NCJ Number
150933
Date Published
1994
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article documents patterns of male violence against women and children and attributes this to cultural conditioning that denigrates women and encourages men to believe it is appropriate for them to dominate and control women.
Abstract
Statistics and studies show that violence against women is prevalent in Canada, including domestic assault, murder, and date rape. Surveys of young men and women also show that their attitudes reflect an acceptance of violence and coercion in sexual relationships. Children are also regular victims. One out of every four girls is sexually abused within the family or sexually assaulted by an outsider. Most victims report that they are revictimized by the courts, police, friends, and family by being made to share the blame for their victimization. In cases of sexual assault, there is a tendency to make the female victim part of the problem by accusing her of being seductive, leading the perpetrator on, and giving false cues of consent. Every individual who commits violence has learned to accept violent behavior as a means of achieving goals and expressing feelings. The media support the culture of violence that the child sees in the home. Television is teaching children a world view that includes violence as an acceptable solution to conflict, authoritarian power relationships, sex-role strereotyping, and conflict as fun. Children from violent homes are especially susceptible to media violence. Sexism is the root of the problem. A boy raised in western civilization learns that he is heir to the status, authority, rights, and privileges of being male. Conversely, girls learn to subordinate themselves to men and to men's needs. This cultural conditioning has implications for male violence against women. In an effort to resist relinquishing control in relationships and economic status, men often resort to violence against women to vent their rage at losing control over them. For a patriarchy to work, everyone in the hierarchy must be conditioned to accept their status. Women who do not accept the status the culture confers on them are particularly vulnerable to violence from those who interact with them. There is a clear backlash against feminism in Canadian culture, as evidenced most tragically by the killing of 12 women engineering students by a man who was enraged by their attempts to attain a status he believed should be reserved for men. If violence against women is to be effectively addressed, the culture must change its values to reflect equality of status for men and women. 21 references