18/01/2015
What is Domestic Violence? (an excerpt)
“I could not understand what was happening to me. I was married into a decent family and everything was fine for a year. Then there was occasional shouting from my husband and his family said nothing. It became worse and he hit me several times. When I told my sister, she said he was an educated, nice man and I had to find out what I was doing wrong. I tried very hard to please everyone but the slaps continued followed by insults and jokes. Perhaps this is my fate. I do not know what to do or how to stop this”.
Your first reaction is shock along with feeling hurt and upset. Why me? What have I done wrong? You will feel confused and as a way to set things right, you will try to appease people. It might disappear or get resolved but it might also continue.
You may notice that you are constantly on guard. Will I be beaten again? You are looking for signs which might lead to violence. You find yourself constantly afraid.
Gradually you might notice that you are loosing self confidence, becoming timid, withdrawn and perhaps loosing weight.
Domestic violence is defined as abuse that occurs within the four walls of a home or within a nuclear or extended family. The abuse includes physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic violence through cruelty, ill-treatment or exploitation by one or more members of a household towards another member.
It is a hidden violence, one with no name. We know it exists but deny it, shrug it off or in some cases even justify it. Violence in the family, it is said, usually takes place because the wife must have provoked it, or because the man was drunk or wanted to teach the woman a lesson.
Women do not mention it and men pass it off as a personal incident or as part of their right over women and children. Society as a whole sees it as anomaly that happens sometimes in some families. By giving it a name, studying it and raising it in public, this form of violence had to be accepted and steps taken to prevent it.
The first step in doing something about Domestic Violence is first recognising it, accepting it that it is done by someone we love within the family and then speaking about it."
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This could be happening right now to near and dear you know. Can you relate to it? What causes people to behave violently and exhibit deviant behaviors? What can we do about it so that our kids can come out of such situations? Radical (as in Root causes) perspectives would have to begin with one's childhood - digging into deeper structures that underlie the behavior. As parents, we can work with our kids so that they are empowered to make decisions based on more choices.
At PCA, our programs focus on skills that parents can use when working with children. There is no right or wrong or moral judgments that are passed about on any person or any parenting style. We provide perspectives that can only add to and enrich one's world view.