Gender Bias and Domestic Violence

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Women have always taken a back seat to men in American society. There has always seemed to be one set of standards that apply to men, and another set of standards that apply to women. This is evident in the home, workplace, and all throughout society.

I would like to briefly discuss some of the differences that we learn about our gender, which will enable us to better understand men, women, and domestic violence in society today. Once we understand causation, we can then begin to understand effects and prevention.

Our roles as men and women start at the hospital when we are born. Boys get blue blankets while girls get pink blankets. The toys we play with growing up are targeted at either males or females. Toys that are made for little boys include trucks, blocks, guns, soldiers, and action figures. While toys made for little girls include dolls, kitchen utensils, dress-up, and doll houses. Boys are raised to be aggressive, tough, dominant, and daring, while girls are raised to be passive, emotional, sweet, and subordinate. These patterns and thought processes continue on into our adulthood and begin to play out in our relationships with others, which include dating and marriage.

With these gender biases and stereotypes in mind, it is easy to see how domestic violence can exist in today's society. More importantly, we begin to understand how these negative messages can effect us personally. Although domestic violence includes sibling abuse, elder abuse, and child abuse, the focus of my essay will be on spousal abuse. Domestic violence has many names such as family violence, battering, wife beating, and domestic abuse. However, as discussed in class, domestic violence is not limited to physical beatings alone. D...

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...that society will not tolerate. In my opinion, it is not only the individual abusers, rather, society as a whole which needs great help. Domestic violence is still extensive and this needs to end. Our media and entertainment industries still glamorize and demean the seriousness of domestic violence, and they greatly influence our behavior by showing false examples of how we should act and react to one another.

In closing, I do believe that we are on the right track to ending domestic violence but our effort is just not strong enough because our message that domestic violence is a crime is not strong enough. This class has opened my eyes and made me aware of what is going on and what needs to be done. In the future, I will do what is needed to stop this violence around me, and I will accomplish this by simply using my voice and speaking out about what is wrong.

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