Patterns and Statistics of Male Violence

Discuss about the Domestic Violence Against Women In Ethiopia.

Violence is indicative of the using of physical power against a person or against that of a community that often results in injury or that of psychological harm. Drawing on statistics it shows that there is a specific pattern behind the violence caused by both male and female genders and at the same time both the genders are being victimized. Therefore this essay discusses this issue with the help of theories and statistics from past researches. The main purpose of this essay is to highlight the similarities and the dissimilarities between the patterns of male violence against women and male violence against males.

The males within the social structure act as perpetrators of the gruesome crimes and the women are the victims of domestic abuse.

It is seen that, whether it is an act of personal violence against men or violence against females, the role played by males in executing criminal and violent behavior is undeniable. It can be said that males are the chief perpetrators of violent crimes and collected data over the years of 1980 to 2010 rightly exhibits that behind the 90% of the violent acts, men were responsible. Not only that, it is seen that behind more than 78% of the murders, men were responsible under the time frame of 1980 to 2010 (Messner, Greenberg and Peretz 2015). In this context, it is worthwhile to mention that not only females are the victims of the male violence, but males also have been victim of tremendous male violence over the years. The purpose of this essay is thus to highlight the similarities and dissimilarities between the male pattern violence against males and females. Statistics has brought out the fact that almost 13 % of the men are victim pertaining to domestic abuse and 27 % of the women have to face domestic violence since they were 16 years old. It was revealed that the female have twice more chances of experiencing that of male violence from their partners. The 50 % of the Australian female population have to face violence from their partners that has serious repurcussions on their life.

It is seen that male violence against men follows a specific pattern and on the other hand male violence against women follows another set of patterns. The statistics shows that around 13% men have been a victim of domestic abuse whereas approximately 27% women tend to face domestic violence since their age is 16. As stated in past researches, where 4% men have experienced domestic violence in one year, around 8.2% of women experience the same. The best possible method to distinguish between two can be looking into the evidences relevant to this topic of discussion. As stated by Cox (2015), from a personal safety survey, which was conducted in Australia in the year of 2013, it was seen that both women and men are likely to experience violence by a man and men are prone to experience violent behavior from another man in public places.

Male Violence Against Women and Males: Similarities and Differences

In Australia, it is seen that females are almost twice more likely to experience male violence from their partners or ex partners (Pateman 2014). When a woman faces any violent behavior from their partners under domestic environment, it can be said that the experiences are in most of the times serious and that can involve controlling behavior, mental and physical assault. In this regard, it can be said that the act of violence that women face in the hand of male population, can have significant economic and emotional consequences (Breidinget al. 2015). This explains that male violence against women can invoke various challenges that are specific to the dynamic of the gender based issues and the effort to improve the situation should take these disparities into account to be more effective under contemporary situation. The socialist feminism theory argues that there is a sheer interconnection between capitalism and patriarchy. It says that patriarchy is not the sole responsible for women oppression, rather there are societal situations involved in it. Women oppression is as similar as the conventional oppression based on economic status, race or class. Therefore socialist feminists adjoin women liberation with the social struggle dynamics (Breiding 2015)

Figure: rate of violence against males and females

Source: (Breiding 2015)

The Liberal feminism theory argues in this context that women should have fundamental political and legal rights equal to men. The advocators of this theory states that there is a false belief in the society that by nature women are less capable than men physically and intellectually. Therefore as stated by Sedgwick (2015), it is easier for a man to get violent with a woman. As revealed by Cox (2015), the conventional subordination of women is deeply rooted in the legal and customary constraints which leadto sheer blockage of women’s entry in the real world. Hegemonic masculinity recognizes that multiple masculinities differ across that of time, culture along with the individual. It legitimizes the dominant position of men within the social structure and helps in justifying the subordination of women (Budgeon 2014). Therefore this theory voices for having legal rights of women that can prevent them from any such actions.

