Society’s perception on domestic violence can be traced back to the activists such as Ellen Pence, the author of a domestic violence-related book titled Duluth Model. The work engages readers with questions about domestic violence which would later culminate as the Duluth Model Theory. Some questions asked by those at the initial gathering on the topic were: “Why is she the target of his violence? ” “Why does he think he is entitled to have power? ” “How does the community support his violence? (Ellen Pence; Michael Paymar 1993)
These questions ere never intended to address the possibility of men being the victims of domestic violence; They only assumed the victims of domestic violence to be women. The Duluth Model became very influential and holds great value in the theoretical practices of domestic violence agencies. The stigma of domestic violence focusing primarily on men beating women increased in discussion. The theory of the industry only focused on the stereotype that domestic violence is a masculine trait and men only commit these acts of intimate partner violence.
It lacks the rebuttal that men can be recipients of violence. It is not only activists who focus on domestic violence as an act against women and ignored men as possible domestic violence victims. Our culture has had an influence on individuals’ awareness and reactions, or lacking thereof, to incidents of domestic violence. The average individual has a conditioned brain to not associate normal feelings surrounding violence and harassment when a woman commits domestic violence against a man.
One may actually find the situation comical at times. In relation to media, there is a low frequency of women hitting men or being the ggressor on television shows or movies. Based on the perception of domestic violence and the actual statistics of it, this culture is creating an environment with a major double- standard. Society is highly aware of violence from men towards other men yet when seeing violence from men towards women it is regarded as a serious matter, never comical or innocuous; it is seen as deadly.
Therefore, the effect of this double-standard likely increases the chances for women to be violent in relationships while it is overlooked by the media, the general public and by activist who study the matter of domestic iolence. In accepting statistics, citizens would ask what is the source of the data used to report these findings of domestic violence come from places such as police reports which compile their finding into crime victimization studies. Through research it is found that family conflict studies tend to show higher rates of domestic violence compared to crime victimization studies (Straus, 1990).
This high level of violence is surprising in revealing gender symmetry to resolve family conflicts. Fiebert (p. 273, 1997) wrote, “Women are as physically aggressive, or more ggressive, than men in their relationships. ” might ask, how does one compare and contrast these two different kind of studies? The first step necessary in comparing these two studies is to make the sources of data similar and ensure they are asking similar questions and comparing the same types of events.
Crime victimization studies rely on two types of data: surveys of national probability samples that are representative of the population at large, and “clinical” samples, as well as calls to police and shelters and visits to emergency rooms. Family onflict studies are based on three sources of data: nationally representative probability samples, clinical samples, and convenience samples based on responses to advertisements. The Center Of Diseases Control and Prevention published a survey in 2014, which shows the percentage of male who experienced severe physical violence rose slightly since the last survey in 2011.
Reports are also showing a decline of the number of women and an increase in the number of men reporting abuse,” says counselor and psychologist Karla Ivankovich. Intimate partner violence (IPV), includes physical, exual, and psychological maltreatment of one partner against another. Most nations pay considerably more attention to, and provide services for, male-to-female IPV reported by the World Health Organization (2005). However, men do not reach out into the communities to solve problems, often trying to solve or control it themselves (Addis & Mahalik, 2003).
Men are less likely than women to seek help because there are internal and external stigma they must qualitative research done by (Cook 2009 Hines et al. 2007) showed that the service system for domestic violence does not lways assist men who are seeking help from domestic violence. The National Intimate Partner And Sexual Violence Survey (2010) reported that more than 1 in 4 men in the United States (28. 5%) has experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime.
Approximately 1 in 4 men in the United States (25. % or about 29 million) has been slapped, pushed or shoved by an intimate partner in his lifetime, and 4. 5% or approximately 5 million men, reported experiencing these behaviors in the 12 months prior to taking the survey. Nearly 1 in 7 men in the United States (13. 8% or approximately 15. 6 million) has experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner in his lifetime. About 9. 4% of men have been hit with a fist or something hard by an intimate partner, 4. 3% reported being kicked, and less than 3% reported each of the other forms of severe violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
Two percent of men (approximately 2. 3 million men) reported experiencing severe physical violence by an intimate partner in the 12 months prior to taking the survey. Nearly half of men in the United States (48. % or approximately 55. 2 million) have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner during their lifetime (Table 4. 10). The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (2015) reported that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical vercome (Galdas et al. 2005). The violence by an intimate partner. Intimate partner violence accounts for 15% of all violent crime in the state of maryland.
In 2014, 27,242 Marylanders were victims of domestic violence related crimes; of these, 19,535 were intimate partners: 69% were women 31% were men. The annual crime report done by Uniform Crime Report in 2013 states that their was a total of 426 accounts of domestic violence in Calvert County. The lack of information is due to the lack of funding. Maryland has passed important bill for domestic violence such as bill HB1146/SB647 in 2012, “Domestically Related Crimes” was signed into law to help improve the recording and tracking of domestic violence crimes.
Maryland does not have a distinct crime of domestic violence, therefore, the new law helps law enforcement, advocates, prosecutors and judges better protect domestic iolence victims and set more appropriate conditions for abusers. As of 2015 Maryland has passed the following bills: Priority Bill: HB 225/SB 269 • Domestic Violence – Additional Relief expands the relief available in a final protective order to include “any other relief that a judge determines is necessary to protect a person eligible for relief from abuse” (Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence)2016.
Priority Bill: HB 224/ SB 315 • Domestic Violence – 2-Year Protective Order clarifies that extensions of protective orders apply to consent orders Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence)2016. Priority Bill: HB 606/SB 477 • Domestic Violence – Persons Eligible for Relief expands the persons eligible for relief in the protective order statute to include “an individual who has had a sexual relationship with the respondent within one year before the filing of the petition”(Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence)2016.
Priority Bill HB 263 • Domestic Violence – Permanent Protective Orders – Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder – expands the circumstances under which a court is required to ssue a permanent final protective order to include the conviction of an individual for conspiracy or solicitation to commit murder(Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence)2016.
Priority Bill SB 270/HB 390 • Protective Order and Peace Order Petitions – Maryland Residents authorizes the filing of a protective or peace order petition if the abuse is alleged to have occurred in the state or if the person eligible for relief is a resident of the state, regardless of whether the alleged abuse occurred in the state(Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence)2016.
