Patrick Hogan, Chicago, IL, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent
Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are certainly heinous situations. Many victims manage to liberate themselves from such horrid partnerships, others remain trapped in continued victimization. Others still die at the hands of their partner.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey states that “About 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner (e.g., hit with a fist or something hard, beaten, slammed against something) at some point in their lifetime.” It also states that “1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men in the U.S. have experienced stalking at some point in their lives in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed”.
How likely is it that these fears come to fruition? According to a different CDC study, very — “nearly half of [female victims of homicide] victims are killed by a current or former male intimate partner.”
You read that right: nearly half of all woman murdered in the United States are killed by an intimate partner.
Escaping domestic violence situations is often easier said than done. Economic status, housing status, parenthood, manipulation, danger and a variety of other factors make escaping domestic violence a difficult task. Even leaving an abusive or dangerous partnership can lead to issues, as stalking (as mentioned above) and angry outbursts may be a violent partner’s reaction. Attempting to leave a violent situation may not only be economically difficult, but may spur the violent partner to violence. What, then, can be done to end the epidemic of intimate partner violence?
Unfortunately, the answer is not simple; fortunately, it is not impossible. The response must be holistic, attempting to end existing violence, help victims, and prevent future violence. The CDC offers “scientifically credible” steps that can be taken: “addressing the beliefs, attitudes and messages that are deeply embedded in our social structures and that create a social climate that condones sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence. One way is through norms change”.
Changing societal norms is much easier said than done, but can be done. In her “Intimate Partner Violence: Causes and Prevention,” researcher Rachel Jewkes writes: “two factors seem to be necessary in an epidemiological sense: the unequal position of women in a particular relationship (and in society) and the normative use of violence in conflict. Without either of these factors, intimate partner violence would not occur”.
That is, gender equality and peaceful conflict resolution-strategies, if implemented, could greatly reduce intimate-partner violence. Children who are taught to settle conflict primarily with violence can be conditioned to continue to use violence as a problem-solving strategy. If women are still less-than equal in society, they can be more susceptible to violence. Thus, while many strategies have been, and need to be employed further, one strategy that is severely over-looked is education.
Educated individuals are more likely to have access to resources (health, legal, financial, social) that can prevent violence, and early education that encourages dialogue and non-violent problem solving can condition people to avoid violence. Violent tendencies can be learned: so can non-violent ones. “Education is of course not a silver bullet to fix a complex societal issue, but it is a often-neglected step. A UK organization, Refuge, states that: “Just 13 per cent of the young women questioned said they had learned about domestic violence when they were at school. Nearly 70 per cent of the young people said that they would have liked to have had lessons about domestic violence. Almost all those questioned said that domestic violence was as important, if not more important, than lessons on drugs and alcohol, sex and relationships education and the environment”.
Discussing intimate partner violence is taboo, and school sex-education classes seldom discuss the issue. This is an issue that should not be hidden; if it is to be solved it must be talked about, taught about, and addressed head-on.
Intimate partner violence, sexism, street harassment: these are all related in a societal disease that accepts (or at least ignores) these behaviors. Soraya Chemaly wrote for the Washington Post, “[street harassment] is a negative and costly phenomenon and part of a broader tolerance for a spectrum of gender-based violence. In the U.S., one in five women are raped, almost one in three women live with intimate partner violence, and three are killed every day by male partners.”
There are some who say street harassment is essentially harmless, or even intended to be flattering. This is not the case, however. No, instead street harassment is a public sign of a dangerous norm—a norm that allows for sexism and violence. A norm that must be dismantled.
Patrick is an undergraduate student majoring in anthropology and minoring in Islamic World Studies at Loyola University Chicago, preparing to continue onto law and graduate school. He is particularly interested in legal anthropology and the ways victims are viewed by legal systems.
