each other, they are readily aware, in every situation, of the need which they have of one-another, and consequently they have an active and permanent feeling of mutual dependence.”(Durkheim, 1895, p184)

Imbalances in the amount of regulation caused by social facts and the amount of integration from solidarity are one of the main factors within suicide, less advanced societies having too much integration and regulation and industrial societies have too littler of either. Durkheim said that suicide was a social act, not entirely an individual one revolving around the relationships between the individual and society. He found that there was a correlation between the suicide rate and various social facts. For example he found that suicide rates were higher in protestant countries than catholic ones, he also found that there was a low rate during times of social and political upheaval due to the amount of solidarity that such events creates (Durkheim in Marsh, pp66-69). He laid out four types of suicide, depending on the degree that individuals were involved in society and on the degree that their behaviour was regulated. The four types being egoistic, anomic, altruistic and fatalistic. Egoistic suicide is common in industrial societies with high amounts of division of labour and comes from a high amount of individualism, which stems from a low amount of integration due to a weak collective consciousness from the social groups from which they originally belonged; in effect society allows the individual to escape it “In this case the bond attaching man to life relaxes because that attaching himself to society is itself slack” (Durkheim in Marsh pp67). This sort of suicide Durkheim said accounted for the differences of suicide rates between Protestants and Catholics, with Catholicism’s demanding a higher amount of conformity, in comparison to the Protestant church that encouraged the individual to interpret the religious texts in their own way without stigma. Another type of suicide common in industrial societies is anomic which results from a low amount of regulation. It occurs when norms and values are disrupted by social change, procuring feelings of uncertainty within the individual. “Whenever serious readjustments take place in the social order, whether or not due to a sudden growth or to an unexpected catastrophe, men are more inclined to self destruction” (Durkheim in K. Thompson, 1971, pp109) Durkheim found that suicide rates rose during positive as well as negative directions of social change. He noted that there was a rise after the crash of the Paris stock exchange in 1882 and the conquest of Rome in 1870 by Victor-Emmanuel which resulted in rising salaries and living standards but also a rise in the suicide rate.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is altruistic suicide that comes from a high amount of integration and strong feeling of society and solid collective consciousness. This form of suicide is mostly present in pre-industrial societies who possess mechanical solidarity. This was seen as a self sacrifice for the good of the group “This sacrifice then is imposed by society for social ends” (Durkheim in Marsh, pp68). It is not done because it seen as the best option but more out of a sense of duty to said group. For someone to do such an act out of duty then they must have little self worth, the individual being fully submerged into a group and feeling like just a part of a greater thing, thus highly integrated. “For society to be able to compel some of its members to kill themselves, the individual personality can have little value. For as soon as the latter begins to form, the right to existence is the first conceded” (Ibid, pp68) Various examples of this can be seen throughout history, Vikings considers it dishonourable to die of old age or sickness and so ended their own lives to avoid social disgrace. Durkheim placed no importance on fatalistic suicide, saying that it had more place in history than in modern societies. It occurred when society restricted an individual so much that they were repressed, feeling that they had no futures or dreams.

One of the major criticisms of Durkheim’s analysis is his concepts of integration and regulation. Durkheim gives no hint as to how one would measure integration or regulation for example – he simply asks us to assume that such “underlying” concepts are significant in relation to the explanation of suicide. He assumes that suicidal behavior results from a deviation from normal levels of integration and regulation. We are given no idea what exactly is a normal level, so we cannot say what amount of regulation and integration is normal or abnormal (Web ref 1). However with some work, it could be possible to come up with various test relating to theses concepts, so that we could measure them among different groups in society. A second criticism is that his work on suicide is based upon official statistics from the 19th century He gives us little idea about the reliability of the source of the statistics and the methods used in recording them could not be up to scratch, some could be wrong, since they were hand written things could be misread and so on. Another factor is that the determination of suicide involves is process of interpretation by numerous people such as policemen, doctors, coroners etc (Ibid). In this respect, we have no real way of determining either the reliability or validity of suicide statistics. The coroner is the one who decides whether death was due to suicide or not and various factors can sway his judgment towards it not being so. The individual’s verdict depends on their outlook on their work and on their outlook on suicide. Some would be thorough in the investigation whilst others would be concerned about not intruding upon the rights and feelings of the surviving relatives. For example if the victim was Catholic, since traditionally the Catholic Church view suicide as a sin, the coroner may well make his decision based on the effect that the stigma that a suicide verdict carries may have on the relatives. It is known that coroners in Catholic countries such as Italy and Mexico are more-reluctant to classify a suspicious death as suicide than coroners in non-Catholic countries. Another fact is that some countries suicide is classified as a crime, in such countries, coroners tend to be more-reluctant to classify a death as suicide than in countries where such a law does not apply, for example when suicide was illegal in Britain the punishment was that deceased property would be ceased by the state, so it would be justifiable to deem a suicide as something else to avert any more tragedy. Also where the victim was insured against death, coroners tend to be less likely to classify death as suicide than in instances where there is none, as such an act can void the coverage. One final criticism is that he does not take into look into individual action as a cause; however he does briefly acknowledge it but claims that it has no part in sociology (Ibid)

Bibliography
Durkheim, E (1973). Moral Education. Macmillan USA
Durkheim, E (1975). On Morality and Society. revised ed. Chicago: Chicago University Press
Durkheim, E (1982). The Rules of the Sociological Method. revised ed. London: The Free Press.
Durkheim, E (1997). The Division of Labour in Society. revised ed. London: The Free Press
Haralambos and Holborn (2004). Sociology themes and perspectives. 6th ed. London: Collin
Marsh.I (1998). Classic and Contemporary Readings in Sociology. London: Pretince Hall.
Thompson.K and Tunstall.J (1983). Sociological Perspectives. 9th ed. London: Penguin Books

Once he discovered that certain types of suicide could be accounted for by anomie, he could then use anomic suicide as an index for the otherwise unmeasurable degree of social integration. This was not circular reasoning, as could be argued, but a further application of his method of analysis. He reasoned as follows: There are no societies in which suicide does not occur, and many societies show roughly the same rates of suicide over long periods of time. This indicates that suicides may be considered a “normal,” that is, a regular, occurrence. However, sudden spurts in the suicide rates of certain groups or total societies are “abnormal” and point to some perturbations not previously present. Hence. “abnormally” high rates in specific groups or social categories, or in total societies, can be taken as an index of disintegrating forces at work in a social structure.

Durkheim distinguished between types of suicide according to the relation of the actor to his society. When men become “detached from society,” when they are thrown upon their own devices and loosen the bonds that previously had tied them to their fellow, they are prone to egoistic, or individualistic, suicide. When the normative regulations surrounding individual conduct are relaxed and hence fail to curb and guide human propensities, men are susceptible to succumbing to anomic suicide. To put the matter differently, when the restraints of structural integration, as exemplified in the operation of organic solidarity, fail to operate, men become prone to egoistic suicide; when the collective conscience weakens, men fall victim to anomic suicide.

In addition to egoistic and anomic types of suicide, Durkheim refers to altruistic and fatalistic suicide. The latter is touched upon only briefly in his work, but the former is of great importance for an understanding of Durkheim’s general approach. Altruistic suicide refers to cases in which suicide can be accounted for by overly strong regulation of individuals, as opposed to lack of regulation. Durkheim argues in effect that the relation of suicide rates to social regulation is curvilinear–high rates being associated with both excessive individuation and excessive regulation. In the case of excessive regulation, the demands of society are so great that suicide varies directly rather than inversely with the degree of integration. For example, in the instance of the Hindu normative requirement that widows commit ritual suicide upon the funeral pyre of their husbands, or in the case of harikiri, the individual is so strongly attuned to the demands of his society that he is willing to take his own life when the norms so demand. Arguing from statistical data, Durkheim shows that in modern societies the high rates of suicide among the military cannot be explained by the deprivations of military life suffered by the lower ranks, since the suicide rate happens to be higher for officers than for enlisted men. Rather, the high rate for officers can be accounted for by a military code of honor that enjoins a passive habit of obedience leading officers to undervalue their own lives. In such cases, Durkheim is led to refer to too feeble degrees of individuation and to counterpose these to the excesses of individuation or de-regulation, which account, in his view, for the other major forms of suicide.

Durkheim’s discussion of altruistic suicide allows privileged access to some of the intricacies of his approach. He has often been accused of having an overly anti-individualistic philosophy, one that is mainly concerned with the taming of individual impulse and the harnessing of the energies of individuals for the purposes of society. Although it cannot be denied that there are such tendencies in his work, Durkheim’s treatment of altruistic suicide indicates that he was trying to establish a balance between the claims of individuals and those of society, rather than to suppress individual strivings. Acutely aware of the dangers of the breakdown of social order, he also realized that total control of component social actors by society would be as detrimental as anomie and de-regulation. Throughout his life he attempted to establish a balance between societal and individual claims.

From Coser, 1977:132-136.

At the end of the 19th century a French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, recorded an apparent link between high suicide rates and a breakdown in social structure and organisation. He coined the term ‘anomie’ for this state. This link has since been recorded many times in places outside France and appears to be real. However, its true significance has only recently begun to be understood with the development and exploration of the concept of social capital and its link, not just with suicide, but with health generally.

(“Stronger Communities One of” 28)

He wanted to demonstrate and establish sociology’s scientific status by providing a sociological explanation of that seemingly most individual of acts-suicide. In order to do this he had to define suicide as a social fact that would require explanation in terms of other social facts (social structures and forces as conceptualized in his multi-layered model). The social fact to be explained was not the individual act of suicide, which might be better accounted for by a case study method where, in favourable instances, there might be enough evidence to make inferences about the victim’s mental state-motives and intentions. It was suicide rates, as disclosed by statistics, that constituted the social fact to be explained as an effect of an imbalance of social structural forces. Consequently, he proceeded to define suicide with the least possible reference to mental elements, excluding any reference to intentions but allowing for the need to distinguish between accidental death and suicide: “the term suicide is applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result.” Comparative statistics for countries and categories of people within each country showed that suicide rates were relatively constant; therefore, it must be a social fact that a collective tendency towards suicide existed. These collective tendencies could be related to sets of causes to produce a classification of types of suicide. The sets of causes were theoretically postulated on the basis of Durkheim’s conception of possible imbalances between centrifugal forces (too much individualism) and centripetal forces (too much social pressure).

Two pairs of imbalances of forces are defined; one pair refers to the degree of integration or interaction in a group (egoism and altruism), the other pair refers to the degree of moral regulation (anomie and fatalism). The two continua of integration and regulation, and the four types of suicide, can be illustrated in Fig. 3.2 and summary:

The first type of suicide, at the low extreme of the integration continuum, was egoistic suicide. Here rates of interaction in egoistic groups were low, and so values, beliefs, traditions, and sentiments were not held in common by all members. The result was that they weakened each other whenever they came into conflict. The collective life was diminished and individual interests were asserted. The individual lost the beneficial effects of group membership, such as support and revitalization, and consequently found little meaning in group life. Thus suicide rates were higher for Protestants than Catholics, both in comparisons between predominantly Protestant countries and Catholic countries, and between Protestants and Catholics in the same society. It was not the case that one religion’s beliefs condemned suicide and the other did not, as suicide was severely condemned by both Protestantism and Catholicism. The difference was that Protestanism encouraged individual free inquiry and, unlike Catholicism, it did not offer priestly and sacramental supports. Where a Protestant church did offer more of those supports, as in the Church of England, which had kept some of the Catholic emphasis on priesthood and sacraments (and had more clergyman per head of population than Protestant countries) the suicide rate was mid-way between that of the Catholic and Protestant countries.

A further example of egoistic suicide was the higher rate to be found among adults who were unmarried compared with married people of the same age. And the larger the family, the lower was the chance of suicide occurring. Finally egoistic suicide varied inversely with the degree of political integration, the rate fell in wars and political crises.

Altruistic suicide was the result of too much integration. The individual absorbed and controlled by the group had an under-developed and so under-valued sense of individuality. Such a person could not resist the pressure to sacrifice the self for the group’s interests, even if it me ant committing suicide. Durkheim pointed out the similarity of the modern army and primitive society in this respect; in both there was a lack of individuality and a strong pressure towards self-sacrifice. Examples of suicides in primitive societies included suicides of the old or very ill, suicides of women on their husbands’ death, and suicides of followers or servants on the death of their chiefs. The much higher rate of military suicides compared with civilians in modern suicide was explained by Durkheim in terms of military morality being a survival of primitive morality, predisposing the soldier to kill himself “at the least disappointment, for the most futile reasons, for a refusal of leave, a reprimand, an unjust punishment, a delay in promotion, a question of honour, a flush of momentary jealousy, or even simply because other suicides have occurred before his eyes or to his knowledge” [1] p. 239.

The next type of suicide, at the low extreme of the regulation continuum, was anomic suicide. Anomie was the consequence of social change resulting in a diminution of social regulation. He discussed two forms of economic anomie-“acute” and “chronic”, and then “chronic domestic” anomie. They were all cases of an imbalance between means and needs-states of disequilibrium, where means were inadequate to fulfil needs. Durkheim did not believe that needs were given in man’s biological, psychological, or individual nature. Indeed, that was one of his main criticisms of the economic, psychological, and utilitarian theories of his time, because they ignored the socially-derived and variable nature of human needs. Passions, desires, appetites, ends, and goals could all become needs, and if such wants were not restrained they would bring unhappiness. The individual’s wants were boundless unless a limit was set on them by an external moral authority.

Acute economic anomie occurred in booms and slumps. In both circumstances old rules relating means to ends were inapplicable, and individuals were freed from social restraint, creating disequilibrium, unhappiness, and leading to an increase in suicides. Chronic economic anomie was a product of a longer term diminution of social regulation of the relation between means and ends. For over a century there had been an erosion of the influence of agencies that had exercised moral restraint over economic relations, particularly religious and occupational groups, and instead of being regarded as a means, industry had become an end in itself. Not surprisingly, suicide rates were higher in manufacturing and commercial occupations than they were in agriculture, because the latter still had traditions and customs that exercised constraint. (Not that Durkheim wanted to revert to older forms of organization, although he believed new occupational associations should be formed that would have some of the same functions as the old guilds.) Constant economic striving after limitless goals could not bring happiness, as was shown by the fact that the higher socio-economic strata had higher rates of suicide than the poor.

