Culture Comparison

Culture Comparison
Domestic violence (DV) is a strain of abusive behavior that a sexually intimate partner employs in controlling the other partner. Contemporary understanding holds domestic violence as a factor of patriarchy although there are multiple factors that influence it. Domestic violence occurs in various forms, and they include sexual, economical, emotional, physical, or psychological actions. All these actions can influence another person’s behavior. Any behavior that humiliates, coerce, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, injure, frighten, threaten, or hurt someone qualifies as domestic violence. Domestic violence is a reality in our society, and it has no limit.
Sexual abuse as a form of DV is an attempt by someone to coerce another party into sexual behavior without their consent. In most cases, women are victims of circumstance. Sexual abuse includes forced sex, marital rape, or attacks on sexual parts of the body. Physical abuse, on the other hand, includes slapping, grabbing, hitting, biting, and related forms (Garcia, et al. 2006). Emotional abuse is a situation where one’s ability is undermined either through withdrawing their efforts towards a particular task, verbal abuse, social isolation, and threats. Economic abuse, on the other hand, involves discriminating people with low annual income and isolating them and abusing them in relation their little finances. Finally, psychological abuse, as a strain of intimate violence, is caused by fear instilled by intimidation and threats of physical harm to family or friends of the partner.

Domestic violence may occur in any type of relationship and between all sorts of people. Domestic violence’s occurrence is not discriminatory against cultures, ethnic groups, and even in social classes. It happens to the married or between those who are dating and not living together (Garcia, et al. 2006). The abuse can either be done by a man to woman or a woman to a man. In typical situations, and in most countries, domestic violence is abuse by a man to a woman. Women tend to be vulnerable and, therefore, they become the victim of circumstance. Most of the victims of this abuse often keep quiet and, therefore, it makes most people not to realize how common the abuse is. The research indicates that about 60% of women in the USA are physically assaulted by their spouses in their lifetime. This usually results in oppression in a relationship.
The report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the United States in 1995 indicated that the rate of intimate violence in women was six times greater than men (Kitzmann, 2003). However, it has been noted that, in situations where men have been victimized, they rarely give a report because of the urge to maintain their status quo. The report shows annually, three to four million women are battered up by their male lovers, who may also be their husbands. The victims of the circumstance in the US are usually children. Children who are mostly affected are those who have been brought up in societies that culturally accept domestic violence. It is very dangerous to expose children to frequent violence, as they would learn that violence is normal in the society (Kitzmann, 2003).
Furthermore, in the United States, people with the lowest annual income are also vulnerable to domestic violence as they risk intimate partner violence as oppose to those with higher annual income. People with lower annual income are exposed to worse intimate violence than the other group of high annual income (Kitzmann, 2003).
Domestic violence is not only found in the US, but it occurs in various cultures across the world, this affects various people across the borders. Several countries have been statistically analyzed to compare the rate of domestic violence occurrence in such countries. In this case, we are narrowing our discussions to countries four countries which are Iraq, Russia, Somalia, and India.
Domestic violence in Russia
Russia is among countries, which experience this vice of domestic violence. Research done by the Journal of family violence in 1997 exposed that most victims of domestic violence were women (Johnson & Ferraro, 2000). It was found that most of the men who were perpetrators had been drinking alcohol before the incident. Despite all the social injustices that the offenders pose on the victims, the Russian government has not considered domestic violence as a crime. In that case, none or very little action has been taken towards the perpetrators if such an incident is reported. Women are also beaten up and raped by their husbands and in most cases when the victims of such abuse do not report to the authority because they fear further involvement (Johnson & Ferraro, 2000). There were also cases of verbal abuse towards women by their husbands or lovers.
In summary, the nature of domestic violence in Russia shares a huge similarity with those in other countries. Most of the victims here are women, and they undergo various challenges including being beaten up, raped, slapped, and verbally abused. Some of the injuries sustained during domestic violence are severe and can lead to death.
Domestic Violence in Pakistan
The research carried out by Human Rights Watch in 2009 has indicated that most of the domestic violence in Pakistan women has suffered most. The abuses that women had been a victim of include beating, verbal abuse, and non-consensual sex. Some cases of deaths were also realized as a result of severe beatings. In Pakistan, some of the reasons for domestic violence include illiteracy, social taboos, and poverty. Despite all these abuses, the legal authority in this country does not view domestic violence as a crime.
In summary, mostly women are the victim of circumstance as they go through beating, verbal abuse, and non-consensual sex by their husbands. However, no legal action is taken against the perpetrators.
Domestic Violence in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, domestic violence is accepted, and no violence against women has been reported. Unfortunately, the survey carried out by UNICEF to examine the feeling of the Afghanistan women towards the domestic violence indicates that women believe that husband cannot beat or hit his wife without reason (Garcia et al., 2006). The acceptance of wife beating is much higher in Afghanistan than in other countries. The level of education of women here also affects their attitude towards domestic violence. Most of those who have attained high education view domestic violence as a crime, unlike the less educated ones. The majority of women who experience domestic violence in Afghanistan find it difficult to seek any legal divorce because of the cultural pressure to keep their families united.
In summary, the majority of women in Afghanistan seem to hold domestic violence as an acceptable practice, as they claim that no man can beat up his wife without reason.
Domestic violence in Somalia
In Somalia, domestic violence has been an accepted cultural practice. The Somalia women believe that beating a woman by a husband is a sign of love. Furthermore, many women in this country are experiencing abuse in the form of sexual assault, submissive behavior, and marital rape. The victims of this abuse did not take any legal action as the act was accepted (Shipway, 2004).
In summary, DV in Somalia is accepted by their women as a show of love from their husbands.
In essence, domestic violence reveals itself as a strain of abusive behavior that is common in many countries in the entire world. The abuse comes in various forms including sexual, emotional, economical, psychological, and physically. Domestic violence is a reality in our society and it has no limit. It can affect either male or female. In the US, the targets of domestic violence are mostly women, and this is witnessed in other four countries, which are Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Somalia. In all these countries, the victims do not report the incident because no legal action is taken against the perpetrators, as the most government does not view domestic violence as a crime. However, in Somalia, women have embraced beating as a show of love by their husbands
References
Garcia-Moreno, C., Jansen, H. A., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L., & Watts, C. H. (2006). Prevalence of intimate partner violence: findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. The Lancet, 368(9543), 1260-1269.
Johnson, M. P., & Ferraro, K. J. (2000). Research on domestic violence in the 1990s: Making distinctions. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 948-963.
Kitzmann, K. M., Gaylord, N. K., Holt, A. R., & Kenny, E. D. (2003). Child witnesses to domestic violence: a meta-analytic review. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 71(2), 339.
Shipway, L. (2004). Domestic violence: A handbook for health professionals. New York, NY: Psychology Press.