Battered Women Syndrome, Essay Example

Introduction

Battered Women are classified as those women who experience post-traumatic stress disorder through repeated cases of domestic violence. The abuse is normally systematic and episodic and may be both verbal and physical abuse.  The male assailant in this case is often a bully and is seeking to gain male dominance and control over his wife.  This is designed to both humiliate and create fear in the woman.  In many cases women initially tolerate this because they are trying to make a marriage work and by nature are peacemakers. (heart-2-heart)

Records of domestic violence are most common amongst the poorer working classes and the men are prone to both alcohol and substance abuse.  Unemployment is often another contributory factor to why men behave and act in this way.  The situation is made worse when there are children involved and this increases the fear factor in terms of the mother being the protector of the children. The fear being that the assailant will turn the domestic violence towards the children.

There are 4 stages that have been identified in battered women syndrome:

Stage 1  Denial –  Here the battered woman is in denial that this is happening and refuses to confide or talk about the problem to others.  Women make excuses for their husbands in the hope that it is a one off situation and it will never happen again

Stage 2 – Guilt –  This is where the women acknowledges and realises that there is a serious problem in the marital relationship.  She realises that she is being abused and that she may become a victim again. In the first instance there is a sense of guilt about their own expectations and the woman will try to repair the damage to the relationship

Stage 3 – Enlightenment – The woman comes to terms with her predicament and realises that she does not deserve to be treated in this manner. She now recognizes that the serious problem is with the partner. She still stays with the abuser in the vain hope that the situation will somehow change and be resolved

Stage 4 – Responsibility – This is where the woman’s syndrome manifests itself and she realises that the problem of the partner is a problem only he can fix. This is where the woman finally takes steps to leave the tyrant and find steps to begin a new life.

The Strain of Modern Marriages

The first part of Ronald Levant’s book, “A new psychology of men”, focuses upon gender roles strains.  In the modern marriages we are seeing a lot of role reversal taking place.  The wife is going out to work and having a career, essentially the money earner, whilst the husband is staying at home looking after the kids and dealing with domestic chores.  Unless there is good synergy, communication and understanding in the marriage.  This can lead to a significant strain.  This is compounded with the role reversal occurred because the male partner lost his job.  The loss of the masculine role and feeling of shame often leads to extramarital relationships.  In the new relationship, the mail seeks to reinsert his masculinity and reclaim the position he believed lost in his marriage.  All too often in these situations.  It is the children that suffer creating divided loyalties, confusion, and ultimately alienation. In order to overcome these issues the man has to dig deep within his own psyche and revisit those struggles and traumatic experiences that reside at the very core of his crisis of self-formation and loss of masculine identity.  This cannot be achieved by recourse to primitive cave man like behavior patterns.

The dark side of masculinity is that where loss of self-esteem leads to an uncontrolled bout of depression and untreated potentially suicide. Illustrated by situations where men feel frustrated and these are consolidated into acts of serious depression until ultimately this erupts and hegemonic masculinity has resulted in the eighth leading reason for suicide in men. (Panginda)

There is no doubt that many young couples starting out on married life.  Need some degree of help in facing the challenges that lie ahead.  There is a bridge that needs to be built with recognition for the equality of women and the right to have a career, whilst being empathetic men in understanding their changing role.  Men need to find a greater balance in their life whilst communicating and supporting the wife; who after all is looking after the safety and interests of the family.  Marriage is essentially a partnership of mutual understanding, trust and working with each other, goals and objectives.  Those who can achieve the balance will survive the challenges to come (Meth)

The 1990’s witnessed a sort of quiet revolution in the sense that the middle-aged man, who gave his entire life to the loyalty and devotion of the Company, is suddenly pot out to grass i.e. fired, layed off, made redundant, downsized or simply cast aside.  Suddenly they find themselves at home in a state of bewilderment.  The children have grown up and moved out, the wife now is busy with her career, has a social life and hobbies with her friends. The man suddenly finds himself in a role reversal and in the empty nest facing what has been referred to as the forgotten future.  This often leads to a struggle to regain one’s self esteem and personal identity and unless the partner can recognise this and help it often leads to extra marital relationships and subsequent breakdown of the marriage.  It is dangerous to put one foot wrong and the woman risks the blame and aggression from the man, with the male being unable to control their sexual aggression and harness violent tendencies. Men feel they have a right to demonstrate control and as a result  they cannot afford to be incorrect otherwise they are are at risk of being blamed for their behaviour. This often results in women being despised or even killed because of the perception of what men feel the women is doing to him. (Claire)

