Domestic Violence

What is domestic violence?

It is physical, psychological, sexual or finacial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour. It may include partners, expartners, household members or other relatives
A coomon view is that it is the behaviour of "sick" individuals and it causes more psychological harm than social harm, but this is not entirely true
Domestic violence is far too widespread to be simply the work of a few disturbed individuals. It actual accounts for a 6th of all violent crimes, so it is relatively common, with 2 in 5 women experiencing it once in their lives
It can across all four types of abuse - partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault or stalking
It was found by Mirrlees-Black that most victims are women, 99% of cases on women are committed by men and 1 in 4 of all women have been domestically abused by their partners

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They see the family and marriage as the key institutions in patriarchal society and the main source of women's oppression - men dominate women through domestic violence or the threat of it
Dometic violence is used to preserve men's both in the private sphere of the home and in the society they are based
Due to the police and courts being "men" insitituions, they have a certain reluctance to investigating domestic disputes
Radical feminists struggle to argue why 1 in 7 males are assaulted by females and 1 in 20 repetitively assaulted

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He sees domestic violence mostly stems from the stress on family members caused by social inequality
Inequality means some people have more than others (wealth, housing, oppotunities, etc) meaning people in small houses have higher level of stress increasing the chances of domestic violence
Worries over money, jobs, relationships may spill over into domestic violence as tempers become frayed
Lack of money and time restricts people's social circle and reduces social support for those under stress

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