Domestic Violence And Its Effects On Society - 1649 Words

In America most cases of Domestic Violence are never actually reported, many times these cases go unheard and the victims suffer in silence. The worn out cries of a battered woman as she lays on the ground clutching herself and begging her significant other to just stop. The bruises and cuts that remain unreported due to the victim claiming they accidentally fell yet again. The abusers tend to make the victim almost entirely dependable on them. An abuser will do this to gain control and to create a weaker victim, â€Å"behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other† (Par. 1, Definition). Control. The abuser seeks control over their victims. When their control is threatened they act out in ways harmful to others. Domestic†¦show more content†¦In this quote it gives a perfect example of a woman being treated as an object, â€Å"In 1800 BC, the Code of Hammurabi decreed that a wife was subservient to her husband and that he could inflict punishment on any member of his household for any transgression† (par. 2, Overview). Women were not considered people, they were basically owned by their husband. It was as if they were livestock. Going back through history a man ‘punishing’ his wife was not uncommon. â€Å"Medieval Canon law encouraged that wifely disobedience be punished publicly, using devices like iron muzzles with spikes which depressed the tongue† (par. 4, Overview). The abuse of a man’s wife was allowed not only privately, but publicly. Not only was this public abuse, it was public torturing. Too many deaths due to the abuse caused economic problems, â€Å"In Renaissance France when it became clear that too many women and children were being beaten to death and their economic contributions lost, lawmakers acted to moderate the effects of domestic chastisement. One statute, considered in its time to be progressive, restricted the chastisement of wives and children to ‘blows, thump s, kicks or punches on the back...which did not leave any marks,’ but added, ‘the man who is not master of his wife is not worthy of being a man.’†(par. 5, Overview) The considered someone to be a man only if they were masters of their wives. If they weren’t they were