Acute domestic anomie was exemplified by widowhood, which represented a crisis for the surviving husband or wife, who would not be adapted to the new situation and so offered less resistance to suicide.

Chronic domestic anomie was discussed by Durkheim in terms of the way in which marital regulation affects the means-needs balance in men and women. He defined marriage as: “A regulation of sexual relations, including not merely the physical instincts which this intercourse involves but the feelings of every sort gradually engrafted by civilization on the foundation of physical desire” [1] , p. 270. Civilization had produced a multiplicity of triggers of man’s passions, and only marriage could channel those needs within attainable bounds; bachelors, however, experience limitless horizons, which lead to unrestrained passions that create a disjunction between means and ends, and a state of chronic anomie. Consequently, bachelors had a higher suicide rate than married men. Ease of divorce had a similar effect on married men, producing higher suicide rates. Women, who had long been more restricted within the domestic sphere, had not had their sexual aspirations raised to the same level, and so they required less regulation. Marriage served to over-regulate them, particularly if it was difficult

to secure a divorce (they had a lower rate of suicide in societies where divorce was easier than in those where it was difficult). As distinct from family life with children, marriage itself offered no protection against suicidal pressures so far as women were concerned. The interests of the two sexes were in conflict:

“Speaking generally, we now have the cause of that antagonism of the sexes which prevents marriage favouring them equally: their interests are contrary; one needs restraint and the other libertyaˆ¦. Women can suffer more from marriage if it is unfavourable to her than she can benefit by it if it conforms to her interest. This is because she has less need of it” [1] , p. 274-275.

Fatalistic suicide was at the high extreme of the regulation continuum. He only discussed this condition of excessive regulation once, and that was restricted to an eight-sentence footnote. Examples were the situation of childless married women (presumably where divorce was difficult), young husbands, and slaves. He described it as the suicide of “persons with futures pitilessly blockedaˆ¦or all suicides attributable to excessive physical or moral despotism.” For some reason, not specified, he decided that “it has so little contemporary importance, and examples are so hard to find aside from the cases just mentioned, that it seems useless to dwell upon it” [1] , p. 276, footnote 25.

Although Durkheim used the categories of egoism, altruism, and anomie (not so much fatalism) to distinguish suicidogenic currents, and collective tendencies, he admitted that in practice it was very difficult to separate the currents of egoism and anomie as they flowed from a single source-the loss of mechanical solidarity and the failure to develop a genuine organic solidarity. A moderate amount of egoism and anomie was necessary for progress. A certain amount of individualism was necessary for the growth of the division of labour; it was excessive egoistic tendencies that produced a pathological level of egoistic suicides. Similarly, with anomie, “among peoples where progress is and should be rapid, rules restraining individuals must be sufficiently pliable and malleable; if they preserved all the rigidity they possess in primitive societies, evolution thus impeded could not take place promptly enough” [1] , p.364.

The language of forces and currents in states of disequilibrium was symptomatic of Durkheim’s effort to demonstrate that a sociological explanation of suicide could reveal hidden causes-in this case social forces that were as real as physical forces. Although his references to suicidogenic currents sound like an over-drawn analogy with electrical currents, in fact they refer to phenomena specified in his multi-layered model.

Thorough researches have been done on the complex accounts of human hereditary, yet it has not been exhausted. The history of human hereditary stretches from the era of the Greek materialists to our contemporary time; presented as theories of generation with in-depth analysis “on the relative contributions of nature and nurture to the formation of the physical, mental, and moral characteristics of people (Rapp et al. 2001, p. 386). Tribute is given to Gregor Mendel, whose discovery of genes and subsequent founding of the science of hereditary has greatly simplified this research. Based on his fundamental discovery, people could easily delve into the details of the phenomenal work and thereby shed more light on it. New vocabulary such as genotype, phenotype and chromosomes weltered in the research.

Precise generational analyses that were almost cumbersome for biological scientists previously, became a doable venture. Rapp and others, argue in their book that the classical scientists endeavored to classify, taxonomize, and experiment with the building blocks of life; to fathom family resemblances (Rapp et al. 2001, p. 387). The modern biologist now find is rather easy to correctly assess a person’s background through the use of modern equipment and refined knowledge that they have acquired since the days of Mendel, Bateson (William), Johanssen (Wilhelm), Morgan (Thomas), and now Watson (James). It is on this account that this paper debates whether our genes define who we really are in the context of our ethnography.

Introduction

The paper is divided into four parts with the major aim of explaining, with illustrations here and there, how our genes do or do not define who we are. The first part shows various scenarios where a person’s genotype defines who s/he is in fundamental terms. These are brought about by the chemical composition of the chromosomes. Issues such as of gender and race are extensively explained as direct consequences of particular genes. Similarly, certain conditions that manifest themselves in man are purely genetical such as schizophrenia.

Environmental factors are also cited as indispensible contributors to an individual’s character. But it is the combination of both that attempts a correct definition of a person. Another factor that explains the way we behave and socially interact is the hereditary traits which extend from our inherited genes.

Finally, the reader should not conceive of some ideas herewith as the writer’s. It is a scholarly work that has been intensely researched from the jumbled opinions of academicians of varied spectra. My analysis comes after juxtaposing and thereby synthesizing the said views

How Our Genes Influence Our Behavior

The discovery of the sex chromosomes was touted as the definite indicator of an individual’s sex, replacing the traditional method. One’s gender was previously determined by a mere look at the genitals. It was therefore impossible to distinguish a boy from a girl in cases where genitals did not provide clear answer. Such cases are nowadays solved by chromosomal test (Schaap 2002, p. 33). Within the chromosomes, we have the genes that determine, to a large extent, our abilities, preferences and emotions. Rabinow define genes as segments of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) a code for proteins. DNA is a composite of four bases bonding into two kinds of pairs wound to form a double helix (Rabinow 1996, p. 94). They are the conduits of information of cells thus their functionality should not be underestimated.

Rabinow foresaw that the advent of the new genetics would be an immense force to reckon with in re-modeling society and life. Far much greater, a force, that the revolution in physics for the reason that it will be embedded across the social fabric. Moreover, he noted that at the dawn of a new genetics, the phenomenon will be a systematic flow of identity terms and restriction loci, in which a truly novel type of autoproduction will appear (Gunning & Holm 2006, p. 48).

Genetics, no doubt, define man as a myriad of scientific research have shown. One’s race for example is definitely a genotypic chemistry. An offspring of black parents will definitely be black unless some mutations occur in the gametes thus deleting melanocytic genes; and the result is an albino. Whites will always have a white offspring, while in the cross racial mating; a mulatto will be born for example the current US President.

These differences in hair texture and color, skin complexion, color of the eye, our voices et cetera; is generated to a large extent by our genes. However, Brian Smedley argues that even though one’s race is determined by one’s genes, the ideology of racism encompasses to a large extent the cultural environment where it originates (Smedley & Smedley 2005, p. 19). He thus says:

“Race therefore can be seen as an ideology or worldview, and its components have often been spelled out explicitly in social policy. The ideological ingredients can be analytically derived from ethnographic reality (i.e., from descriptions of racist behavior, and especially from the hundreds of historical publications that document the existence of race and racism in North America)” (Smedley & Smedley 2005, p. 20).

According to Lumsden-Wilson theory of gene-culture coevolution, genes code for epigenetic rules determines the probability of changing from one behavioral trait to another. This is a rather obvious fact in human sociobiology where genes are said to dictate a particular trait (Alper & Lange 1981, p. 2). It is little wonder then that James Watson, a Nobel laureate, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, and first leader of the Human Genome Project, quipped: “Now we know, in large measure, our fate is in our genes” (Jaroff 1989, p. 62).

It is evident that our genes determine our behavior and thereby define who we actually are. Certain conditions such as schizophrenia have been reported as linked to a particular gene. As a result, anyone carrying this gene is either schizophrenic or has its mild symptoms. Accordingly, these patterns of behavior unique to every individual are direct repercussions of one’s genetical composition.

The Influence of Nurture on Nature

In the foregoing argument, environmental factors have been identified as of considerable influence on one’s genes and hence, together they define who one is. One is wont to believe, naively though, that one’s holistic personality is a sole consequence of genes. Not quite so. Intricate as it is, environmental factors play a crucial role in the determination of an individual’s character. It is the combination of the two that gives the overall picture of one’s characteristics. For instance, the gene that is associated with our gender is inherited directly from the respective parent without any interference of the environmental factors. But, how an individual will grow into maturity will be dependent upon the cultural and geographical factors of the locality.

The environmental influence often takes a sociological trajectory to a large extent. Indeed it synchronizes with the genetical aspect of a person to model him/her into a quite unique individual when fully grown. Eleanor Maccoby, a psychologist at Stanford University illustrates how nurture comes in once nature has done its part in the life of an individual. She uses gender development as her case study discussing the relationship between family gender socialization and childhood sex segregation:

“Individual boys, each primed by parents to respond positively to overtures of rough, arousing play, will choose each other as playmates and build up a group, in the process of playing, more distinct from female-type. And girls individually sensitized by their parents to other’s feelings, or in a state of greater readiness to receive socialization inputs of this kind from their parents, will use these development attributes to build a new and distinctively female type of interaction with their playmates. Participating in these forms of interactions will make girls more likely to seek other girls with whom they experienced satisfying forms of female-type interaction. And by virtue of the same-sex group interaction that occurs, a group identity, a group esprit, is built up, distinctive to all-girl or all-boy groups”(Lippa 2002, p.198).

Furthermore, Lippa argues that in modern-day, nurture eclipses simple socialization explanations of gender and models an individual against the backgrounds of societal roles, gender segregation and peer influence, stereotypes, and current social settings (Lippa 2002, p. 206).

According to Kail & Cavanaugh in their book Human Development: A Life-Span View, human development is always shaped by both nature and nurture and their influences are mutually interactive. The duo illustrates this cordial relationship by giving an example of individuals who inherit a disease that leads to mental retardation upon the consumption of dairy products. But, if their environment does not contain dairy products, then they develop normal intelligence. Another similar example is cases of heart attacks where hereditary are one risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Nevertheless, the life-style factors such as diet and smoking play crucial roles in determining who gets heart attacks (Kail & Cavanaugh 2002, p. 4).

Lastly on this intricate interaction, it is debatable whether, against the backdrop of universal versus context specific development, there is just a single way of development or several. The writer argues that even though there seem to be differences in development, only a single fundamental developmental process there is for everyone. Differences in development, as matter of factly, are merely variations on fundamental developmental process in the same way that car as different as a Chevrolet, a Honda, and a Porsche follow the same fundamental procedures during manufacturing processes (Kail & Cavanaugh 2002, p. 6).

Human Hereditary Characteristics

Certain behavioral patterns of man are reckoned to pervade the ancestral lineage. Research has shown that traits that occur over and over again throughout a number of generations can either be a boon or a bane to the individual. These hereditary traits do occur regardless of their repercussions. The genes that embody them are always passed down by parent thus making the offspring to develop alikeness with either of the parents. Eventually we find ourselves as somewhat conditioned by these genes. It is mostly in the forms of illnesses that these inheritable genes become a bane. Diseases such as, diabetes, some forms of cancer, mental retardation, sickle cell anemia et cetera, are just but a few of the illnesses that define us as cascaded by parental genomes Among the hereditary qualities that come to our advantage is the ability to sing.

In Rudolf Steiner’s Manifestations of Karma, an example is given of a family (Bach’s) which produced numerous gifted musicians over many generations; actually a whooping twenty talented musicians were born there (Steiner 2000, p. 107). He argues though, that it is not a case of pure inheritance that breeds a musician, other factors come into play (environmental of course, as explained somewhere in the paper). The writer agrees with him to the extent that these factors do not act in isolation, that is to say, without recourse to a particular inherited (in this case) genotype. Steiner refers to this ‘inheritable genotype’ as the ‘ability to.. ‘ (or is it a case of utter confusion?) when he explains that one can have the external characteristics yet lack the ability to sing. It is this remark that makes the writer points at the gross misinterpretation of the term (Steiner 2000, p.107).

The science of eugenics developed by Sir Francis Galton in 1883 to encourage interventions in a bid to “improve the quality over generations of human populations” (Rapp et al. 1996, p. 386) is chiefly based on the simple fact that gene inheritance is a crucial phenomenon in defining our personhood. Although its designers were good intentioned, the moral implication that the science creates is repugnant. It will breed super humans thereby interfering with natural process of coming into being. In coming up with this theory, Galton must have assessed the crucial role played by gene-inheritance to conceptualize a hybrid thesis (Rapp et al. 2000, p. 386).

In the transmission of these hereditary characteristics, one is prone to encounter gradual cultural transformation. Some hereditary behavioral dispositions are so malevolent that they give a repugnant stereotypical connotation to a society that hosts such individuals. For instance, in the colonial Central African Republic there was an abnormal libidinous behavior among the indigenous population. So when they encountered the French and lured them to their hyper-rated groinal proclivities, they got infected with syphilis which almost wiped out the entire population (Hunt 1994, p. 111).

Hereditary diseases such as epilepsy, though affects the body, can be linked to the mind. The mind is likely, as a result, to become unhealthy. Madness may set in with its devastating consequences to both the affected individual and the society. In addition, culture that relies primarily in the power of the mind will be jeopardized by this malady (Thomas 2002, p. 35).

Conclusion

After all is said and done, the writer can assert with unwavering authority that our genes do define us. As has been said by scholars of different stature, the overall personhood of an individual is a result of a complex and sometimes inexplicable interaction between one’s genotype and the environment. Therefore the phenotype of one is the total sum of nature – nurture phenomenon.

