English lang weekly writing #2

Article - 5 myths about domestic abuse everyone believes
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This article talks about the stigma and stereotypes of domestic violence in relationships and how what we think of domestic violence is completely different to the actual reality, which is proven by stories from people who have been in abusive relationships. "We spoke to six different victims of domestic abuse - male and female - and found out that lots of these cases don't look like the plots of Lifetime movies.." This shows that our image of domestic violence victims are not always women being beaten by a man, as shown in commercials and movies.

The first myth the article debunks is the myth that domestic violence is always a violent, big man beating a woman cowering in the corner. "And of the women who've reported at least one incident of domestic violence in their life, more than half say it was "bidirectional"". This disproves the stereotype that the woman is weak and submissive. This might be seen as unfair and people may say that no one is a victim if they're both abusive towards each other, but men are generally stronger than women, so while the man might get a slap or a bruise, the women could get put in hospital. "One lives in fear for their life, the other is merely annoyed.".

But even then, men can also be the victim of domestic violence. "I tried to reach over and comfort her, but she dug her fingernails into my arm and cut my wrist open." This shows us that men are also victims of domestic violence, although people don't believe that men can't be victims because they are physically stronger than women. But even though a man might not get badly injured, acts of violence cause emotional trauma, which men also experience, whether or not they get badly physically abused. This brings me to the point that domestic violence is not always physical, but can be emotional. "Studies consistently find that victims of abuse find the emotionally abusive acts more devastating than the physical violence." People who have never been in the situation would not understand the psychological effects, which means people who were emotionally abused get put aside, although they are just as damaged as people who were physically abused. "The most traumatic part of the physical abuse is the fear it inspires- fear that is the same whether they're getting hit, or only feel like they might."

In conclusion, domestic violence is not all about a girl with bruises all over her face getting shouted at by a muscular, fierce man as adverts on the tv and movies show.