Figure: survey victims

Source:(Breiding 2015)

Measurements of intimate partner violence (IPV) are immensely dependent on the act of violence which is found significantly in bilateral violence among inmates. In this section of this essay, it is highlighted how men and women within their IPV status can be differentiated in relation to the levels of battering by the scores on the experiences of women with battering scale that brings in gender neutral questions regarding abuse of control and power in a relationship that is inmate (Sedgwick 2015). In a survey, women showed higher level of battering on web regardless of their IPV status. A statistics is present which is very disturbing for female population is that women are 5 times more likely to face violence from their partners than the male population does. Various researches on IPV in women are focused in the victimization of women and those are for valid reasons. In a recent survey, it is seen that 30% of the female population has experienced sorts of sexual, physical and mental IPV in their life time and various subsequent investigations showed that among the 50% of the female population who has experienced IPV are dealing with major after effects of their experiences that has affected their lives enormously (Deeringet al. 2014).

The Impact of Male Violence

The above mentioned statistics suggest that the circumstances, patterns and the dynamics of the occurrence of violence against men and women are specifically different and the aim of the society should be harness the knowledge regarding this specific pattern of the male violence against female and male population. The society nowadays is dealing with a unique challenge and that is, though some of the men population are considerate regarding the male violence against females, but many of them still considers it is a women’s issue and should not be highlighted by a male dominated society. On the other hand, As stated by Sedgwick (2015), it can be said that there is a misconception regarding this issue, as it may look like that some of the male population thinks that male violence against females is a problem of women and they should fight for it and society has nothing to do about it. It can be said that violent is possibly the last refuge of a man to cover incompetency and thus violent actions should not be underestimated (Flood 2015).

When data in the relevant field was gathered from National Survey of families and Households, it was seen that various conflicts are dealt with respect to age and gender. It was shocking when it was revealed that under normal domestic situation if conflicts arise, men are twice likely to have a calm conversation than women and especially women who are elderly (Ellsberg et al. 2015). On the other hand, it was also revealed that men, who are comparatively younger, are seen to have committed acts of violence against female partners at least two times more than what aged male population does. An interesting fact was revealed while conducting that survey and that is injuries done by elderly male under domestic environment are seen under mere 1%. 

Figure: violence against male and female per 1000 population

Source:(Breiding 2015)

