Types of Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence
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Domestic Violence
Domestic violence involves violence or other abuse by one person against another in a domestic setting, such as in marriage. It occurs when the abuser believes that violence is acceptable, justified, or unlikely to be reported. Intimate partner violence is the abuse directed at a partner with whom an individual has an intimate relationship. Domestic violence can take place within intimate or family relationships. It can take the different forms of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and economic abuse.
Physical abuse is deliberately hurting someone and causing injuries such as bruises, broken bones, burns or cuts. People who are physically abused suffer violence such as being hit, kicked, poisoned, burned and slapped or having objects thrown at them. Many women are victims of physical abuse by their intimate partners. Children in the household also tend to suffer from this act since it affects them psychologically and emotionally. Children are also victims of physical abuse since the face violence like being hurt, bruised, and slapped by their parents or guardian. Victims of abuse most have psychological disorders, commonly depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The effects of abuse are manifest immediately after abuse or may be delayed. These effects impact on the victim’s behavior, thought process and self-esteem. Examples of this kind of violence have been cited in the media. For example, media reports show that in the US, 85% of violence experienced by women is as a result of intimate partner violence CITATION Kau08 l 2057 (Kaur & Garg, 2008).

According to statistics, approximately 5.3 million cases of domestic violence are reported to occur every year. These are just the cases that involve US women of at least 18 years and older. About 3.2 million cases are reported among men. Among women, the women who are subjected to domestic violence by the same partner were exposed to this kind of abuse approximately 6.9 times in a year. This is low compared to the figures for men who were victims of domestic violence. The average man exposed to domestic violence is battered by his partner 4.4 times in a year CITATION Nat121 l 1033 (Tracy, 2012).
Sexual abuse encompasses all forms of unwanted sexual advances and behaviors. It is also called molestation. The offender is often named as the abuser or molester. This abuse may include forced sexual contact, rape, or causing injury to her sexual organs. In a case where the people involved are spouses, it may be termed as sexual abuse if one of the spouses forces their mate to have sex unwillingly. Depending on the jurisdiction, it may be treated as rape or even assault. Sexual abuse has many side effects. One of the side effects is trauma which impacts very negatively to the psychological wellbeing of the victim. In some cases, where young ladies are assaulted sexually, they are so traumatized to the extent that they decide never to get married. They end up hating all men imagining that all men are inhuman. In others, it lowers their self-esteem hence greatly interfering with their personality.
Sexual abuse in children may occur when an adult forces a child to engage in sex with them to satisfy their bodily desires. If this happens, the adult is usually compelled to undertake severe punishments which may include life imprisonment. Exposing children to things like pornography may also be termed as a form of sexual abuse because one will be feeding their minds with sexual literature and yet they are not yet mature both physically and psychologically to handle that. A study was conducted in India, and it was noted that the prevalence among women was 27% and that among men 16% CITATION Dav901 l 1033 (David Finkelhor, 1990).
In economic abuse, an individual in an intimate relationship exercises control over the other partner’s access to resources. This limitation of access renders the victim dependent on the proprietor. There are various forms of economic abuse, for example, exploiting the economic disadvantages of the victim, blaming the victim for improper monetary management, threatening to move the spouse and or children out of the house without financial support and only providing money for sexual activity. These forms of economic abuse may eventually lead to divorce. For example, in Guatemala, two women are murdered on average by the end of each day.
Media shows that in India, about 8093 cases of dowry-related deaths were reported in 2003. These statistics show a very high number of causalities resulting from domestic violence especially against women implying that various measures have to be taken to curb the situation. Some of the solutions to this problem are first starting by educating the society on the tremendous losses being brought about by the violence. For example, a lot of constructive time is lost by women and ladies while nursing injuries in hospital wards. This time would otherwise be invested in doing some productive job which in one way or another would contribute to economic development.
From the various statistical facts, it’s evident that the groups that are very much affected by the topics in the discussion are children and women. These risk groups rely on the vigilance and willingness to act by the rest of society as protection against abuse. However, all attention should not be shifted to women and children because men are also victims in some cases. There is a possibility of having a society free of domestic assaults only if we all unite and say no to this vice.

References
BIBLIOGRAPHY David Finkelhor, G. H. (1990). Child Abuse & Neglect. ScienceDirect, 19-28.
Jewkes, R., Levin, J., & Penn-Kekana, L. (2002). Risk factors for domestic violence: findings from a South African cross-sectional study. Social science & medicine, 55(9), 1603-1617.
Kaur, R., & Garg, S. (2008). Addressing Domestic Violence Against Women: An Unfinished Agenda. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 33(2), 73-76.
Tracy, N. (2012, July 26). Facts and Statistics on Physical Abuse. Retrieved July 18, 2016, from healthy place: http://www.healthyplace.com/abuse/adult-physical-abuse/facts-and-statistics-on-physical-abuse/