It's quite ironic that the West feels it must "protect" Muslim women from the supposed domestic violence they suffer, when in fact it's rife in Western societies. Some of these facts and figures are astounding. Even I am shocked by some of them, 15% of pregnant women experience violence from their partner, even attacking specifically their wombs, that's just inhuman. Honestly any Westerner who thinks they are "advancing" the status of Muslim women really needs to have a good hard look in their own backyard first, because the domestic violence in our country is just shameful, really.

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Domestic violence: Australia's silent victims

Tony Abbott's recent announcement that he would crack down on gang warfare and knife crime if the Coalition wins the election reinforces the common perception that the worst danger of physical violence lurks down dark streets or in parks.

But the fact is, for most of us the horror exists within our homes, or with the people already in our lives. Of the women killed each year, 60 per cent are at the hands of partners or ex-partners, and 12 per cent by family members.

The common wisdom is that if a woman is in an abusive relationship, the best protective action she can take is to leave. But it is a hidden fact that a woman's risk to violence increases when she attempts to leave her partner, or if she is pregnant. This is the point at which domestic violence often begins, or otherwise existing violence and abuse intensifies.

The period post-separation is actually a particularly dangerous time for women, with research indicating that there is a significant increase of lethal and non-lethal violence during separation and after divorce. A 2008 study of 400 pregnant women in Queensland found that being separated from her partner did not mean a woman would avoid future abuse. In fact, for a large proportion of these women the violence increased.

There is also an identified association between pregnancy and increased risk violence by an intimate partner or ex-partner. Figures from the ABS Personal Safety Survey (2005) reveal almost 15 per cent of pregnant women experience violence from a current partner or ex-partner , and for half of these women it will be the first time they have experienced physical violence from this person. The violence these women could be subjected to during pregnancy includes being pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped, hit, kicked or punched. An abusive partner might attack these women's abdomens or breasts, sexually assault them, threaten them with a knife or gun, use a weapon against them or choke and strangle them.

ABS studies have established that a woman's experience of Intimate Partner Violence [IPV] - including physical, emotional, sexual and psychological harm - poses a serious threat to her own health as well as that of her unborn baby or newborn. A baby's repeated perinatal exposure to the stress hormone cortisol impacts negatively on its development in utero.

Furthermore, violence against a pregnant woman has been found, in various studies, to trigger low birth rates, premature births, mental health concerns including anxiety and depression, suicide, miscarriage and perinatal morbidity. The British Medical Association found that up to 20 per cent of women suffered domestic violence during pregnancy, and the injuries they sustained included 'placental separation, foetal fractures, rupture of the uterus, liver or spleen and pre-term labour'. These are horrifying facts.

In addition, domestic violence against pregnant women has been found to trigger alcohol and other drug use by those women while carrying an unborn child. A 1996 study of US hospital records found that women who had experienced domestic violence were 15 times more likely to abuse alcohol and nine times more likely to abuse drugs. Drug and alcohol usage was also linked with the incidence of violence, possibly as a way for women to cope with the abuse.

Although Abbott's anti-crime policy, which proposes to crack down on violence in the public sphere (including gang violence), is important, there are two major reasons why government policy should also be addressing, and controlling, domestic violence. The first is the protection of public health and the second is managing the financial cost of this problem.

First, from a public health perspective, the ABS established in a recent study that domestic violence has been attributed to more health problems than other 'known risks to health such as cholesterol or illicit drugs'. These statistics alone should attract the attention of politicians if they are genuinely interested in attending to the health and social needs of their constituents.

Second, in terms of financial cost, the Australian Government's 2004 report The Cost of Domestic Violence to the Australian Economy concluded that "domestic violence poses the greatest risk for disease and premature death for women 15 - 44-years-old and costs the country $8 billion each year". Approximately half of this cost is borne by the victims of intimate partner violence, with the balance being covered by government at all levels, employers and the perpetrators themselves.

TBC..

Domestic violence is disgusting Abu, and to think otherwise is usually only a sign that the person comes from a culture that accepts the beating of women as acceptable, and so would not report such things as abuse.
Can you think of any such culture?

Rashid is a member of the culture of critique.

Someone has to define 'domestic violence' as I think it is a term that is overused.

For example, I would believe that a man who beats a woman for no reason at all, other than he can, is an abuser and the woman is a victim. Such a case should be seen as domestic violence.

But what if the woman is nagging, in his face, insulting him, refusing to let him turn away and leave, and he lashes out and hits her? Is THIS domestic violence by societies definition? Probably - although I don't agree. She deserved to be smacked around.

For some reason, a man is never allowed to hit a woman - but a woman is allowed to hit a man, and when he hits her back, she can scream violence.

If a woman hits a man, or insults him, is in his face, nagging, I'd belt her, too.

Vanessa wrote on Sep 6^th, 2010 at 9:14am:


I'd suggest that we need to look at domestic/family violence from the perspective of children who may witness it - and not necessarily just what goes on in their own homes/families...

Adults are role models who have a fundamental responsibility to nurture and protect children - both at home, in the neighbourhood and in the broader community...

Every day in Australia, children witness adults engaging in aggressive, abusive and otherwise dysfunctional patterns of behaviour - often from their parents and caregivers but sometimes from their neighbours and even in shopping centres...

We need to address these dysfunctional behavioural patterns as a society - and especially where children are most vulnerable (i.e. within families)...

Vanessa wrote on Sep 6^th, 2010 at 9:14am:



Absolutely it is overused.  In order to make the statistics more shocking (to gain more funding and exposure) anything and everything is classed as abuse.  These studies ask questions like 'has your partner ever called you names' (verbal abuse)or 'has your partner ever withheld money from you?' (financial abuse) - leading questions where there can be only one answer - yes.  Interesting that if men used the same definitons of what constitutes domestic abuse as these studies do, they'd be overwhelmingly seen as the victims.