Family and Domestic Abuse and Violence
Domestic violence and abuse in the United States is taking place every moment of every day in some form by a spouse, a parent or even a sibling and it is forever increasing, in the United States alone.
The ideal family is a source of pleasure and support. However, the disturbing reality of many homes is family violence, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse of one family member by another. But, according to sociologist Richard J. Gelles, the exception to this rule is the police and the military, noting that the family is the most violent group in society. (Roesch, 1984:475)
According to the National Coalition against Domestic Violence, every year there are an estimated 1.3 million domestic violence assaults against women is by their intimate partner (Center for Disease and Control, 2003). Domestic abuse is the foremost cause of the injuries caused to women in the United States. Society is affected by domestic violence just as much as it affects the victim themselves. Domestic violence and abuse is defined as behavior that a person in a relationship uses to gain and maintain complete control, or dominance of another person. “Women are more likely to be domestically abused or killed by a family member than a woman being mugged or raped by a stranger or hurt in an automobile accident” (Shupe, Stacey, & Hazlewood, 1987).
That person’s partner may or may not be married, a hetero-sexual, gay, lesbian, dating, separated and live-in-companions. Families are very important social institution in all societies; it guides both the young and old, also it plays an important role in continuing social inequalities. Domestic violence will never be different or categorized among the ages, ethnic backgrounds, black/white or any race, religion and yes even the economic class or levels. Statistics, however, show that the majority of abuse is most commonly of the female gender, but the male genders as well are assaulted both...