If you know or suspect a student is in a violent dating relationship:
Our ultimate goal is that all people live free of violence. We are all responsible. And if each of us is willing to learn more about the issue and how to respond individually and collectively, there is hope. A Conceptual Framework for Dealing with Wife-Beating
A woman should not have to earn the right to freedom from assault by being submissive, being a model housekeeper or whatever.
The principle of non-interference in so-called "domestic disputes" leaves a woman unprotected when she experiences violence in her home. Defining wife-beating as a woman's private dilemma leaves her at the mercy of someone who is physically stronger and on whom she is usually financially and emotionally dependent. The community must take the initiative to give her the protection she needs; wife assault must be seen as a public issue not a women's private trouble.
When it's defined as an "argument gotten out of hand," the victim gets blamed for provoking the argument. The offender is tacitly given permission to use violence as a way of winning an argument.
If you view wife assault as one form of violence against women, the protection of the victim is your first focus. "Family violence" leads to a focus on interaction, which leads, in turn, to blaming the victim.
To call wife-beating a sickness implies that a man is not responsible for his behavior, his violence. A woman should not have to accept responsibility for "nursing" a man through this so-called sickness.
A violent husband typically feels he has the right to treat his wife as someone he owns; he feels he is entitled to use physical force to control her. This concept of ownership is re-enforced by the lack of protection given to assaulted women: violent husbands quickly learn they can get away with beating their wives. The way to stop wife assault is to remove the social permission. |
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