Domestic Violence Summary

One unfortunate outcome of women being victimized less is that poor women and women of color are disproportionally victimized by domestic violence. According to Farmer and Tiefenthaler, “Data from the NCVS indicate that being young, black, poor, and divorced or separated all increase to the likelihood of a woman being a victim of intimate partner abuse. Specifically, women ages 20-24 are the most likely to be victimized while black women are 35% more likely to be abused than white women and 2.5 times more likely than women of other races” (4). This would support the notion that the women’s movement was a cause of women being victimized less. Being young, black, poor, divorced, and or separated would definitely decrease the amount of freedom you have to make decisions in society. Being poor would also decrease the likelihood that you would leave a relationship, as one may not be able to live well on their own without a decent income. Farmer and Tiefenthaler point out that “Women in the lowest income households have 7 times the abuse rates of those in the highest income households” (4). In “Explaining the Recent Decline in Domestic Violence” (2003), the authors promoted three factors explaining the decline …show more content…
Boys are socialized to be different than girls which can create unequal imbalances. Boys are socialized to be strong and leaders while girls are taught to be sexual and passive. The socialization of the passive and sexual girl can lead them to possible abuse in the future, as men may want to show their dominance. While today there has been a significant decrease in domestic violence among women, we still see a large segregation of this violence among poor women of color. Furthermore, we see that women who experience domestic violence often shy away from going to authorities, in fear that nothing will get done or they will make the situation