FAD 4265 Reading Guide 3 Chapters 10 11 12 413 423 top paragraph only Chapter 10 media violence and violence o Pornography Encourages male dominance Conflation of sex and violence Sexualizes celebrates and promotes rape battery abuse and child sexual abuse o Music o Video Games Popular music celebrates violence and contempt Themes often center on violence o Literature and Folklore Violence has always been a dominant theme o Television and Movies Violence is glorified in the movies and on television By 18 the average American child will have seen 16 000 simulated murders and 200 000 acts of violence Increased aggressive behavior and attitudes fears or pessimistic attitudes about the world and desensitization to violence is correlated with exposure to media violence Children who identify with aggressive television characters have been found to be more aggressive as adults Increased depression nightmares and sleep disturbances are associated with viewing media violence o Research linking violent behavior to media violence is inconclusive o Thus real world violence cannot be directly associated with stimulated violence violence and the social organization of the family o The way a family is organized encourages conflict Unequal distribution of power i e parents versus children and male versus female o Threats to male dominance are often resisted through violence o There are more events of which a dispute may develop in a family The vast amount of time in each day that family members spend interacting increases the probability of disagreements irritations violations of privacy which increase the risk of violence o Family privacy also increases the likelihood of violence It insulates family members from the protection that society can provide Privacy often prevents the victims of abuse from seeking outside help family violence intimate partner violence spouse abuse o Violence between husbands and wives cohabitating partners in the form of physical verbal emotional and or sexual violence o Majority of abusers are male and most targets are female males can also be victims o Center for disease control 2006 estimates that more than 8 4 billion dollars was lost due to IPV in the form of medical treatment mental health services and lost productivity reasons why the extent of woman abuse in domestic settings is impossible to pin down accurately o Events of a violent nature generally take place in private with no witnesses other than family members o Battered women are often treated by medical professionals who fail to inquire deeply into the cause of their injuries o Victims commonly lie about the cause of their injuries because of shame out of fear of reprisal or to protect their partners o Many victims do not go to public agencies for help because they have found these organizations to be unresponsive Especially true of the police and the courts intimate terrorism and situational couple violence Think of an example to distinguish between the two types of violence between couples o Intimate terrorism is defined by the attempt to dominate one s partner and to exert general control over the relationship domination that is manifested in the use of a wide range of power and control tactics including violence o Situational Couple Violence is defined as intimate partner violence that is not embedded in such a general pattern of controlling behaviors but occurs when specific conflict situations escalate to violence o The main distinction between the two has to do with the control variable and not the nature or frequency of violent actions o Intimate terrorism is done almost exclusively by men while situational couple violence is only slightly more likely to be perpetuated by men than women o Situational couple violence frequently occurs in contexts in which an argument escalates and one or both partners react physically o Women who are victims of intimate terrorism experience violence that is more frequent and more likely to lead to injury also they are more likely to experience symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder miss work and leave their partners o Intimate terrorism is initiated by men as a way of gaining and maintaining absolute control over their female partners and is rooted in patriarchal ideas of male ownership of their spouses o This pattern of total control incorporates the systematic use of tactics that are not physically violent but are nonetheless an exercise of power Power and violence o The Power and Control Wheel captures how this abuse is patterned to involve the following nonviolence tactics intimidation threats emotional abuse isolation blaming using children using male privilege and using economic abuse o 8 types of violence in the power and control wheel Using coercion and threats making and or carrying out threats to do something to hurt her Using intimidation making her afraid by using looks actions gestures smashing things destroying her property abusing pets displaying weapons Using emotional abuse putting her down calling names making her think she is crazy playing mind games humiliating her making her feel guilty Using Isolation controlling what she does who she sees and talks to what she reads where she goes limiting her outside involvement using jealousy to justify actions Minimizing denying and blaming making light of the abuse and not taking her concerns about it seriously saying the abuse didn t happen shifting responsibility for abusive behavior saying she caused it Using children making her feel guilty about the children using the children to relay messages using television to harass her threatening to take the children away Using male privilege treating her like a servant making all the big decisions acting like the master of the castle being the one to define men s and women s roles Using economic abuse preventing her from getting or keeping a job making her ask for money giving her an allowance taking her money not letting her know about or have access to family income Why do women stay with their abusers o Fear o Hope and Love convinced that their husbands will somehow reform o Self blame o Economic Dependency Individual and relational factors of abusers alcohol occupation etc o Alcohol Abuse The most common trait associated with the abusive treatment of a woman partner is the excessive use of alcohol Stress may be the antecedent to both drinking and spouse abuse o Occupation The relationship between men s occupations and domestic violence is