I’ve always been what you’d call a daddy’s girl. God, I loved my father. I idolized him, especially when I was younger, believing he could do no wrong. Then, one night, everything changed. About five or six years ago, a few hours after I had gotten home from school, my parents had been arguing, and as I was walking into her room, I saw my dad punch my mother in the face.
To say I was frightened would be a drastic understatement. I was flabbergasted–shattered, even. It hurt to see my dad behave this way. The man I had once loved so much and admired turned into someone that I barely recognized. After that day, I began seeing my dad disappear from the house a little more, and new bruises appeared on my mother’s skin every single day. I soon realized my mother was suffering from Intimate partner violence, and it devastated me. She was getting abused, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. She and my dad had been married for 11 years, which meant she had endured this for a little over a decade. I know my mother isn’t the only one going through domestic violence, though. There are millions upon millions of women going through the same exact thing, maybe even worse, around the world. Domestic violence significantly impacts millions worldwide, and finding solutions is crucial.
Domestic violence is an extremely serious and widespread global issue that affects women from all communities and backgrounds. Domestic abuse involves all forms of abuse and can include financial, emotional, sexual, physical, or verbal abuse. Intimate partner victims are often isolated and are controlled by their abusers. Domestic violence can immensely affect someone’s well-being, often leaving permanent mental scars. According to the World Health Organization’s article “Violence Towards Women,” “Worldwide, almost one third (27%) of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner.” Even young women in their teens can get victimized at the hands of people they think “love” them. This can negatively impact their mental, physical, and emotional health as well as their well-being because it can form the idea inside of their minds that no one will ever love them.
The effects of domestic violence don’t stop when the violence does. According to the Office on Women’s Health’s article “Effects of Violence against Women,” “Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)… can be a result of experiencing trauma or having a shocking or scary experience, such as sexual assault or physical abuse. You may be easily startled, feel tense or on edge, have difficulty sleeping, or have angry outbursts. Many women who have experienced violence cope with this trauma by using drugs, drinking alcohol, smoking, or overeating. Research shows that about 90% of women with substance use problems have experienced physical or sexual violence.” Enduring abuse as a woman can take an immense toll on your health. The aforementioned can lead you into a tunnel of deep depression and cultivate unhealthy habits as a trauma response. As a final point, a multitude of women endure intimate partner violence and, because of this, are significantly impacted in a detrimental way.
One of the many solutions to preventing domestic violence in relationships is for people to receive the necessary mental and or physiological help they need before they become an abusive person. There are people in relationships who are unhealed from their own physiological trauma. According to an article from Amnesty International, a woman had been in a turbulent and verbally abusive relationship with her boyfriend for years. Once his mother passed, he bought several dangerous weapons. They had been loudly arguing one day, and he fatally shot her multiple times while she was in the bathtub. Her boyfriend obviously had trauma or an enormous amount of sadness due to the passing of his mother. Because of this, he projected the inadequate emotions he had and hurt the person he loved.
Another effective way to diminish women going through domestic abuse in their relationships would be to understand what a healthy relationship is. Oftentimes, when women get abused, they tend to ignore early red flags in the beginning stages because they don’t understand what a healthy or good relationship may look like or what getting treated well looks like. For example, the article “Healthy Relationships Help Prevent Dating Violence” states, “Fostering healthy relationships lies at the heart of dating violence prevention. “Youth who received the intervention were less likely to perpetrate dating violence or experience dating violence.” Focusing broadly on healthy relationships creates the potential for positive outcomes beyond prevention of dating violence.” Teaching youth, and even everyone, about healthy relationships is a crucial way to put a stop to domestic violence inside of relations because it can help people understand their self-worth and put a stop to an unhealthy/abusive relationship in the beginning stages before it gets entirely too far. This can also work as a solution because it can open the door to new, actual, healthy relationships and cut out unhealthy ones, closing the door to one experiencing dating violence. Learning about what a healthy relationship looks like are remedies to put a stop to domestic violence towards women.
Domestic violence is a devastating issue that affects millions of women globally, leaving behind psychological, mental, emotional, and physical scars. From young girls to adult women, victims endure abuse from those they trust and are supposed to love them. This can lead to an immense amount of trauma, low self-esteem, and unhealthy coping mechanisms such as substance abuse. The disturbing statistics from the World Health Organization and Office on Women’s Health shed light on domestic violence awareness and support. No one should have to suffer in silence. To break the cycle, society as a whole can provide education and resources and take calls to action against abusers. Through a collective effort, the world as a whole can ensure we take steps to reduce intimate partner violence to make sure we formulate a world that has a healthy atmosphere where women feel nothing but support, warmth, value, and, most importantly, safe from the monster that we call domestic violence, because no one should live in horrific fear.