However, caution must be taken when studying mutational differences. For example, a black person may lack melanocytes -the skin pigmentation cells – not because s/he inherited the deficiency from parents (which may be the case sometimes) but because of nuanced alterations in the structure of her/his DNA. That is to say, not a hundred per cent of one’s personhood is given, some are acquired. In most cases we have encountered scenarios where a child exhibits a radically different characteristic alien to his or her parents. The best explanations people always give to such cases leave no doubt about the external acquisition

Domestic Violence WomenIntroduction

The principle purpose of this report is to provide details on the current domestic violence situation for Women’s Aid. The report also aims to put forward recommendations for improving the response to domestic violence.

Methodology

For this report no personal research has been undertaken, instead the report takes the form of a review of existing literature on the issue. This information has been obtained primarily from the Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Office and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

3.0 Results of enquires
3.1 What is domestic violence?

The definition of domestic violence which is used for the purposes of this report is: ‘Any incident of threatening behaviour, Violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) by one family member against another or adults who are or have been intimate partners, regardless of gender and whether a crime has occurred or not, will be recorded as domestic.’

Domestic violence and abuse is a serious problem. It has a devastating impact on victims and their families. Each year in Northern Ireland around 5 people are killed and over 700 families have to be re-housed as a result of violence in the home. On average, every week, the police attend over 400 domestic incidents and deal with over

100 domestic assaults on women and men, yet we know that most domestic-related incidents are not reported. The abuse affects people right across our society from all walks of life, from all cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds and across all age groups. The vast majority of victims are women, but a significant number of men are also affected and abuse also occurs in same-sex relationships. Violence in the home is particularly disturbing for children and local research shows that at least 11,000 children here are living with domestic violence on a daily basis.

3.2 Common misconceptions regarding domestic violence

Domestic violence is a crime. It is abhorrent and often hidden. Within our society, traditionally, the issue has been a taboo subject, not discussed openly and dismissed by many as a private matter, with little or no emphasis on prevention.

Some myths exist about the causes of domestic violence and abuse. These myths include loss of control by, or provocation of, the perpetrators. Many people also believe that alcohol is the main cause. There are clear links between alcohol misuse and domestic violence, in that the problem may be exacerbated and the violence more severe when there is alcohol involved, but alcohol is not the cause. In reality domestic violence and abuse is usually a pattern of persistent behaviour by the perpetrator designed to achieve power and control over the victim.

3.3 How prevalent is domestic violence in Northern Ireland?

Data from the PSNI’s statistical review¹ show the following:

Between 2004/05 and 2005/06 the number of domestic incidents increased by 2,100 (+10.0%).
There were 10,768 domestic crimes recorded in 2005/06, an increase of 11.5% (+1,112) on 2004/05 when breach of non-molestation order offences are included for both years.
During 2005/06 two thirds of all crimes with domestic motivation fell within the category of violent crime (offences against the person, sexual offences and robbery). There were 7,206 such offences, representing 66.9% of the total. Of the remaining offences, criminal damage accounted for 15.3% and breach of non-molestation orders represented 13.1% of the total.
The overall clearance rate for crimes with a domestic motivation in 2005/06 was 77.5%.

Table 1: Domestic Motivation: Incidents and Crimes

2004/05

2005/06

Change

Total number of incidents

20,959

23,059

+10.0%

Total number of crimes

9,656

10,768

+11.5%

3.4 Crime statistics in context

It is important to recognize that the rise in incidents being dealt with by the police does not necessarily mean that there is an increase in the level of domestic violence. Rather, it is a combination of factors including the PSNI’s more proactive approach in recognising domestic abuse as a crime and taking the abuse very seriously. Also, domestic violence is now on the agenda for society in general and women in particular.

More women in abusive relationships are aware that support is available. PSNI statistics show that there are three times as many domestic related crimes as drug offences; nearly twice as many domestic related crimes as there were car thefts and more domestic crimes than domestic burglaries. Most shockingly, six women were murdered last year.

Despite the fact that PSNI figures indicate that domestic violence is a very prevalent crime, it is believed that it does not show the true extent of the abuse happening in Northern Ireland. It is likely that there are thousands more people who are living with abuse and have not yet contacted anyone for support.

3.5 What is the government’s response to domestic violence?

The Government is determined to hold perpetrators of this insidious crime to account for their abuse. The introduction of legislation such as ‘The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004’ focuses more attention on perpetrators and provides better protection for victims, for example, by giving the police greater powers of arrest.

Millions of pounds are spent every year across a range of services in dealing with domestic violence and its consequences. It is estimated that the direct cost of services plus the loss of economic output in Northern Ireland due to domestic violence could amount to about ?180 million each year.

3.6 Criminal justice system progress

In recent years the Police and the Courts have developed better support for victims; in particular the provision of dedicated PSNI Domestic Violence Officers with specialist training, in every police district.The Domestic Violence Officer receives information about every domestic incident and will contact the victim to provide support, information about police procedure and legal proceedings. And there has also been the introduction of more informal proceedings and special measures in court (such as live link and the use of screens) to assist victims.

In addition, the Probation Service, in conjunction with Social Services has undertaken some successful work with perpetrators aimed at reducing the incidence of re-offending while offering increased support to victims.

Clearly, therefore, a lot of good work has already been done. These developments and the ongoing work of a variety of agencies have collectively contributed to an increasing awareness among the general public about domestic violence and its consequences and about the services available to victims.

4.0 Discussion of findings

So what does the above information reveal about the current situation of domestic violence in Northern Ireland? Well, as the statistics clearly indicate domestic violence is still a major problem in our society. There are various reasons for this

5.0 Conclusions and Recommendations

Domestic violence is a complex issue that requires a strategic approach. It can be very difficult to deal with because much of the violence and abuse takes place behind closed doors. Many victims suffer in silence, afraid for themselves and their children and so most incidents of this crime go unreported.

Some myths and outdated attitudes remain within our society about a form of violence that was historically acceptable. The abuse occurs in relationships where emotions may be high and loyalties divided. Victims may disregard their own safety and stay in abusive relationships for reasons such as embarrassment, fear and confusion, financial insecurity or a desire to keep their families together. These difficulties may have been complicated by an overall response which has not always been consistent and has not been co-ordinated across Northern Ireland.

There is still a need:

To raise the profile of domestic violence much further
To develop education and training
To transform attitudes
To extend preventive work
To make improvements in service provision
To advance co-operation and co-ordination among the range of policy-makers and service providers who have a role in addressing the problem

This project aims to look at the underreported crime of domestic violence with individuals who identify as homosexual either male or female, the professional view on services available and a focus group with gay individuals to outline if these services are known about.

Domestic violence is the act directed towards an individual whom the perpetrator is often involved in a romantic relationship. According to the Home Office this violence can be psychological, physical, sexual or emotional and it can include honour-based violence, female genital mutilation, and forced marriage. (www.homeoffice.gov.uk) domestic violence is mainly looked at from a male predator view, perpetrators are equally likely to be men or women (Johnson, 2006). Three types of domestic violence are identified in the British Crime Survey covering emotional, physical and sexual behaviours. Emotional behaviour is various behaviours that control individuals due to emotional control. These range from being isolated from friends and relatives, being insulted and put down, spending and housework controlled to suit the abused and threats of future abuse. Within gay relationships being outed is a huge form of control, emotional control results in being frightened and trying to please the abuser to reduce abuse Physical behaviour is injuries that are outward and treatable, these include being slapped, punched, restrained or physically threatened. Many people affected by domestic violence are prevented from getting help for injuries. Sexual assault is a drastic form of domestic abuse that is often hiden in heterosexual and homosexual relationships. Sexual assault is being touched in a way that caused fear, alarm or distress, being forced into sexuality activity or threats of sexual assault.

Since the 1970s domestic abuse in heterosexual relationships has been of increasing public concern in the UK, domestic abuse in same sex communities has only more recently become apparent. A number of factors may be seen to have contributed to the greater invisibility of same sex domestic abuse, including fears of making obvious such problems within communities already considered ‘problematic’ in a homophobic society. The Sigma surveys of gay men and lesbians (Henderson 2003) found that one in four individuals in same sex relationships probably experience domestic abuse at some time. Homophobia also explains why gays and lesbians are not equally protected from domestic violence. Homophobia is a fear of homosexuals” (Burke,1998, p. 165). Reed (1989) reported that gay victims of same-sex battering were both physically and verbally revictimized by the police. As a result of homophobia and heterosexism, community knowledge’s (Weeks et al. 2001) exists in LGBT communities that public agencies are not able to respond appropriately to the needs of those in same sex relationships. Most services are currently using a heterosexual model of domestic violence in which the female survivor is understood as the physically smaller and therefore more vulnerable person against the physically stronger and more powerful male perpetrator. Which causes an unequal power ideology when asking for help in a same sex relationship specially for gay men who are undermined generally for being male. There have been well-founded political fears about disrupting this ideology, such as a fear of contributing to negative stereotypes about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans populations (Ristock, 2002).

Domestic violence is power control, gay and lesbian couples experience the same issues of power and control as heterosexual couples. All relationships have the potential to become abusive, these behaviours are jealousy, quick involvement, controlling actions, isolation, blaming feelings and problems on others, sexual violence, verbal abuse. Abusers often threaten violence to control, past battering occurs due to situational circumstances. Same sex partners can be lesbian, gay,

bisexual or transgender (LGBT) according to statistics domestic abuse occurs in 30

to 40% of LGBT relationships. Research on same-sex battering has tended to focus on one section of the population, such as on lesbians or gay men, rather than on the entire gay community. Few studies have examined the factors related to reporting practices of gay and lesbian victims of either bias crimes or same-sex battering. It is hard to find statistics, which are current and up to date as crimes often remain unreported due to the stigma and fear of reporting. Inequality in the legal protection from domestic violence may explain why so many incidents of same-sex domestic violence go unreported to criminal justice authorities (Burke, 1998). As in opposite-gendered couples, the problem is underreported, many homosexual individuals fear reporting domestic violence as it also involves coming out to more people, at the moment the level of service available is not at the same level as a heterosexual victim. Robson (1992) states that “laws on domestic violence use words such as “battered wife” or “abused spouse,” are not inclusive of gay or lesbian persons.

A study in 2003 by the Georgetown University Medical Center outlines that “homosexual men are just as likely as heterosexual women to be victims of domestic violence,” Studies show that as many as a third of lesbians have been victims of sexual assault or coercion at the hands of another woman. “The fact that few cases are ever reported shows the near complete lack of support for women who have survived a same-sex sexual assault” (http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/) Men often find it extremely hard to ask for help, they are likely to feel deeply shamed, frightened, experience a loss of self-worth and confidence. Men can be victims of sexual abuse, more common within same sex partners, many men in abusive relationships do not feel in control of their own sex life and feel manipulated. (www.hiddenhurt.co.uk) Letellier (1994) found that gay men are more likely to be killed by their partners than by strangers. Turell (2000) reported data about an extremely broad range of physical and nonphysical abuses that same-sex partners inflict on each other. Results strongly suggest that there is little to no difference between the varieties of abuses that same-sex partners, compared to heterosexual partners. The research towards the gay community is often bias and hard to evaluate as statics often vary. Domestic violence in same sex and heterosexual relationships share many similarities, isolation and fear are the same yet there is number of aspects that are unique to same sex domestic violence. Within same-sex partnerships there is an added issue of sexuality. Many couples have one individual out or out to a greater extreme, a major issue is these relationships is using outing as a source of control. The individual threatens to out the individual by manipulating this power, this in turn controls the individual but causes the abuse to be associated with sexuality and not the individual. When sexual identity becomes associated with the abuse, the abuse is blamed on being gay or lesbian causing problems with self image and self esteem this negative image with the gay label can cause a detachment from the gay community. This detachment can be increased by an abusive partner as when retaining contact with the gay and lesbian community, means an individual lacks a support service and only has heterosexual individuals to compare relationship with. http://ssdv.acon.org.au/information/index.php

The gay community offer supports as a friendship basis, if these friends cannot be accessed it is easy to be isolated and feel alone, the abusive partner forms the base of all activities which in turn causes further control and isolation from other forms of support. The gay community in the past have been found to hide domestic violence to keep the myth that there are no problems. Victims of same-sex battering may be hesitant to report domestic violence incidents to the police because they fear ostracism by the gay community. Talking about domestic violence can reinforce the ideology that relationships are “abnormal.” This can further cause the victim to feel isolated and unsupported, or feel they deserve the behaviour towards them. Survivors may not know others within the LGBT community, meaning that leaving the abuser could result in total isolation, if the abuser has been controlling for many years it is hard to leave the situation with the added fact of being outed families may of cut ties. Ristock (2002) identifies first relationships as high risk for domestic abuse due to the risk of outing and support available. The traditional domestic violence services lack the training, sensitivity, and expertise to adequately recognize and address abusive relationships. The Gay community have much more problems when overcoming domestic violence as many individuals have difficulty in finding sources of support than heterosexual women who are battered by their male partners. Many individuals within the gay community have reported hiding their gender of the batterer to be perceived as heterosexual, this can cause problems within counselling and opening up about the violence. Lesbians face additional safety issues within shelter locations as the abuser has opportunity to pose as a victim to gain access. The only option to dispute being heterosexual is ” to come out” which is a major decision. http://www.lambda.org/

The Home office produced a paper in 2003 called Safety and Justice (Home Office 2003). The government was seeking views to measure incidences of domestic violence and of the effects of strategy to reduce it; how to raise awareness about domestic violence among the general public, particular groups and key professionals within the criminal and civil justice. The gay and bisexual community in Northern Ireland has suffering from disproportionate rates of domestic violence. In 2007, 142 people died in domestic attacks within Northern Ireland, including 38 men. http://www.broken-rainbow.org.uk/

Shaun Woodward the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland states in ” the government is committed to tackling domestic violence throughout the United Kingdom, research shows that one in five young men and one in ten young women believe that violence towards a partner is sometimes acceptable.” Recent research into violence towards the Gay and Lesbian community in Northern Ireland outlined problems faced by reporting crimes against them. The lack of support available for the gay community and the beliefs surrounding the institutions lead to a lack of confidence in the systems and mechanisms to those who require them. In the study carried out in 1993 by McWilliams and McKiernan, Bringing it out in the open – Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland, one of the difficulties faced in determining the prevalence of domestic violence was that 31.3% of victims of domestic violence report the incident to the police (2000 British Crime Survey). However, Henderson, L, Prevalence of domestic violence among lesbians and gay men, London, 2003, found that 86.9% of women and 81.2% of men had not reported the abuse to the police. (Cited in rainbow) This explains current statics are a higher majority than previous thought.

