Intimate partner violence is a macro level problem that affects people all over the world. The term intimate partner violence consists of five methods, physical, sexual, stalking, psychological and economic abuse among former, current couples and individuals that are often close to each other. When people talk about intimate partner violence, the first thing that the general populations visualize is women getting abused by their male partners. However, intimate partner violence does not discriminate social structures, gender, age or economic status.
Both poor and rich males and females of all ages can be victims of intimate partner violence, yet society views intimate partner violence as something that affects only women. Intimate partner violence is something that, to this day, continues to grow and harm many individuals. We, as a community, should bring more awareness to this matter and finally put a stop to it, but in order to do that we must view this problem with a micro level perspective. All forms of intimate partner violence equally damage the victim, but the one that people can distinguish the most is physical abuse.
Physical abuse is the intentional aggression use of physical force to harm, injure, intimidate, restrain or even cause death to an individual. Physical abuse includes choking; hitting; kicking; punching; stabbing and many other different severe styles. Often victims of this abuse are left with bruises or serious injuries that indicate they had been harm. According to the national statistics of the NCADV, (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence), on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States (NCADV 2015).
That’s 1,200 individuals in one hour alone, and more than 10 million victims, women, and men, in one year. These individuals often are too terrified to seek help, let alone report their tormentor to the cops. Physical abuse has been proceeding as something that can only happen to women while men are overlooked victims of physical violence. This can be because men are looked upon society as being the dominant ones in a relationship. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Crime Data Brief, men make up 15% of the victims that report intimate partner violence (February 2003).
Women can use weapons to hurt their partners while their male parents might have the greater strength, they often don’t use it while being abused. Another harmful form of violence against individuals is sexual abuse. According to the statistician at U. S. Department of Justice, Lynn Langton, Ph. D. , in cases of sexual assaults, about 80% of the time the offender and the victim knew each other intimately. This form of abuse goes hand to hand with other abusive methods, for sexual abuse can harm individuals physically and mentally.
When individuals talk about this type of abuse, they often think it can only happen to women, but the truth is men are also sexually abused by their partners. It is stated on the NCADV statistics that almost half of female (46. 7%) and male (44. 9%) victims of rape in the United States had been raped by an acquaintance. Of that percentage, 45. 4% of female victims and 29% of male victims were raped by an intimate partner. Females don’t always come forward to the cops about being sexually abused by their partner because often their partners dominate and influence the way they think.
The abuser might confuse the victim, and lead them to believe that sex is part of the relationship. For example, in a marriage the husband might demand sexual affection simply because they are married or vice versa. However, demanding and forcing a person to perform sexual activities without them wanting it is considered sexual abuse. Like female victims, men victims are also compelled to perform sexual activities without their consent. According to Rainn (2006), males are estimated to make up 10% of rape victims, yet they are less likely to report sexual assault.
If females often don’t come forward to the cops about what it’s happening to them, men are less likely to do so. This is due to the preconceptions in society about men. Females often appear to be the victims while the men often seem to be the ones that commit the sexual crime. This leads males to continue their silence in distress. As senseless as it sounds, stalking an individual is another form of intimate partner violence. Stalking is constantly getting unwanted attention from an individual that causes fear and might cause concern for their safety.
Stalking can vary from unwanted phone calls; texts; emails; visits; following the victim; arriving at places where they know the victim will show up and constantly having something to do with the victim. Stalking is often seen more when couples break up. As stated by the NCADV, “19. 3 million women and 5. 1 million men in the United States have been stalked in their lifetime. 60. 8% of female stalking victims and 43. 5% men reported being stalked by a current or former intimate partner. ”
An example of this can be when person A breaks up with erson B, and person B still holds strong feelings for person A that they might not want to let go. Therefore, person B might start calling person A, leaving them hundreds of unwanted phone calls and text messages. If person A believes there is a threat and fear for their safety, most likely they are being stalked. The form of abuse that people neglect to see is psychological. People neglect to see psychological abuse not because they want to see other people suffering, but because they can’t properly distinguish who might be in an abuse relationship.
Psychological abuse is when someone gains control over another person by harming them mentally and emotionally. Ways of harming someone psychologically can vary from name-calling, humiliating, putting down, limiting access to family and friends, making the victim feel vulnerable and many more. Psychological abuse can really mess with an individual’s mind, and at times it has caused more deaths than physical abuse. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there have been 18 states that have reported 573 intimate partner homicides, yet there have been 44 states that reported 2,909 “intimate partner problem” suicides.
This means that there were five times as many people who died of intimate partner problem suicide than intimate partner homicides. Economic abuse is a different type of abuse that uses financial as a tool to dominate and control an individual. Economic abuse in relationships can vary from preventing an individual from working, obtaining their own money, opening bank accounts and credit cards and simply isolating victims with the means making them need the abuser.
This type of abuse reassures the abuser that the victim will continue to stay by their side due to the lack of means of support. Both female and males can be the victim or abuser in this type of abuse. People usually fail to place economic and abuse side by side it is something that is hard to detect. Often people can’t tell the difference from a stay home mom or dad to someone being economically abused. There are many factors that play a role in why a victim stays quiet when they are being abused.
