The concept of domestic violence: causes, forms, effects

What is domestic violence?

  • very interdisciplinar

    • medicine

    • criminology

    • psychology

    • sociology

    • every science has its own definition

      • depends on who tries to definie domestic violence

Domestic violence is compared to the experience of being kidnapped

Evolution of the concept

  • woman battering (hitting)

  • wife battering (hitting)

    • because wives usually reported DV

    • faced critic, cause men can also be victims

  • spous/al abuse

    • was critisised, cause not only spouses experience DV

    • it can also be parents, siblings, etc.

  • family violence

    • broader term

  • domestic violence

    • cause violence usually happens at home

    • but the research showed that usually intimate partners became victims

    • most popular

  • intimate partner violence

    • introduced to focus on the main characteristics of domestic violence

    • most popular in literature

    • was critisised cause it doesnā€™t cover all potential victims

  • violence in close relationship

    • very broad

    • incorporates all potential relationships among people

    • not specific

  • gender based violence

    • new term

    • still very broad

    • it covers other types of violence, so itā€™s too broad

In Lituania: protection against violence in close environment

Definitions

  • family conflict theory

    • intimate partner violence

    • family violence

    • every incident is a family conflict

    • itā€™s just a conflict

    • donā€™t want to admit the gender differences

  • femimist research

    • domestic violence

    • violence against women (VAW)

    • menā€™s violence against women

    • gender based violence

    • emphasis on gender

    • itā€™s menā€™s violence against women

Legal definitions

Violence - intentional physical, mental, sexual, economic, or other effects on a person by action or inaction, that cause the person to suffer physical, material harm, or non-pecuniary damage

Close environment - an environment that consists of people who are related or were previously related by marriage, partnership, brother/sister-in-law or other close relation, as well as people who live together and has a common household

International legal definition

Instanbul Convention

  • the only act that has a specific definition of DV

Domestic violence - all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim

Cycle of violence by Lenore Walker

Violence - intentional physical, mental, sexual, economic, or other effects on a person by action or inaction, that cause the person to suffer physical, material harm, or non-pecuniary damage

Close environment - an environment that consists of people who are related or were previously related by marriage, partnership, brother/sister-in-law or other close relation, as well as people who live together and has a common household

International legal definition

Instanbul Convention

  • the only act that has a specific definition of DV

Domestic violence - all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim

Components of definition

  • context of violence

    • victim

    • abuser

    • environment

    • motivation

  • nature of violence

    • in/action

    • form of abuse

    • nature of harm

Prevalence (Fundamental Rights Agency, 2014)

  • every 3rd woman has experienced some sort of violence

  • Domestic violence is the most prevalent form of violence against women

  • Domestic violence is the most prelavent form of discrimination against women

Theories of motivation of domestic violence

  • personal pathologies and deviations

    • brains and personality pathology

    • psychosexual development disorders

    • dysfunctional family

    • social deviations

  • systemic/structural grounds

    • structural gender inequality

    • patriarchal system

    • power disbalance

      • men have power, so they try to keep it

  • ecological integration model

    • both personal and societial factors, combination of levels

      • endrogenous level

        • personality

      • microsystem

        • household

      • ecosystem

        • neighbourhood

      • macrosystem

        • the society

  • intersectional theory

    • denies universal experience and motivation

    • the risk of violence is not universal

    • the highest level is at the sections of sections

    • a single mom, black, unemployed, uneducated has bigger risk to experience domestic violence

Effects of domestic violence

  • femicide

    • a murder of a woman

    • was introduced to make the term gender-specific

    • most of the women are killed by intimate partners in their homes

  • injuries and medical health disorders

    • risk of non-infectious, chronic diseases, sexual and reproduction problems

  • psychological disorders

    • sleeping disorders

    • eating disorders

    • anxiety

    • depressions

    • PSD

    • chronical pain

    • lack of attention

    • hyperactivity

    • decreased self-esteem

  • social effect

    • poverty

    • homelessness

    • lower level of welfare

    • social isolation

    • lifestyle

    • relationship with other people

    • lower access to education

    • stereotypical approach by society

    • victim blaming

      • what have you done to make you hit him?

  • economic effect

    • for victims

      • financial dependency

      • lack of resources

    • for stateā€™s economy

      • resources to react to violence

      • loss of income

  • effects on children

    • in/direct victims

    • transgenerational transmission

    • negative effect on emotional, social, cognitive, and behaviour development, relationship with parents (bad adaptation, posttraumatic symptoms)

  • impact on law enforcement officers

    • high risks of being injured, killed

      • FBI: same category as bar fights, gang confrontations, armed conflicts)

    • secondary or indirect trauma

      • hypervigilance

      • intrusive thoughts

Forms of violence

  • economic

    • the hardest to detect

  • physical

  • sexual

  • psychological/emotional

Movie

  • the story about his mother ā†’ trying to manipulate her into staying with him

  • isolating her from her friends and family

  • emotional manipulation

    • manipulating her into thinking she doesnā€™t trust him

Cycle of violence

  • tension building

    • forcing her to go with him

    • checking her phone

    • constant messages and phone calls

  • violence

    • ā€œthe car accidentā€

  • honeymoon

    • saying sorry

    • him promising heā€™ll control his daddy issues

    • him kissing the place where he hit her

    • him sneaking into her room after she was grounded

  • tension building

    • him being agressive after seeing her classmate

    • him running away after the classmate was helping her with papers she dropped

  • violence

    • he hit her in the car after seeing her with the classmate

  • honeymoon

    • them going to the beach and continuing with the romantic bullshit

  • tension building

    • she didnā€™t answer when he texted her during the class

    • she didnā€™t answer right away when he called while she was doing homework