The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 provides for a range of protections for victims including making common assault an arrestable offence. It is PSNI policy to investigate all reported incidents of domestic abuse in a consistent, robust and proactive manner. Police officers will take positive action at all domestic incidents to prevent crime, ensure public safety and protect the rights and freedoms of all parties, in particular the victim. Within Northern Ireland there is support for the gay community yet there is a stigma in accessing the service. The introduction in 1995 of a 24-hour Helpline by Northern Ireland Women’s Aid Federation and the continuing development of Women’s Aid services has provided enormous support for female victims and their children. Lesbians can access women’s aid yet the myth of having to be heterosexual has been hard to squash, with many victims hiding their true sexual orientation. There is a small percentage of groups available to the gay community in Northern Ireland, Lesbian Line provides a confidential Helpline and Befriending service for Lesbians & Bisexual Women. Men’s Advisory Project offers a service to men who are victims of domestic violence The Rainbow Project aims to address the physical, mental and emotional health of gay and bisexual men. The rainbow project is the only gay male specific counselling and support service available in Northern Ireland.

Professionals in order to be effective in working with same-gender couples, must be

familiar with the complex issues related to domestic violence in these relationships. It is not sufficient to apply a general professional background in the areas of domestic violence, trauma, couples therapy, or divorce. At the moment there is limited training of counsellors with regard to both gay and lesbian issues and to domestic violence

A major problem encountered by lesbian couples in counselling for domestic violence has been the contraindication of working on the issues in the context of couples’ therapy (Hammond, 1989).

Although there are a lot of forms of human rights violation in Cambodia, domestic violence seems to be one of the hottest problems that everyone has been carefully aware of. What is domestic violence? Domestic violence refers to a pattern of abusive behaviors toward any single person at any age. There are five main categories of domestic violence such as physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, and economic violence. Physical abuse includes hitting, kicking, slapping, or other physical threats which cause pain or injury on the victim’s body while sexual abuse refers to situation which abuser uses force to make a victim involve in unwanted sexual activity. The force sex which is abused by spouse, intimate partner, or somebody else also can be counted as sexual aggression. Emotional can include any kind of actions that harm victim’s feeling in a negative way, control victim’s freedom, and humiliate or make shame on the victim privately and publicly; it is any type of behavior that threatens or attack somebody mentally. Meanwhile, verbal abuse is a behavior that abuser use abusive language toward a victim while economic abuse is the situation that abuser control over victim’s money or resources. There are many empirical evidences shown that the violence always exists in Cambodia in all pattern of aggression which can suspend and hinder the development, prosperity, and harmony in the country; thus, it is one of most challenging problems that Cambodia is facing nowadays. Therefore, in order to solve the problem effectively and fruitfully, we need to deeply understand the root of the matter, the result of the matter, and the suggested or satisfied solution in today’s event.

Today gender roles in Cambodia are severe issues that people should pay full attention to since men have dominated in almost significant roles in the society while Cambodian women are traditionally treated as inferior and physically and mentally suffered from the dominances. Meanwhile, people including the dominances and the victims do not exactly why such things happen in their lives which desperately affect to the whole community. Also, without understanding the real sources, no one cannot find good solution and make everything better; therefore, in order to eliminate domestic violence in Cambodia, we need to understand to two basic causes, historical events and harmful tradition.

Significantly, in order to understand the grass rooting ideas why the number of domestic violence has been growing, we need to take a close look at some important historical events in Cambodia. Over the course of the last thirty years, Cambodia has experienced the most dreadful tragedy which has impacted on Cambodian society until today. Between 1975 and 1979, Cambodia was under the Communist Party of Kampuchea, so called Khmer Rouge, who carried out war crimes, genocide, and other crimes against humanity. This nightmare has physically left Cambodian deep scar, and it has affected most of the victims with mental illnesses like easy to get angry or nervous; it may make people follow what they had experienced badly like using verbal, economic, physical, emotional, and economic abuse, or by threatening and controlling victim’s freedom since those pain and horror is buried deep down inside their agonizing hearts. Therefore, these kinds of illnesses may lead them to use violence because the brutal images are recorded in their memory. As a result, since women are defenseless, usually they become the secondary victims of those aggressive survivors.

Besides, harmful tradition can lead to have domestic violence. In all societies including Cambodia, people have various values and ideas which cause people own different perspective on women’s roles from one generation to another, and these traditional concepts view that females are weak and gentle or inferior. Unlike females, males are strong and powerful and can do whatever they want. Men in Cambodia usually are breadwinners, and they believe that their roles are so important; thus, they use their power to dominate over the helpless women in the family. Besides, domestic violence has largely gone unchecked in Cambodia, where cultural norms dictate that relations between husband and wife are internal affairs. According to LICADHO, surveys conducted in 2000 have shown that one-in-six women have been beaten by their husbands, and one-in-four have suffered physical, sexual or emotional abuse from their husbands. Additionally, still in some rural areas, women are injected with the outdated belief that they are not allowed to fight back their husbands, or they will be counted as bad women. Furthermore, women’s honor is very essential to each family. For example, if unmarried woman does something wrong that brings bad reputation to the family and get caught by relatives or neighbors, mostly there will be nobody to marry her. This condition results in emotional abuse directly to that woman and indirectly to her family. Acid attacks.

In short, historical events and harmful tradition are the two main cores that result in domestic violence in Cambodia. We, Cambodians, should understand the core of the problems and help eliminate this matter from our society; otherwise, this issue will constrain the development of our country.

Most men in Cambodia think that they are everything in the society and tempt to think that women are nothing in the society since women cannot help or play big roles in country’s development, so men treat women badly; however, those brutish men never realize that they are the ones who hinder their own country’s development because of their nonsense attitudes and thinking. Therefore, in order to be clearer why such violence hinder Cambodian development, we have look at three main consequences such as human development goal, physical and psychological health, and the direct and indirect victims’ present and future life.

Initially, hampering human development goal is a serious effect which can make Cambodian society collapse. As everyone starts to recognize that one country can fully reach her potential unless there is an acceptance of women’s capacity involving in the society. According to UNICEF, data on the social, economic and health costs of violence prove that violence against women interrupts improvement towards human and economic development. The participation of women has become an influential key in every social development programs including Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), for they can help numerous things in dealing with poverty alleviation. For example, though men are the breadwinners, who go out and make money, they can do nothing if they do not have women at home help them in dealing with housework and make things in the family go smoothly and properly, and that helps their family economy works well. Moreover, while those breadwinners are busy working outside, they do not have much time for their children’s study and behavior, so they need women at home to help provide good education and advice. As a result, when those children gain good education from both at home and school, in the future there will be more and more substantial human resources for their country’s development. Unfortunately, when there is lack of women’s involvement and participation, Cambodia may deteriorate the human capital of half their population. For example, if we compare two families that are in the same class, we can understand that one family who has only one man to make money get less income than another family who has both a man and a woman go out to make money. To sum up, if there is a high commitment to gender equality Cambodia by eliminating all forms of domestic violence, there will be a push in human and economic development in the near future.

Besides, what is worse is that such violence causes women physical and psychological health. According to LICADHO, there is an increasing rate of maternal and mentality, for many studies and cases especially in rural areas have revealed high levels of violence during pregnancy resulting in risk to the health of both mother and unborn baby. Also, some worse cases have proved that domestic violence can result in the death of women murdered by their partners. In addition, having been rape or having sexual assaults, women may feel unwanted pregnancies and dangerously seek to have illegal abortion services. It is very dangerous for women especially in rural areas where there is no health care center or maybe that center locates far from their villages. Additionally, women who are being raped are not able to use contraception; thus, they are at risk of being infected by sexual diseases including HIV/Aids. Additionally, the violence does not only injure the victims’ physical health but also mental health. For instance, having been raped experienced of sexual violence, some women are depressed and also demeaned by abuser, and so they may think that there is no way to escape from such relationship except committing suicide. This just creates more and more problems to the community.

Finally, the violence can directly and indirectly impact on the victims negatively who have witnessed the abusive scene, and those mostly are innocent children. The children who have witnessed domestic violence or have themselves been abused may have health and behavior problems. At school they may naturally feel embarrassed and find it hard to make any close friends or try to isolate themselves from outsiders. Gradually, they may become less and less social-able. Furthermore, what can be worse and more harmful to the whole society is when the girls (can be boys) victims have sexually abused in their childhood which can wound their heart and lead them to engage in risky yet practical behavior such as early sexual intercourse or getting revenge by abusing other girls like what they have experienced.

To sum up, these are the substandard impacts of local violence in Cambodia, so both civilian and government should notice the problems and start some effective actions in order to stop it. These serious effects absolutely disrupt the expansion of country’s potential. Simultaneously, in order to take actions effectively, while the government involve in solving the problem by finding good mechanisms and supporting NGOs, people especially men and conservative people should try to reduce or eliminate their traditional views on the matter.

Domestic violence has caused number of very negative impacts to both victims and a whole community, so there should be suitable solutions to respond to such harmful difficulties; meanwhile, we have to aware of our country’s condition, culture, and perception since we cannot change people’s believes in one day and since domestic violence has been rooted deep down in Cambodian society; it may take longer time to counter this matter. Also, there should be different keys based on in each case of the matter whereas solutions should be for both victims and abusers. Consequently, not only government needs to respond to the problem, but also civilians must interact into this matter. The followings are some key suggested solutions that can be effective for dealing with domestic violence in Cambodia.

One of an effective implementation is to have law enforcement which can be a useful mechanism to respond the domestic violence. According to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims, which was passed by the National Assembly on 16 September 2005, was approved by the Senate on its total form and objective on 29 September 2005. A part from preventing domestic violence, it helps protect the victims and strengthen the culture of non-violence and the harmony in society in Cambodia. In article 9, the authority in charge has duty to intervene in the action in order to prevent the victim on time, and if the case is serious, the authority can request for warrant to imprison the perpetrator or bring him to court. Besides, when the violence happening, the neighbors or the family members must immediately report to the authority, but if the case is getting worse and the authority cannot arrive at the scene on time, the neighbors should help stop the perpetrating; otherwise, the victims may badly injure or may not survive. Meanwhile, the neighbors or the family members should take the victims’ children away from the scene and help comfort them to feel relieve and make them feel being less influenced. This may be effective to make the situation and the children less being affected. In addition,

More importantly, education, dissemination, and training program can be a good tool to deal with this violence. Despite the fact that this solution can be found in Chapter 6, article 33, stating that state should pay attention to educating and disseminating this law in order to make people understand respect to this law; in contrary, in real practice government or ministry in charge has played not so many roles regarding to this action. It seems that most actions are implemented by NGOs who can provide citizens further education relating to the issue. For instance, European Commission based in Cambodia has raised the awareness of the women’s roles, rights, and representations in social and political affairs. As a result, over 3,700 women and men have confirmed that they have gained more knowledge through these grassroots activities about their rights; hence, women are able to exercise their rights more effectively in social and political participation. Moreover, by responding to the matter, there have been advertising or movie broadcasting on TV to help people understand more and influence people’s mind to change their traditional views on women’s role and other surrounding impact concerning to the issue. For example, the Asia Foundation’s Global Women in Politics (GWIP) program supported street theater productions raising awareness about violence against women’s rights in Cambodia society. As we know that visual effect may be more effective than any other kinds of material. Furthermore, when civilians get the knowledge of this concern, they should spread or share what they know to their family, neighbors, villagers, friends, or people they know; consequently, more and more people will aware of this matter. Therefore, gradually people’s traditional perception will change, and this violence can be successfully eliminated.

Besides dealing the issue with the abuse, we should deal and help the victims as well. When it comes to solutions for domestic violence, the most important thing to understand is, if it isn’t getting better, it’s getting worse. If the violent person is promising to change but never does anything about that promise, the victim herself and also her children should get out of the environment, if the violence includes more than just verbal abuse, the victims should make sure the abuser can’t find them or the children for the sake of their safety. There are several organizations such as LICADO and ADHOC which can help the victims, so she should go and ask for help. Those can put her in touch with local centers and sources for help. If the abuse includes serious mental or emotional abuse or any form of physical abuse, the victims must report this to the police so she, the children and the abuser can get help. In case, domestic violence abusers, who are not under control from getting professional help, will not stop, they will only get worse, so the only way to help them is by forcing them through the law to confront their problem and get the help they need.

Besides, education can reduce the level of problem from getting worse. It is the family which is principally responsible for building the character of individuals, and it is in functioning families that feelings of self-worth, respect for others and conflict resolution skills are developed. It is thus vital that support is given to families to enable them to nurture these qualities which, if not developed in the early, formative years, are very hard to instill later. Both education at school and home are essentially important for our community. Besides, education at school or outside is also important to raise the awareness of domestic violence. The education should promote morality and values of women’s role in society as well as promote the culture of peace and love in our society to eliminate all kinds of violence.

More importantly, in order to completely eliminate this matter, Cambodia should fully adopt democracy peace theory. Democracy calls for culture of tolerance, cooperation, negotiation, and non-conflict resolution, and it also promotes human rights and prioritizes people. Thus, Cambodian citizens can fully be injected with these ideas under the concepts of this theory which seeks individual to understand and respect each other; Cambodia will be a domestic-violence free country.

