Dating Violence

Essay by fentonpondUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, May 2004

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As we moved into the new Millennium, Domestic Violence has not become what our society thought it would. In fact, the mere mention of it today as an ongoing crisis should really make our society embarrassed. It has only been in the past decade that our society has begun to realize that we are overlooking the severity of domestic violence. We have viewed domestic violence as merely a moral and ethical dilemma, not an obligation. We've convinced ourselves that it was a "private family matter" and not a criminal act. We told ourselves that some women deserve it, or that they provoked it to happen. We have excused ourselves from the problem, into an uncomfortable but yet acceptable, part of our culture and convinced ourselves it was acceptable to look the other way. Therefore, while we were looking the other way, this is what developed; battering became the single major cause of injury to women...more

than injuries caused by muggings, rape, and car accidents combined. Domestic Violence is the second leading cause of death to women age twenty to forty-five (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence).

Research shows that 36 to 50 percent of American women will be abused in their lifetime. Abuse can be considered any attempt to control, manipulate, or demean another individual using physical, emotional, or sexual tactics. The terms abuse, battering, and domestic violence will be used interchangeably in this paper. Women and girls sometimes abuse men and boys, but nine out of ten victims of abuse are female (Commonwealth Fund). Domestic Violence is not limited to adult women, it has been leaking into middle schools, high schools, and college relationships. "It is now estimated that at least one out of three high school and college-aged youth experience abuse at some points in their relationships.