The Case of Dixie Shanahan

The Iowa woman was accused of the murder of her husband and leaving him in a bedroom for nearly a year.  The jury found her guilty and she was charged with second degree murder.  In Iowa this amounted to a mandatory sentence of 50 years, with 35 years to be served before parole considerations.  The defence lawyer considered this to be a major setback for the cases of battered women.  The couple had three children leaving them with an uncertain future. The crime was one of provocation where the violent husband beat his wife for three days on the grounds of her becoming pregnant and refusing to have an abortion. Shannon shot the guy  in the bedroom and never returned to the room again. (Des Moines News)

Legal Recourse in Domestic Violence

It can be extremely traumatic and difficult for a female victim of domestic violence to seek legal retribution for a violent personal assault.  The attack often leads the victim confused, traumatised and fearful of further abuse from the partner. Apart from being a criminal act, it is a blatant abuse of an individual’s human rights and is unacceptable in any terms.  The police often have difficulties in bringing such cases to court because of the fear factor and the mental cruelty that has been inflicted upon the victim.

The Prosecutors office makes it a high priority to deal with acts of domestic violence but they must always be prepared to deal with the psychological impact upon the victim. Most victims walk away from these incidents highly traumatised, often in a state of shock and confusion and above all fearful of immediate retribution or further attack from the assailant. In disturbing domestic situations, this is often about male dominance and gaining control over the partner.  It illustrates a breakdown in communications and a degree of ignorance from the assailant resorting to such measures.  Trends often indicate there are other factors at play like substance abuse, alcohol or money related matters.  One research study carried out revealed, from findings conducted over a 15 year period, that abused women  exhibit what has been referred to as ‘dual trauma’, essentially mental, psychological and behavioural conditions resulting from conditions of abuse.  (Stark)

The concept of battered women relates to the interest in the psychological considerations that impact abused women in society today.  It is a common problem and one, which largely goes undetected because of the fear factor.  It is more interesting looking at this from an international perspective e.g. Middle Eastern Countries where women are routinely abused from a cultural perspective, often associated with outmoded religious beliefs, and denied basic human rights.   From a personal perspective domestic violence and abuse of either male or female partners is a tragedy and illustrates a breakdown in communications that should be treated by counselling as opposed to resorting to violence. The act of violence is certainly a criminal act and should be dealt with by legal action.

Conclusion

In 1990 the Supreme Court of Canada in the Lavallee case created legal recognition for the rights of a battered woman; in this case resulting in a domestic murder case.  The judge considered the woman’s point of fear and changed the traditional limits of the legal doctrine of self-defence. In such circumstance the woman has the right to defend herself from violent abuse  and reasonable force in defence is a woman’s right and as such should be acquitted.  This set a precedent in Canadian law allowing the way for evidence of domestic violence and abuse to be permissible in Canadian courts where women are placed on trial for defending themselves in cases of domestic violence (Fry).  Women often plead that they acted in self-defence where they murdered their partners after a history of abuse and provocation. This often requires the appearance of expert witnesses. Charges are often based upon first or second degree murder and many feel that the legal position is still inadequate to deal with a just defence in these cases.

Works Cited

Claire, Anthony. “On men: masculinity in crisis.” UK Guardian (2010).

Des Moines News. Shanahan Guilty Of 2nd-Degree Murder. 30 4 2004. 18 11 2011 <http://www.kcci.com/news/3254468/detail.html>.

Fry, Elizabeth. Battered Women’s Defence Committee Update. 11 1994. 18 11 2011 <http://www.elizabethfry.ca/bwdcom.htm>.

heart-2-heart. Why do we stay. 2011. 18 11 2011 <http://www.heart-2-heart.ca/women/page4.htm>.

Meth, R.L. A new psychology of Men. 18 2 2010. 18 11 2011 <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3658/is_199710/ai_n8781569/>.

Panginda, G. A knight of romance: how masculinity has changed over the last 50 years. 21 2 2010. 18 11 2011 <http://identityrevealed.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/a-knight-of-bromance-how-masculinity-has-changed-over-the-past-fifty-years>.

Stark, E and Filcraft A. “Women at risk: domestic violence and womens health.” Psychnet (1996): 264.