In conclusion, when government, private actors, and civilians together implement these effective actions, someday domestic violence will successfully be eliminated. Then Cambodia’s development will be pushed forward rapidly. As a result, when such problem is disappeared, development, prosperity, and harmony will be reached profoundly. In my opinion, if Cambodia becomes a fully democratic country, all kinds of violence and conflicts will be fade away like smoke into the air while every single citizen may enjoy and live happily with harmony and prosperity.

Domestic violence has been a serious social problem in many families, not only in the United States and United Kingdoms, but across the world. As per the 2003 surveys of the Centers for Disease Control, domestic problems or home violence had affected at least 32 million Americans (Bancroft, LT, & Jay, GS. 2003). Research studies have also shown that different countries have various ways of dealing with the family violence, its “public awareness, perception and documentation” are all prone to variations from State to State. Actually, the initial use of the concept “Domestic violence” can be traced back to 1977 when it was first identified as serious and growing phenomena, following a series of researches (Archer, J.2000, & Waits, K., 1985). These are a few manifestations that domestic violence has been a critical issue in many societies. It therefore deserved or still deserves to be given extra attention. This paper delves into the same, in attempt to find out, compile and discuss on issues surrounding domestic violence from different perspectives, and perhaps shed more light on the numerous cases of violence and social turbulences in homes and families.

Introduction

The concept “Domestic violence” have also commonly been referred to as spousal abuse, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, or child abuse depending on who is victimized or affected in a way by the violence at home (Johnson, M., 2000). Reading through the work of Bancroft and Jay, spousal, child or domestic abuse is the act or the behavior of violence against a child, or a spouse. It is a raging conflict that may exist within a relationship perceived as very intimate, the cases of violence in families, marriages, between friends, in dating and all the intimate relationships categorically enclosed (Bancroft, LT, & Jay, GS, 2003).

According to the “U.S Office on Violence against Women”, domestic violence had been defined as “a pattern of abusive conduct in any relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and authority over the other and control over an intimate partner” (Johnson, M., 2000).

In the year 2004, the Spanish “Measures of Integral Protection against gender Violence” contended that gender violence “is the violence directed at women from the very fact of being a woman”. This had been one of the most controversial and brutal sense of gender inequality ever witnessed in the history of domestic violence (Waits, K.1985).

Intimate partner violence (IPV) assumes many patterns of abuse. Among such things that research studies have categorized as behaviors of violence are assault, insults, beating in any form i.e. kicking, slapping or hitting with anything, shoving, sexual abuses, emotional and psychological torture, economic deprivation, maltreatments, slavery and many alike (Waits, K.1985).According to Robertson and his research counterparts, domestic violence have been attributed to a number of possible causes, ranging from alcoholism to mental illnesses (Robertson, KP, Murachver,TM., 2009).

Aim and Objective

The aim of this paper is to discuss at length issues of domestic violence from different social-cultural perspectives. The paper seeks to address the mushrooming challenges surrounding social demographics i.e. families and homes across the societal divides. Its objective is to give a succinct elaboration on what many researchers hold to be right or wrong about the domestic violence. It investigates into the previous research findings and methods that had been employed to establish whether the spousal, child or family abuses could be brought to a permanent end, or the society have to live with and appreciate the violence as part of life.

Literature Review

United States as a point of reference is the one State that researches have shown to contribute a greater magnitude of long lasting domestic violence. Prolonged account of legal precedents pertaining to spousal abuses and relationship conflicts were common trends in the United States (Waits, K.1985).Similar cases have continuously been observed in the rest of the societies of the world. This implies that domestic violence have been a worldwide socio-cultural fiasco, not narrowed to the United States alone (Waits, K.1985).

Many research studies have found that the most affected by the domestic violence are women. To begin with, the research conducted by Robertson and Murachver revealed that women were the first victims of all domestic chaos in every society. They emphasize many women were being battered, assaulted, insulted, sexually abused, emotionally and psychologically tortured by family affairs, and all manners of family violence (Robertson, KP, Murachver, TM. 2009).Backing up the claims of these researchers was Bancroft and his research colleagues. They too emphasized that even though domestic violence affected all the members of families, including children and the spouses, women were faced with the most staid domestic challenges resulting from the social conflicts and violence (Bancroft, LT, & Jay, GS, 2003).

The arguments and assertions of these researchers were however met by stern resistance from the National Institute of Justice whose research findings pointed out that both women and men were affected equally by domestic violence, and that to some extent or in some cases, men were faced with most challenges than could be compared to their wives and children (Waits, K., 1985, The Criminal Justice Response to Battering). The findings of the National Institute of Justice further contended men from a few families were also battered, assaulted and insulted by women, and so, justice had to prevail when handling domestic issues (Wait, K., 1985).

However, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) further refuted the findings of National Institute of Justice (NIJ), arguing that male and female spousal assaults could not be rated similarly as the research studies of the NIJ posited (Wait, K., 1985).The CDCP and BJS studies held there was more violence of men against women, men assaulting women, and not otherwise.

Debates surrounding domestic violence were becoming controversial and highly contested. Archer Jefferson and other conflict resolution researchers also had their own stand. They opposed the assumption of gender equity or gender neutrality in domestic violence as held by some research scholars and civil rights movements (Archer, J., 2000)

Pertinent to domestic violence characterized by controversial debates and arguments, there were also emerging gender movements whose major aims were to defend themselves against the claims on who between men and women violated the family peace accords the most. The first of such movements was a women’s movement that beginning in 1970s (Bancroft, LT, & Jay, GS, 2003).This movement was concerned with women’s rights which held that men were ruthlessly abusing their wives. This move was later to be countered by the masculine movements commencing from1990s. Modern attention given to domestic chaos put into consideration factors that could have led to commencement of the gender conflicts and domestic fiascos (Bancroft, LT, & Jay, GS, 2003).

Survey estimates have, too, indicated that in every 1000 females, approximately 240 were victims of domestic assaults as compared to only 76 in every 1000 men going through the same domestic traumas (Robertson, KP, Murachver, TM. 2009). Nevertheless, some anonymous reports released in 1997 revealed that a good number of men who suffer from the wraths and brutalities of women fail to say so, therefore living no substantial evidence that could be used to approve to what extent men suffer the domestic violence concomitant to women The reports, however, noted that there were no certified proves that men under-reported their cases than women or the vise versa (Robertson, KP, Murachver, TM. 2009).

The reports were though more categorical on the case of female reportage of domestic violence, admitting that a significant percentage of women were likely to accept they were being abused by their partners. This, according to reports, had been one of the challenges facing men, the fear to admit for safeguarding the perception of the masculine gender (Robertson, KP, Murachver, TM. 2009)

Research Methodologies

Among the most commonly used and criticized research methodology in investigating gender domestic violence was the use of Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) survey tool. CTS was found in 1970 as a tool used in measuring the extent of domestic and gender conflicts through surveys and compilation of data. This research methodology was, however, met with stern criticisms and dissatisfaction by other research bodies like the U.S National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) (Waits, K., 1985).

The above highlighted research organs commonly contended that the use of CTS in research was not effective in a number of ways. It did not measure critical domestic violence aspects such as coercion, control, sexual assaults by ex-partners or partners, factors contributing to the domestic and gender violence (Waits, K., 1985). For such concrete assertions against the use of CTS, other research methodologies have been preferred in investigating issues of domestic violence. Such methodologies as filling of questionnaires, field researches, desk research, and interviews have commonly been utilized.

Results and Findings

The major findings concerning domestic violence is that women are generally the most victimized, though a number of other researches claim otherwise. Like-wisely, a significant percentage of men have fallen victims of gender violence. Debates as to whether it is women or men that suffer the consequences of domestic violence the most is still unsettled, with both genders pointing accusing fingers on who should be accused of violating the family piece accords almost always.

Causes of domestic violence so highlighted indicate that alcoholism plays a significant role in instigating family violence, making the male gender to be the first culprit to be accused of the assaults and insults in the families. This follows the general notion that a better percentage of men are drunkards as compared to women. Other factors contributing towards the same are misunderstandings, mental illnesses, poverty, communication conflicts and cultural diversities (Robertson, KP., & Murchver ,TM., 2009, Attributes and attributions associated with female and male partner violence).

Discussions and Conclusion

The so called domestic violence has no boundaries or limits. It can possibly take place in any family at any time. This, as Robertson and Murachver confirms, is very true in the cases of psychological abuses. After all, the violence doesn’t need to go physical or get aggressive through attacks, and family skirmishes. Many psychological researchers have incessantly pointed out that the psychological kind of abuses in families present more severe consequences than could be compared to the equally consequential physical and aggressive domestic violence (Archer. 2000).Emotional abuses though minimal as the many surveys on domestic matters indicate, “they leave prolonged and long lasting tensions” (Robinson, KP, & Murachver,TM, 2009). In conclusion, domestic violence may be regarded as part and parcel of life that both men and women should learn how to manage, appreciate and live with.

Domestic violence has existed for as long as we know. Not so long ago men were allowed to beat a wife with a stick that is not thicker than one of his fingers. Nowadays any kind of violence, whether it is physical, emotional or any other form is prohibited by the law. Domestic violence occurs in many different ways; however negative effects are the same. This essay will address the issue of domestic violence from a different angle, which is unrecognised, unaccepted, disbelieved, and swept under the rug. It will seek to explore nature of abuse against men, cast a light on why the men stay in abusive relationships, effects on abused. Further, why is violence against men unrecognised, how does the society react as well as possible “remedies” that could help in dealing with taboo topic of abused men.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Domestic violence occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate or harm the other.(www.wikipedia.com)

Domestic violence is a crime and those in danger of violence need protection.

Violence can be:

physical

sexual

emotional

psychological

verbal

financial

Victims are often trapped in the situation because they are afraid of further abuse or ashamed to report it. If they are financially dependent on the abuser, they are afraid they will have nowhere to live.

Violence is not confined to any social class, nor is all violence perpetrated by men; in a lesser number of cases it is the woman who abuses her partner, both emotionally and physically.

Deirdre, M. (1999) Food home and society, Gill & M Ltd, Dublin

Popular emphasis has tended to be on women as the victims of domestic violence although with the rise of the men’s movement and men’s rights, there is now some advocacy for men as victims. (www.wikipedia.com)

Violence is learned behaviour. Children, who are exposed to violence at home, see it as normal. They in turn are likely to be violent as adults. Violence and bullying are more common in individuals who have low self-esteem, feeling of inadequacy or difficulty forming relationships. Instead of expressing anger verbally, they resort to aggression and physical violence. Violence usually stems from a desire to control. Violence is common among those addicted to alcohol and drugs. One has to notice that this statement can not be fully accepted as true as much research has indicated that violence is combination of nature and nurture. However, the effects of violence on spouse are physical pain and suffering; loss of confidence and self-esteem; emotional damage and isolation from family and friends. Violence breeds violence. Children brought up in violent homes often grow into violent adults. It can cause homelessness, unhappiness, insecurity and emotional damage to children. Spouse or children can turn to drink or drugs to ease the pain.

Acceptance of violence at any level leads to:

more violent society,

delinquency and crime,

marital breakdown, often as a result of violence, weakens society

adults subjected to childhood violence often become a burden on society, as criminals or alcoholics.

Deirdre, M. (1999) Food home and society, Gill & M Ltd, Dublin

MALE VICTIM

Majority of recorded incidents of domestic violence are of men on women. Society, although aware of the male victim, treats him as a joke. But in reality he is a man in fear, isolation, man who is considered as weak. Why is that? Because he doesn’t fit into the stereotypical male image. (spiritual-side-of-domestic-violence.org)

Male victims face two obstacles:

To prove that he is a victim,

To ensure that his children are protected and do not become the new victims. Very often they remain in abusive relationships for the sake and protection of their children.

Most men react by staying silent. Often this silence is encouraged by fear of ridicule and realization that it is unlikely his partner will be evicted. Even if he proves that he is a victim, it seems that only thing that he can do is leave home.

Then he is separated from his children and has difficulties in keeping proper and regular contact with his children. (www.amen.ie)

MYTHS

Certain conditions provoke violence but we expect such sufferers to seek help or medical treatment.

Men are expected to take responsibility for their actions (violence) but no excuses are accepted. Yet when female is violent society provides a list of excuses: post-natal depression, stress, PMT etc. Although most men will be sensitive to these problems, they should not have to suffer violence as a consequence. (spiritual-side-of-domestic-violence.org)

MEN AS FATHERS

When a woman is violent and abusive in relationship, it is not necessarily assumed that she is a bad mother. In men’s case is automatically assumed that he is unfit parent. The law presumes that the children are almost always better off with their mother. As a consequence the only options for men seem to be put up with abuse or to leave home, since under the law there is no protection for them. (spiritual-side-of-domestic-violence.org)

Men today are spending more time with their children. They provide half of the child’s genetic material, and then are another source of unconditional love so essential to every child. (www.parentkidrights.com)

Thorough history role of the father has changed. Prior the late 18th and early 19th centuries, fathers were involved in daily lives of their children. They taught them how to work and worked alongside of them, especially sons. With industrialization fathers and urbanization fathers often worked 14-16hours in factories (often in wretched conditions) which hindered their role in domestic affairs. More recently, a new kind of father is emerging, resembling more closely those of pre-industrial eras. This father still plays a major role but is also more involved in domestic tasks and caring for children. There is a difference between this public image and private reality. When a father is involved in child’s life it can make a big difference. Childs intellectual, physical and all other developments can be enhanced if their relationship with a father is close. This does not change if a father does not live with a child (www.montana.edu) There are no studies which suggest that a child brought up by a man display any marked psychological or emotional characteristic different to one raised by a woman. (www.kittybrewster.com)

Unmarried fathers have no automatic rights to their children. They may, as a result, be denied access to their children. Unmarried fathers have no constitutional rights, and few legal rights, to their children.

It has been established that fathers who have not been denied access to their children have more positive experiences of family life, and are more likely to have satisfying and fulfilling relationships with their children. (Lesley C. 2004)

WHY DO MEN STAY IN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS?