It can be said that though women get victimized by the male violence in majority, but the numbers of male who has experienced some sort of male violence cannot be denied. It is seen that sexual violence against males are a much ignored matter which is getting concerning day by day (Alesina, Brioschi and Ferrara 2016). In this regard it can be said that due to having more physical power than women, men can retaliate against any kinds of violent behavior be it sexual or any other violent act and thus, this matter is ignored widely. The lower recognition of the abuses that the males have to undergo is becoming concerning as it is seen that majority of the male victims of male violence do not get justice and the impact of such violence can deeply harm the regular lifestyle of those individuals (García-Moreno et al. 2015). Various studies regarding this issue proved that the social attitude towards violence against men is significantly dependent on the gender of the victim and the perpetrator. It can be said that sexual violence against men is ignored in all the major stages of the society and that is not something desired in a civil world. Richard Felson challenged the assumption that violence against men is different from violence against women as the motives behind the act of violence is in most of the cases somewhat same and the impact on the victim of that mail violence are also same in many ways (Berhane 2017). As stated by Sedgwick (2015), when a woman becomes victimized in the hands of male violence it deeply effects the latter stages of her life and same goes with men also and if the male victims of nail violence are ignored that can deeply effect that person’s mind and can potentially give birth to a Criminal Mind. In this context it can be said that a man who had been victimized of male violence and get ignored by the society can experience various repercussions in his mind and that can lead to committing act of violence and it can be said that that reluctant attitude of society can become a contributing factor to give birth to a Criminal Mind. This is where the advocates of Radical feminism theory argue that male supremacy needs to be eliminated within all the economic and social contexts. They also state that abolishing the patriarchal system will help liberating everyone from the unfair social system and it will challenge the social institutions and norms. Even if this theory contradicts with Socialist feminism which views the root of women oppression in class conflicts and Liberal feminism which views the root in contemporary legal system, this theory evokes creating a fair society with no injustice (Jewkes, Flood and Lang 2015).In a journal Partner Abuse the author John Hamel set up a domestic violence research group in order to create Partner abuse state of knowledge project (PASK) and this project found oddity in the rates of victimization for men and women and perpetration for men and women (Ellsberg et al, 2015). Even in today’s world, for each three partner abuse victims, one is male whereas two are female. However the male population who got victimized by domestic violence is seen to be reluctant to seek help or to report about the situation. According to the statement provided by Breiding et al. (2015), it can be said that when the society considers that males perpetrate domestic violence and they never are the victims of it this notion should be discarded with highest priority. On the other hand, as stated by Cox (2015), it is a matter of fact that unwanted male circumcision can be considered as a form of violence against young boys and the international Criminal Court gave a verdict that post circumcision is an in human act. Any sort of cutting of female genitals which is known as female genital mutilation are also banned in most of the Western Nations and are considered as inhuman practice which is quite common in some of the Middle East countries and in Egypt (Cox 2015). The crime statistics of United States from the year of 1976 and onwards exhibits that in majority cases the homicide perpetrators are men and in most cases the victims are male and in some of the cases there are female victims. Past researches also exhibit that amongst the separated couples; approximately 16.8% women had suffered domestic abuse from their partners, whereas 8.7% men have confessed that they have faced partner abuse as well.  It can be said that in public places male are more likely to get exposed in front of violence then the women.

Theories and Call for Action

To explore the causes behind the violent behavior among the male population, it can be said that it would be vital to realize one thing and that is; violence should not be explained in terms of a lone cause, as there might be numbers of factors behind a violent behavior which significantly contribute to a behavior that is violent (Sumner et al. 2015). In this regard, it can be said that incessant violent offending might be correlated with psychological abnormalities or psychopathic behavior and can be a result of minor brain damage. Childhood trauma can be another possible factor behind violent behavior among men. When a person goes through a troubled childhood, it can be possible due to immense neglect and violent abuse that he experienced can become contributing factor behind any kind of violent behavior exhibited by that man. In this context, it is worthwhile to mention that according to Ellsberg (2015), bad parenting can be a serious problem in the developmental phase of a child, which can potentially expose a child to various violent behaviors. It can be said that these types of experiences in childhood can result in delinquent behavior among men which includes violence too.

It is a matter of fact that there is no accurate evidence that violence committed by men against males and females are different in nature or has different patterns and it is seen that majority of the violent acts committed by men against females or males might be understood as emerging from environment of the society (Breidinget al. 2015). The explanations behind the violent behavior of male population can vary from childhood trauma, psychological abnormalities, peer pressure and adverse environment of the society.

It is seen that in today’s world, male violence is definitely the worst issue as it is not discussable and catastrophic. There are various theories that trace back to the religion of the responsible person behind a violent behavior but that is somewhat irrational. It is a matter of fact that race and religion of the individual who exhibits violent behavior is irrelevant and that cannot define or explain the reason behind the act (Jewkes, Flood and Lang 2015).

Conclusion

Thus to conclude, it can be said that there are various similarities in the male violence towards female and male population, though the situations and contexts may be different. The victimization of male violence causes the females to go through pain and agony, males also undergo the same pain and agony; and if the society shows any sort of reluctance to their situation that would be inhumane. The male population who suffers on account of domestic violence want to hide about the particular situation. This is owing to the fact that the men are thought of to be the perpetrators and not the victim. A large percentage of women are victims of domestic abuse which occurs on account of the inferior position that has been relegated to them by the society. Thus, to be precise, it can be said that there are no drastic difference between male violence against men and women in today’s world.

References

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