Domestic Violence (cont.)
What is the history of domestic violence?
Domestic violence or violence that
is expressed using intimate acts is unfortunately as timeless as history. Rape
and other sexual exploitation have been used to demoralize groups of people as
in German concentration camps, on North American-bound slave ships, and in World
War II Japanese brothels filled with "comfort women." Society-sanctioned forms of domestic violence include infibulation (fastening or buckling together, as in binding of feet, or of the female genitalia in an effort to render less able to walk or render unable to have sexual intercourse, respectively) and female genital cutting, also known as female circumcision. Virtually all the world's societies
view or have viewed women as less valuable than men. From "honor" killings of
women for being rape victims or having premarital sex in some countries, to women being omitted from serving on juries in the United States until
1701 and prevented from voting until 1920, the view that women are somehow
second-class citizens encourages mistreatment of women.
What are the effects of domestic abuse?
Domestic abuse has major health and public-health consequences. Between 25%
to 50% of homeless families have lost their homes as a result of intimate
partner abuse. Such victimization is also associated with nearly $6 billion
in health-care costs and lost work productivity per year. Although psychological
abuse can be harder to define than overt physical abuse, it has been found to
cause at least as much damage.
Partner abuse of pregnant women has been associated with preterm deliveries
of low-birth-weight babies. Domestic abuse puts children at
risk for lower intellectual functioning, being victims of child abuse as
children, and of intimate partner violence as adults. They are
also at higher risk of having emotional problems and engaging in drug abuse.
Domestic violence results in homicide as well. Victims who live in a
household where weapons are present and drugs are used have a greater risk of
being killed by their abuser.
Next: What are the causes or risk factors for intimate partner violence? »
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