Why do men stay in abusive relationship is the question that cannot be answered easy. Next statement can provide one of the reasons:

A man received particularly bad beating from his wife. She used various tools pliers, screwdriver etc. He suffered bruising to his arms, legs, buttocks and back. He did not use any physical means to defend himself. A day later he had his injuries recorded by the family doctor (female). Her attitude was bemusement, indifference and hostility. She did not encourage him to report further incidents.

He appealed to female social workers who suggested he should pack his bags and leave, despite the fact that he had three young children. But his life wouldn’t seem worth living without them. He did not take that option. He went to the district court to apply for protection and safety order. But they were unsupportive and did not register his bruising that was visible. Judge gave him a protection order, and his wife threatened him and applied for protection order against him. On occasion he has left the house (on her insistence). She accused him of desertion. He was denied access to his sons. He returned home and she is acting very nice until she feels safe to return to her violent behaviour. He has put up with abuse for years in order to be with his children. (A male victim’s confidential statement www.amen.ie )

In this statement it is clear that the victim didn’t get any support and that the life that he is living is not a pleasant one. The doctor’s hostility is just disgraceful. In my opinion she was not looking at him as individual patient and showed characteristic of a discriminator. And all that is left to conclude is that man as a victim faces prejudice and is left with no choice to accomplish anything. His basic right as a patient and victim are not satisfied.

If a male victim seeks help society should offer the same protection to help him and his children as is given to the female victims. Women who are violent should be legally responsible for their actions. (spiritual-side-of-domestic-violence.org)

There are number of reasons why men are reluctant to report abuse:

Fear of not being believed

Fear of being denied access to their children

Fear of being judged and blamed for the abuse because of society prejudices

Fear of revenge by abuser

Fear of partner making false allegations against him

Fear of being left homeless

(www.amen.ie)

EFFECTS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON MEN

The adverse effects of domestic violence or abuse can be very long lasting. Men who have been abused by a spouse or intimate partner often suffer from:

Low self-esteem

Anger

Substance abuse

Sleeping problems

Inability to work

Consequences of abuse:

Performance at work has been affected

Loss of job

Put strain on relationship with children

Some have lost contact with their children.

In addition to these problems, physical abuse may result in serious injury or death if the victim does not leave the relationship. (www.wejamaicans.com)

By knowing facts about abuse one would have to conclude that there is no difference between men and women when looking at the effects of abuse.

UNRECOGNITION OF ABUSED MEN

Domestic violence against men goes unrecognised because:

It has taken years of advocacy and support to encourage women to report domestic violence. Virtually nothing is done to encourage men to report abuse.

The idea that men can be victims of domestic abuse is so unthinkable to most people that many men will not even attempt to report the situation.

There has been very little investment in resources to address the issues of domestic violence against men.

In most cases physical damage and the impact of violence on men is less apparent then violence against women.

Even when they report it, they don’t receive help and in the first place are not believed (www.memberstripod.com)

HOW MAN COPE WITH ABUSE?

Men in abusive relationships use various methods to attempt to avoid or lessen violent situations. (www.menweb.org)

They may:

Go into another room

Leave the house, go to family or friends

Sleep in their car or wherever they can go

Accept responsibility for all sorts of untrue accusations

Cover up for their violent partner.(spiritual-side-of-domestic-violence.org)

This will not stop attacks. But most of them will do anything in hope to stop abuse. But they fail to record accidents. Usually they don’t tell any family members and make excuses for their injuries. They fear humiliation even when abuse is life threatening. (www.amen.ie)

Abused men are not cowards but their actions can be misinterpreted as such. It is a pity to see how even the strongest men succumb to the old-fashioned way of thinking, that if they report abuse they will be seen as weak. On contrary those men who will endure anything to be with their children, are to be admired.

SOCIETY REACTIONS

Even when men attempt to report abuse, they are met with discrimination, disbelief, and comments that most of the time proves why they were reluctant to report anything in the first place. Usually people’s reactions would be about men’s size (he should be stronger than a woman), that he did something to deserve it. Even the police are in disbelief and comment if they arrest her, what will happen to the children.

The generalised opinion that men are not capable of taking care of children needs to be changed in order to make any progress in such cases. Law should be applied regardless of gender, because that is a hiding spot for a woman. Today’s society is, not doing much to solve the problem. Many women will think twice before they act if they knew that they could be arrested like any men in the same situation.

And when it comes to the police education, they should get more information regarding to gender equality and psychology. Abuse is the hardest and least dignified thing that can be done to any human being. And society lets this abuse to happen.

DOMESTIC ABUSE OF MEN IN IRELAND

In Ireland:

One man in 25 has experienced severe physical abuse in a relationship 1 in 90 has experienced sexual abuse and 1 in 37 severe emotional abuse.

While 1 woman in 12 has experienced physical abuse, 1 in12sexual abuse and 1 in 13 severe emotional abuse. (www.amen.ie)

These figures show that while risk to women is higher, domestic violence is something that also affects a significant number of men. (www.irglov.ie)

More than a‚¬15million is provided by the government each year for services for female victim, while less than 1% of this amount is provided for male victims.

Mary T. Cleary. Irish examiner, 15.09.2006

Irish Governments funds for sufferers of domestic abuse clearly show the difference of funding available for man and women. It is clear as the sky that abused men are not given enough support or recognition by Government.

These figures speak for themselves and show how Irish society knows and acknowledges the domestic violence against men. But only acknowledging is not enough and that certainly needs to be changed. The person who is working hard to achieve that is Mary T. Cleary, the founder of AMEN.

CONCLUSION

Domestic violence against man is a topic that not many are willing to start. This essay has done just that. It explored different aspects of abuse against man. Vast numbers of things are preventing recognition (on a bigger scale) of abused men. The fact that abuse is abuse, no matter against whom it is done, does not change a fact that we as society on micro and macro level are closing our eyes. Women, Police Officers, Doctors, Government are leading the “race”. It is clear that men are disadvantaged and the hurdles that they are facing are almost impossible to overcome. Their fundamental rights as parents are not respected.

RECOMMENDATIONS

While doing the research for this assignment I came across a web site RAPE CRISIS NETWORK IRELAND that, in my opinion, has a very important and useful feature.

It gives advice how to cover your tracks so that nobody can find out that you visited this site. Instructions are clear and easy to follow. This site has not relevance to my assignment, but I couldn’t fail to notice their safety issue. That is a first site that I came across that offers the feature. I think it should be present in all sites that deal with violent issues, because it can give confidence to many people to search for answers, to report the abuse. In many cases, fear of abuser finding out that they tried to “do” something puts the victims off.

Domestic violence can be prevented through early intervention, by law enforcement, social services and the criminal justice system. Even men as victims, who are reluctant to press charges due to lack of recourses can be assisted once they have been identified and removed from violent home environment. (www.practicalhomicide.com)

It amazes me, through my research how the government and all involved don’t have enough knowledge and common sense to deal with issues like violence and abuse against men. As I grew up I witnessed domestic violence on many occasions. Friends, neighbours, members of my family, unknown people who were abused made me think about causes and solutions to the problem.

While criminal violence is well known, domestic violence is swept under the rug. As a standard “man” is the abuser and “woman” is the abused.

I visited a number of websites in order to find relevant statistics about abused men but only couple of them had any information about abused men. The main focus is on women and children. The only one that deals with every aspect of abuse against men is AMEN.

I know that is important but also shows me that minority (abused men) is neglected.

A study of MALE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE -commissioned by AMEN- was conducted. The study was carried out in County Monaghan. (See appendix 1)

To make the picture clearer I wanted to see how other European countries react and deal with this issue. I visited International Domestic violence and Abuse agencies list. It contained 55 countries but none of them had any organisations listed clearly aimed for men. That showed me that Ireland is ahead even if there is only one organisation for abused men. But it is “reachable” way more easily than in other countries.

Irish Government funds for sufferers of domestic abuse clearly show the difference of funding available for man and women. They are not given support or recognition by Government. (See appendix 2)

I witnessed many violent outbursts in the night time. But I couldn’t fail to notice that majority of those incidents were started by women. Freedom and change of life style allow women to go out and act as men. But binge drinking is one of the things that are not good in any way. In my opinion women know that they will not suffer big consequences (such as arrest) if they attack someone, so they feel confident to do as they please.

In this study (section 9) men surveyed suggested following support systems that should be put in place to deal with abuse that is done to them:

aˆ? Statutory services, and in particular the Health Boards, to take the problem of male victims of domestic abuse seriously.

aˆ? The Gardai to take male victims of domestic violence seriously and to treat the matter with more sensitivity.

aˆ? The legal system (i.e. legal professionals, court staff and the judiciary) to take a more balanced and equitable approach.

aˆ? All men surveyed felt the need for a ‘safe place’ to take themselves and their children when incidents in the home became particularly abusive.

aˆ? Better protection for their children if they are forced to leave the family home.

aˆ? The right for men to remain in the home when they are the victims. (Leaving the home has negative implications for the male in that it means he may have inadequate access to his children and that he is leaving his home which in most cases is his sole asset.)

aˆ? Better equality when the issue of custody and access to their children is being addressed by the courts.

aˆ? Less gender bias by social workers and health care professionals when dealing with male victims of domestic abuse.

aˆ? More alternatives to the adversarial family court system.

aˆ? The issue of men’s health and welfare to be taken more seriously by the Government.

aˆ? Adequate support services for male victims.

These recommendations are clear and they cover all areas that need to change in order to deal with abuse against men. However change needs to start on small scale starting with men who need to admit that they can also be vulnerable, and in that in their “macho” world some space should be left for acknowledging that fact. All children should be made aware that abuse is abuse no matter whom it is done against. Without that, I’m afraid, we won’t get far.

Intrigued by this topic, I asked friends what they think about abuse against men. Almost all responses were raised eyebrows and disbelief, laughter and the same replies as in all material that I have researched for this topic. The picture that people have in their heads is that abusers are male and just few said it is possible that females can be abusers as well.

My hope is that this essay will at least on a small scale make people aware of ABUSE AGAINST MEN.

“Woman is more fitted than man to make exploration and take bolder action in nonviolence… There is no occasion for women to consider themselves subordinate or inferior to men….Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacity….If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior….If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with women…”

Traditionally Sri Lankan society held women in high esteem though the society was a man dominated. During last few decades it appeared that this situation has been changed and violence against women is increasing rapidly in Sri Lanka as same as the other countries in the world.

The first place from where it starts the violence against women is the household where we are living. Among the other form s of violence domestic violence has the top in Sri Lanka. There fore, violence against women has become an issue which needs a quick and definite solution.

Most of the people in our society think that domestic violence is a matter that should not revile to the out of the family. Hence domestic violence subsided for a long time without a solution. However it has been formed new legislation for the domestic violence in year 2005. But domestic violence has been increased more than before. This research is aimed at analyzing the possibilities of recurrence of the degrading process of inhuman. Domestic violence against women is mostly based on gender.

The team gender mean different things to different people. The world gender comes from the world gender, this, in turn, comes from Latin genus. Both words mean ‘kind’, “type” or “sort”.

7. This difference in their behavior, attitudes and values that is superimposed on their biological sex is what is meant by them gender. Hence in other words, gender refers to a set of qualities and behavior expected from a female or a male by the society. Biological sex is quite different from gender, as it refers to aspect of the body such as the genitals, hair growth genetic make- up and or hormones. According to the gender characterizations superimposed by society,

8. Male are expected to have the qualities of Devious, Fearless, Impulsive, Honest, Tough, Violent, Heard working, Opportunistic, Insensitive, Extrovert, Dominating, Independent and female are expected to have different qualities as Emotional, Week, Beautiful, Sacrificing, Nurturing, Submissive, Shy, Calm, Polite, Sensitive, Cunning, Soft, Introvert, Compassionate, Enduring, Fearful, Quite, Timid, Tolerant, Dependent

10. These characteristics attribute to each gender are possibly satisfactory from the point of view of the society as a hole. However, when one considers from the point of view of the individual of either genders, it may not be so. Impact sometimes it could be even harmful. Similarly, there are many instances of traditionally imposed characteristics which are disadvantages to the women as well. This is more so in patriarchal societies like ours.

12. It is traditionally accepted that female should do the cooking, looking after the house etc, while the man works in the field. This is satisfactory as long as there is mutual understanding between the women and the man and the decision had been arrived at by mutual consent. Often it is not so. The role of the female has been thrust upon her and she is obliged to perform it even when she is pregnant or ill. It is this traditional compartmentalization of these roles according to gender attributes determined by the society that leads to problems.

DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

13. Domestic violence is defined as an abuse of power perpetrated mainly by men against women. The most commonly acknowledge forms of domestic violence are physical and sexual violence, threats and intermediation, emotional and economic abuse.

PHYSICAL ABUSE

14. Physical abuse can include slapping, punching, beating, shoving. It can include attempts to harm the victim with weapons, like knives, sticks, or other items found lying in the home. In extreme cases firearms, may also be used to threatened and/ or helm the victim.

SEXUAL ABUSE

15. Sexual abuse includes rapes, physically attacking a woman sexual body parts preventing the victim from using birth control and/ or safe sex practices. Rape is forcing woman to have sex against their will, which in many cases involves violence. In all cases it is a violation of an individual’s rights her body.

EMOTIONAL ABUSE

16 Emotional abuse can includes all intentional attempts to minimize the victim’s concerns and to make them feel back. Humiliating the victim in front of the other people, family and friends is a common way, this is achieved.

PSYCOLOGICAL ABUSE

17. Psychological abuse can include any threats that are made or carried out with the intent of financial or emotional injury, blackmail or humiliation. Threat may be made to take the children away from the woman.

ECONOMIC ABUSE

17. Economic abuse creates financial dependence. The victim can have her money taken away by her abuser, forcing her to have to ask for money whenever she needs any thing.

INTIMIDIATION

18. Intimidation as a form of abuse can include making the women afraid by using looks, action and gestures, by destroying their property, or by displaying weapons.

ISOLATION

19 Isolation can be used to control and limit what the woman does. Whom they see and where they go. The abuser may prevent them from seeing family and friends.

USING PRIVILEGE TO CONTROL

20. Using privilege to control is also a Form of abuse. By treating a woman like a servant and having the last word about everything, the abuser is acting like master of the castle. He is defining and rigidly abiding by the traditional roles of men and women

THE AGGRIEVED MAY BE

a. he father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather or stepmother

b. the son, daughter, grandson, or grand daughter, stepson, stepdaughter

c. the brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, step-brother, step-sister

d. brother or sister of parent (an uncle or aunt)

e. child of a brother or sister

f. The child of brother or sister of parent

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CAN BE CAUSED BY

the spouse

b. the ex-spouse

c. the cohabiting partner

d. parent

REASONS FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Drunkenness of the aggressor

9. This is a major reason for subjecting wives to domestic violence. Alcohol appears to be the most proximate cause for many type of violence particularly in the rural areas where illicitly brewed alcohol is available in plenty. This is particularly a cause for incest where the father who is drunk, with all his animal instincts bared ,sexually harassed the young and innocent daughter, often with no mother to protect her as she has gone away to earn for the family.

Anger

10. Another reason given after battering women by husband ids that. They got angry and beat the wife. The responsibility is given back to the women for irritating him and making him an angry. The common preventive measure prescribe to the wife is not to irritate the husband. Often no advice is given to the husband. However there is no justification whatsoever to convert anger in to violence which makes someone else suffer. It is said that “conquer angry by love, conquer evil by good”.

Financial problems

11. Unemployment, less salaries or wages, housing problems are course to create domestic violence because inability to afford the expenses of the family, still the dowry is also course to create violence.

Cycle of the violence

12. The person who has subjected to violence in his childhood or who experienced the violence from their parents can behave as their parents

Incense by the victim

13. Sometimes the victims incense their husbands unnecessarily

Societal factors creating with the family

14. Mistakes occurs day to day workings of women in the household; problems of children, misunderstandings of the relations of the wife or husband, have subjected to create violence against women.

Sexual problems

15. Suspicion of the husband regarding his wife and assuming that an affair has been built his wife with another person, and refusing sexual behaviors of husband when he want are also coursed to create violence against women

Cultural factors

16. Dislike to holding key appointments by wife and confine her to the household is also a major problem

Structural inequalities

17. Supremacy of men in the household is also caused to create violence against women

Extra marital affairs beyond wife or husband
CHAPTER
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1. Even though traditionally Sri Lankan society holds women in high esteem, it is a favorable increase of domestic violence against women in Sri Lanka. Although enough lows and legislations have been formed in time to time it is not appeared that a decrease of domestic violence against women.

2. Domestic violence is the first action which occurs among the members of a family in side a house hold. This includes various forms of sexual harassments as same as other form of physical harassment, oral or mental abuses. Generally it is not reported mental harassments but it occurs more than other form of harassments with in a household.

3. The domestic violence which takes place in a household mostly targets the women. Domestic violence against women usually does not occur in public. In the public “Ladies first” is the abstract. Hence it is not detected domestic violence because it appears that all are giving due respect for women.

4. Even though the government and some non government organizations have collected data on this issue they could not be able to make a effective solution for preventing domestic violence against women.

JUSTIFICATION

5. Women have to face various type of violence for the sake of being born a woman. This study is mainly focused on ascertaining the reasons for violation against women in Sri Lanka and to make recommendations to overcome the problem. Research findings and recommendations could be vital to the government and respective authorities to make effective solutions to eliminate this violence. A proper analysis carried out may uncover avenues to assist measures in preventing domestic violence against women.

6. Hence, this research could be used to arrive at viable solutions on the issue of domestic violence against women. Later the remedial measures may be included in the national policies depending on the relevance and validity.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

7. There are so many aspects in domestic violation against women. The scope of the study is to find why these things happen and what precautions that can be taken to prevent the domestic violence against women.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE

8. To developing a well-mannered family and it adopted to build up a well-mannered nation

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

9. Specific objectives are as follows;

To find reasons for the violence and type of violence take place

To suggest solutions to prevent domestic violence against women

To study the ability to practice the solutions in Sri Lanka

To analyze the statistical data

HYPOTHESIS

10. Domestic violence against women is unable to prevent by the Law with out making an environment that promote to perform obligations of each others of the family.

METHODOLOGY

11. This study will be mainly based on the primary data, which will be collected through questionnaires from a random sample of women to collect the qualitative data and it is to be used the data that has been collected from government and non government organizations concerned this problem in hall the island. The information drawn from the above methods will be used to finalize the report to prove or disprove the hypothesis drawn from the research.

CHAPTER III
PAST AND THE PRESENT

Sri Lankan society has built on Buddhist culture since 2500 years ago. The basic teaching of Buddhism, salvation by one’s own effort put forward the spiritual equality of all beings irrespective of gender. Singalowada Sutra at Sutra Pitakaya has defined obligations of a husband and as same as a wife to perform for each others. That taught to respect each others in the family.

After introducing open economy, social values which gained from Buddhism have been loosed. It is started to import various goods and services. It created a consumer society in Sri Lanka. Wants of the people were increased. To adapt this society and fulfill these wants women also have to employ to earn money. Further the women has bee used a commercial dummy. This system very much cute to give some mental bribes to women who were missed their social values on money and introduced women rights in lieu of the obligations women. Women are experiencing to win their rights but the love from his husbands .Obligations of husband and only the rights of wives were remained. As a result of this situation, it started to destroy the picture which had drawn in our mind set as a mother, sister, wife and daughter and the violence against women were increased.

At present in Sri Lanka, it was estimated that around 60% of women are subjected to domestic violence.*

CHAPTER VI
LEGISLATIONS TO PROTECT VICTIMS

1. It had not certain legislation for domestic violence in Sri Lakethe penal Code also does not have respective provisions with regard to domestic violence against women. Therefore victims of the domestic violence has to be consider under other general section like section 324- assault or section 311- causing grievous hurt. Although the amendment s to the penal code in 1995 expanded the definition of grievous hurt it did not take in violence against women as a crime. This amendment also did not concern victims who may have suffered only light injuries and those subjected to emotional abuse which exactly points to the entry not decisive by its CEDAE obligations.

2. However the Act made favorable provision in year 2005. The newly passed law on domestic violence is an act to provide for the prevention of any act of domestic violence which may be either physical abuse or emotional abuse between two people who are related. The provision of domestic violence act no 34 of 2005 specify the degrees of relationship.

3. This law is a civil remedy and is gender natural and does not disturb the criminal law remedies as it is not an alternative to the criminal process. This law focuses on ensuring the safety of the aggrieved party. To obtain a protection order you need to apply to the Magistrate Court. You can submit your application through an Attorney at Law or personally or through a Police Officer.

4. Any person against whom an act of domestic violence has been committed or likely to be committed may make an application. Such a person is referred to as an aggrieved person under this Act. An application should be made to the Magistrate’s Court with in that jurisdiction the aggrieved person resides or the relevant person resides or the act of domestic violence took place. Up on receiving such application the court can consider the application and determine whether an interim protection order is urgently needed to ensure the protection of the aggrieved party

Domestic Violence and Women Health

1. Violence as defined by WHO is the intentional use of physical force or power ,threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either result in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death physical harm, mal development or deprivation

2. The victim s women tend to have many disorder which, when considered superficially, do not appear to be connected to violence. A WHO study done recently identified following complications that could be associated with violence.

Bleeding during pregnancy

3. It is now that physical assault can cause bleeding ‘in pregnancy due to partial separation of the after birth (placenta), while the baby is still with in the womb.

Low birth weight

4. There are instance where the mothers deliver babies with lower weight than respective their maturity. These babies too face risks the mental stress that the mother undergoes due to violence, effects of passive smoking through husband’s smoking are factors leading to the effects of assault.

Lack of attention and care

5. It is often seen that the mothers who are victims of violence tend to attend antenatal clinics late or not attend such clinics at all. This late or non attendance is seen at the maternal death reviews where each maternal death is looked into in detail. This leads to not getting necessary care and

changing attitudes that permit such abuse, developing legal and policy frameworks to prohibit and reject it, and improving women’s access to economic recourses and girls’ access to education.

CHAPTER V
THE IMPACT ON CHILDREN

Children may test their parent by behaving badly. Children are dependent on adults to tell them what is right and wrong. Children need to feel loved, accepted and safe in their family. This means living in a home where there is no uncertainty when violence may erupt.

Children try to make sense out of what happens in the world; to believe that there is a reason for what happens. This may lead them to feel that it is mothers’ fault that she is beaten. They may think that it is their fault. They may feel guilty that they cannot help parents. They may take father’s side because they feel safer to be on the side of power. This may happen more with male children. Though children rose in violent homes are at risk for perpetrating or experiencing violence in their adulthood.

CHAPTER VII
THE WAY THE BUDDHIST TEACHINGS

5. Buddhism condemns any form of violence in no uncertain terms. Buddhist teaching Buddhist teaching extends beyond the universals Buddhist concept of ahimsa or non violence and provides directions for the lay followers to live a happy, peaceful and fruitful life with out conflicts in the family with in the boundaries of dharma.

6. When one considers the fundamental principals elaborated in Buddhism, one cannot see a gender distinction. The three universal characteristics (tilakkana) which are anicha, dukka, anathema are common to both genders alike. The Ariya Attangika Magga, the path that is to be followed for emancipation, is available to both genders and it is to be followed in the same manner by both genders. Hence emancipation or Nibbana is common and is attainable by both genders that follow the right path. When facts are so, the logical conclusion is that, in Buddhism there is no gender equality. However, when it comes to interpretation of the Buddhist doctrinal issues, at times, this fundamental Buddhist social principle is not very clearly presented. The attitudes towards gender as depicted in the Pail Canon reflect the attitude towards gender with in the society at the time of the Buddha, as well as the Buddhist attitudes towards it. It is also accepted that there are contributions from sources other than the Buddha eighth in the Canon

7. When we are analyzing the problem of domestic violence against women it appears that the fault is always transferred only towards the men. All the good men and women raised their fingers towards men. Actually this society is a man dominated society. Men always try to maintain the supremacy. Further he has got some strength more than woman by the nature. The true love can collapse these barrios to live together for man and woman until the end of the life. But unfortunately the social system which we have to face restrict to the peace of the family. Therefore both man and women should have responsibilities and obligations for each others to strengthen their family. The Lord Buddha preaches following responsibilities and obligations for the exemplary family.

Five Kinds of Duty for a Husband

a. A husband must be kind to and adore his wife

b. He must not treat his wife in an insolent manner.

c. He must not engage in sexual misconduct with other women.

d. He must give her control and authority over domestic matter.

e. He must provide his wife with garments and ornaments.

Five Kinds of Duty for a Wife

a. A wife must arrange chores of the household well and run it smoothly.

b. She must distribute gifts fairly between her relatives and her husband’s relatives.

c. She must not engage in sexual misconduct wife other men.

d. She must keep and maintain all things orderly that are handed over by her husband.

e. She must be skillful and diligent in all her house works.

8. If this code of conduct is adhered to there is no room for domestic violence to occur. But what usually happens is completely disregarding thee need to remind men of their deities

CHAPTER VIII
ANALYSIS

1. At present there is no systematic mechanism for data collection in relation to the prevalence, causes and consequences of violence against women and there are no disaggregated statistics available concerning intimate partner violence. However records of complaints to women’s organization assisting women affected by domestic violence, police statistics and newspaper reports suggest a higher prevalence of intimate partner violence. Recent studies on this subject estimate the prevalence to be between 18.3% and 60% in Sri Lanka.

Year

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2003

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Incidences

791

895

1020

1208

1514

2015

2688

3154

3207

3612

4523

2. Following statistics in respect of domestic violence against women in whole the island receive from Women In Need (WIN), which provides free counseling and legal advice to victims of domestic violence shows an idea of resent trend of violence against women in Sri Lanka.

3. Above chart shows that the number of personnel who has got leagle advises from Women in Need each years. It clearly indicate that the number of personnel who have got advices for domestic violence from Women in Need has increased rapidly year by year.

4. Although the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act came in to operation from 3rd October 2005 it appearse that problrems regarding domestic violence against women. Actually it has been increased. Therefore it is difficult to say that the law is an effective one to prevent domestic violence against women in Sri Lanka.

Legal Advices

Colombo

Kandy

Matara

Badulla

Anuradapura

Jaffna

Puttalam

New

1844

627

422

396

265

31

282

Repeat

2679

316

2028

1015

1009

242

315

Total

4523

943

2450

1411

1274

273

597

5. The chart shows that the number women who faced domestic violence and request consultant from the Women in Need from January to October in year 2009. 4523 person have got consult and Most of them have got consultant at the repeat list. If there is a new provision in the law to solve domestic violence against women and they have got legal consultations why they came again and again to get legal consultation is a problem.

6. According to the questioners it appears that Sri Lankan women don’t like to tell their problems out of the household and they always think about the future their children. Most of the women married with love affairs and someone married with out the authority of their parents. Therefore they have a problem to tell even their parents.

7. After established the prevention of domestic violence against Act Child and women bureau has started to get entries regarding domestic violence. But in 2009 only the 236 incidents were reported and 55 incidents have been reported from January to September in 2010 in the entire Island.

CHAPTER IX
RECOMMENDATIONS

1. After introducing liberalization policies in year 1977 in Sri Lanka media played tremendous role to change attitudes of the nation towards traditional women and to collapse her traditional values. Hence it has been proved that the media can do a major role to change attitudes of the nation. Therefore it is recommended to use media on the authority of the government to create well planed public awareness program to respect all women as a mother.

2. Another responsible party is business world who sole women in Sri Lanka with their goods and services by advertisement. Therefore it is recommended to contribute them to make a social marketing campaign to change attitudes of the nation towards women as a must.

3. Government should take an action to cohabit Tele-dramas which make people to experiencing hate to each others.

4. It is recommended to start school level awareness programs to educate girls and boys regarding the expected qualities of male and female and to teach to patience others opinions. Buddhist and other religious teachings regarding the family life and obligations of each person who are playing a separate role with in a family should be thought. Through this awareness programs it is able to deliver these massages to their parents also.

5. Police or the respective authorities should make a mechanism to collect data with regard to the complaint of domestic violence against women separately and d.

6. Awareness programs should plane for the public to inform quickly regarding domestic violence incidences that take place in the next door to the police and obtain their assistance immediately.

7. Domestic violence should be considered as a health issue and specialist doctors should attached to the hospitals to treat victims of domestic violence. Police officers who got complaints of the victims of violence should educate and trained to treat them in a supportive manner.

8. The education system that has been focused only to the examinations and competition should change and should buildup a nation who has humanity.

9. Try to provide care for them with emotionally sound adults with whom they can relate.

10. It will help them to see adults who can settle differences without abuse or violence. It is important for them to see adults who respect each other.

11. Accept that you are not perfect. Do not feel guilty about it. Keep doing your best and be open to change and learning new ways.

12. Remember that your children need to be able to depend on you. Don’t depend on them to act as your partner. Let them to be dependent. Encourage them to have friends and activities in a new community as soon as you settle. Friendship can help them to regain security. They need to belong too.

13. At past Sri Lankans has experienced to go to temple to solve their problems because they know that the venerable monks have solutions all the problems they have. There fore people got solutions with out bias for anyone. Hence again it is useful l to start that past experience.

CHAPTER X
CONCLUSION

1. Four type of married life is described In the Pathama Sutra Sanvasa Sutra of the Anguttara Nikaya.

a. Foolish man with foolish women

b. Foolish man with a goddess

c. A Good with foolish women

d. A good with a Goddess

2. The last being the best and is being encouraged.

3. It is important to note that in this sutra, the qualities of man and women have been giving equal prominence and in no way the man considered superior. Further this sutra explains how the ideal wife and husband could continue their relationship to the next birth.

4. “If both have equal saddha, sila, cage and panna, they will meet in the next birth too.”

5. As shown as the data analysis it is unable to prevent domestic violence but punish someone aggressor who committed a violence by the law. According to this Analysis only way that can prevent Domestic violence against women is fulfilling obligations described in this research to each others. Therefore a government also should have an obligation to create a fair environment with in the country to make well mannered nation without violence.

Domestic Violence is an act of physical, sexual or psychological abuse against a woman by someone who is intimately connected to her through marriage, family relation or acquaintanceship. It has its roots in the patriarchal set up of the society. Women have always been considered to be the weaker sex. Right from the later Vedic age to the 21st century, Indian women have never experienced the freedom that men have. They have always been subjected to inequality. The subordinate status of women combined with patriarchal ideologies is a major cause of domestic violence. According to ‘United Nation Population Fund Report’, around two-third of married Indian women are victims of Domestic Violence attacks. To protect women against Domestic Violence, the Parliament passed ‘The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’ According to this act, any woman who has been subjected to domestic violence can file a complaint to the police officer, protection officer or the magistrate in the form of ‘Domestic Incident Report’, which is similar to an FIR. However, this act is not enough. In light of the increasing instances of domestic violence against women, the government needs to take more stringent measures to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence against women.

Objectives

The objectives of this project are as follows:-

What is the magnitude of domestic violence against women in India? What is the prevalence of physical, sexual and psychological abuse against Indian women?

What community and families are associated with domestic violence against women? Whether domestic violence is more prevalent in the higher or in the lower strata of the society.

Methodology
Hypothesis: The prevalence of Domestic Violence against women is an indication of patriarchal ideologies

The survey was conducted in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Ahmadabad in 2012. The survey includes forty women who represent different families culturally as well socially i.e. they belong to different stratus of the society. The study is based mainly on quantitative data. It has tried to get empirically sound and statistically reliable data regarding the physical, sexual and psychological abuse against women. Qualitative methodology has been used to interpret and analyze the data collected.

Review of Literature

‘Behind Closed Doors’ by Rinki Bhattacharya is one of the few books which deal with Domestic Violence against women in India. This book contains narratives by seventeen women who have been the victims of domestic violence. These women have showed immense courage in sharing their stories. These heart- wrenching narratives bring home the fact that domestic violence is still very prevalent and that no amount of privilege can protect women from abuse. A documentary film called ‘Char Diwari’ was made on this book. The fact that this documentary has been telecasted only twice and that too at midnight shows that such issues are still not brought out open in the public.

This book also contains essays by eminent feminists and other sociologists who have tried to analyze the phenomenon of Domestic Violence. What they really try to say is that in a country like India, where people worship the female power of Shakti in the form of goddess, why should women be subjected to domestic violence?

Then there are further essays which deal with the loopholes in the domestic violence bill. The book ends with a road map to support the victims of domestic violence. This book should definitely be read by those who wish to bring about a change in d position of the women in the society.

There is a case study on domestic violence against women in Nagpur. This Case Study has been conducted by International Clinical Epidemiologists Network (INCLEN). On the basis of the survey conducted, it was found out that nearly sixty- two percent of the women have been subjected to some form of domestic violence. Most of these women have been the victims of psychological abuse (60.2 % as compared to 37.9 % of the women being subjected to physical abuse ). Ten percent of these women left their husbands but most of them had to return since their natal families refused to accept them. There is still a social stigma attached to leaving your husband and the root cause of this is the patriarchal ideologies which are still widespread today.

Another Case Study deals with domestic violence in Kerala. This has been conducted by Centre for Women’s Studies and Development, Kerala. Around fifty five percent of the women admit being subjected to domestic violence. In Kerala most of the women have been victimized due to issues related to dowry. Like in Nagpur, psychological abuse is very high in Kerala. (54.23% as compared to 32.4% of thee women who are subjected to physical violence). In Kerala the literacy rate is almost 100 percent, yet women are victimized. What does this show? It again goes back to the patriarchal ideologies that have existed since time immemorial.

Results and Interpretation of Data
Table 1: Socio Demographic Profile:

TOTAL

40

HIGHER STRATA OF THE SOCIETY

27

LOWER STRATA OF THE SOCIETY

13

AGE (in years)

Woman Respondent

Husband

32

36

33

37

31

35

EDUCATION

Woman Respondent

Illiterate

Primary ( 1-5 )

Secondary ( 6-12 )

>12

Husband

Illiterate

Primary ( 1-5)

Secondary ( 6-12 )

>12

4

6

7

23

0

4

8

28

0

0

5

22

0

0

2

25

4

6

2

1

0

4

6

3

EMPLOYMENT

Woman Respondent

Unemployed

Employed

Husband

Unemployed

Employed

27

23

6

34

17

10

0

27

4

9

6

7

This table shows that literacy rate is lower among the woman respondents as compared to their husbands. The overall employment rate is higher among the husbands. However as far as the lower strata of the society is concerned, more women are employed than men.

Now we come to the prevalence of domestic violence. First the researcher will deal with the women of the higher strata of the society. 20 out of 27 women have admitted to being subjected to domestic violence by their husbands. Out of these 20 women, 12 have been physically abused, 5 psychologically and 3 sexually. As far as the women of the lower strata are concerned all the 13 of them have been subjected to domestic violence. Out of these women, 8 are physically abused, 3 psychologically and 2 sexually.

Graph showing the prevalence of Domestic Violence.

Table 2 will show the lifetime physical abuse and Table 3 will show the lifetime psychological abuse.

Table 2: Lifetime Physical Abuse :-

TOTAL

(20)

HIGHER STRATA OF THE SOCIETY

(12)

LOWER STRATA OF THE SOCIETY

(8)

Slap

11

8

3

Kick

8

3

5

Weapon

1

1

0

Table 3: Lifetime Psychological Abuse:-

TOTAL

(8)

HIGHER STRATA OF THE SOCIETY

(5)

LOWER STRATA OF THE SOCIETY

(3)

Insulted

5

3

2

Demeaned

2

2

0

Unfaithful

1

0

1

Now the researcher would like to draw your attention to the reasons as to why these women are subjected to domestic violence. Table 4 shows some of the reasons identified by these women.

Table 4: Reasons as to why women are subjected to domestic violence:-

TOTAL

33

HIGHER STRATA OF THE SOCIETY

20

LOWER STRATA OF THE SOCIETY

13

Not Cooking Properly

18

13

5

Not Looking after the Household

5

4

1

Harassment due to Dowry

4

3

1

Talking to Other Men

6

0

6

It is evident from the survey that Domestic Violence is extremely prevalent especially in the lower strata of the society. There is an inverse relationship between socio economic status and domestic violence. Both Education and Employment is also significant for physical and psychological violence. It is seen that women with lower education but better employment than their husbands are subjected to greater domestic violence. This is the case in the lower strata of the society. As far as the higher strata is concerned, it is generally the lesser educated and the unemployed women who are subjected to the wrath of their husbands.

Legal Measures for Domestic Violence against women In India

In India not much has been done to protect the rights of women. Women have been the victims of domestic violence since time immemorial, but the ‘Domestic Violence Act’ was passed by the parliament as late as 2005. It was passed in the furtherance of the recommendations of the United Nations committee on the CEDAW. The following abuses are covered by this act:-

Physical abuse

Sexual abuse

Verbal and emotional abuse

Economic abuse

This act provides women a right to stay in her matrimonial house, even if she does not have ownership rights over the house. Basically a husband cannot throw his wife out of his house. However her rights will extend only to her husband’s properties and not to the properties of her in-laws.

Under this act, a woman has the right to ask for help and protection. A victim of domestic abuse has the right to seek the help and services of ‘police officer’s, ‘protection homes’, ‘service providers’, ‘shelter homes’ and ‘medical establishments’. She also has the right to lodge a complaint under section 498 of the Indian Penal Code for ‘matrimonial cruelty’.

Under this act, a woman can get the following orders issued in her favour:-

Protection Order

Residence Orders

Monetary Relief

Custody Orders

Compensation Orders

Interim and Ex parte Orders

If the respondent is found to be guilty, he can be imprisoned for a term which may extend to one year or can be charged a fine which may extend to Rs 20,000 or both. He may also be asked to provide monetary relief to the victim and her children. In the latter situation, he has to pay compensation damages as well. He has to abide by the arrangements made by the court regarding the custody of the victim’s children.

Drawbacks of the Legal Measures

The Act is mainly criticized on the grounds that it is not backed up properly. There is no effort by the government to implement it effectively. Important factors such as the appointment and the training of the protection officers, police officers, service providers, counselors, and judicial officers have been ignored. The authorities lack the initiative to spread awareness. Moreover there is improper budgetary allocation. Most states have still not appointed the Protection Officers. In some states, where Protection Officers have been appointed, they are not aware of their duties and the legal remedies that are available to the victims of domestic violence. Another drawback is that that the act has not been publicized properly. The helpline numbers available to the victims have not been publicized properly. As a result, sometimes domestic violence goes unreported because the victim does not know whom to turn to for help. In some cases, the violence is reported, but no case is filed in the court. There is a big difference in the number of cases that are reported and the number of cases which are actually heard in the court. These are the drawbacks of the legal measures.

Remedial Measures

A crucial question in the light of the increasing instances of domestic violence is that what should be done to control and reduce it. As responsible citizens should we just sit and read articles and collect information about domestic violence or should we raise our voices against it?Today Domestic Violence is being viewed as an epidemic disease which needs to be controlled. Many Law agencies, Governmental and Non Governmental Organizations, public and private bodies are working for this cause.

We need more stringent laws to curb domestic violence. At present we do not have a single law in the Indian Constitution which effectively deals with the issue of Domestic Violence. Even section 498 A of the Indian Penal Code and The Domestic Violence Act, 2005 have been misused because of the restricted definition of the abuse that women are subjected to. As a result we need more stringent laws to protect the rights of women.

There are several NGOs which are actively working in issues relating to women abuse. These NGOs need to spread awareness among women regarding the legal remedies that are available to them. They should encourage more and more women to come forward and report instances of domestic violence so that necessary action can be taken against the culprit.

The Police and the Protection Officers need to be sensitized. They need to take Domestic Violence as seriously as other offences. They need to be made aware of their legal duties and the remedies that are available to the victims. Moreover care has to be taken to appoint efficient men as Police and Protection Officers. Gender training should me made mandatory.

Steps need to be taken to recognize Domestic Violence as a public health. Training needs to be provided so as to develop the skills of the professionals to provide the basic support to the victims of domestic violence. Documentation on the health consequences of domestic violence should me made so as to spread awareness.

Lastly the patriarchal mindset of the people has to be changed. Until and unless women are given due respect in the society, no amount of laws will be helpful. The root cause of domestic violence is patriarchal ideologies and that needs to be changed.

Conclusion

The study underlines that the situation of Indian women is quite severe in terms of the violence they experience in the marital home. Women are subject to frequent and multiple forms of violence in their lifetime. The main cause of this is the patriarchal mindset of the people. Men have always considered themselves to be the superior sex and have always tried to overpower women. Generally women do not raise their voices against men because they have been taught to believe that they are the inferior sex. In conclusion, it can be said that the hypothesis- ‘The prevalence of Domestic Violence against women is an indication of patriarchal ideologies’ has been proved and a social reformation needs to be brought about soon.

Questionnaire

The women were asked the following questions:

Name

Age

Husband’s Age

Educational Qualification

Educational qualification of the husband

Employment

Husband’s occupation

Any Physical Violence?

Slapped by the husband?

Kicked by the husband?

Used or threatened to use a weapon?

Any Sexual Violence?

Any Psychological Violence?

Insulted by the husband?

Demeaned by the husband?

Was the husband unfaithful?

Reasons for the violence as identified by the woman.

Not cooking properly

Not looking after the household

Harassment due to dowry

Talking to other men

The limitation of this study is that in view of the social stigma attached to domestic violence, some women have been reluctant to answer these questions and as a result have not answered them truthfully.