Violence does not just include insult. It includes other ways of diminishing the other through: control, surveillance, mood swings, constant disapproval, intense and continuous humiliation, threats, emotional blackmail, etc. In this article we will provide you 10 Consequences of Domestic Violence,
One of the cases of violence practiced in the family or at home is violence against women, now known as gender violence. This type of violence is a form of discrimination against women, as the name implies, due to sex or gender.
Another of the cases of violence is that of the children of the house, which can cause serious problems in the correct later development of the minors.
Family violence encompasses any act or action that may pose a risk to the health, physical or psychological, of a family member. In general, the term is generally used to avoid the risk of minors, since they are the most vulnerable.
It is important to understand that family violence is a social fact, as children, men and women who are mistreated can transfer this violence to other spaces around them in the future.
That is why this type of violence does not understand race, sex or social class, as its threat can affect any area of society. To prevent your risk from spreading to other areas, especially through children, it is necessary to understand the consequences that this can have.
Consequences of domestic violence
1- Normalization of violence
One of the primary causes of violence in children is that they are immediate witnesses.
That is, constantly watching episodes of continued violence at home means that they can understand violence as a normal attitude in their lives. Believing, therefore, that this is a logical relationship pattern.
However, children are not always aware of this type of violence. This is observable when parents maintain a cold and loveless relationship with each other. The lack of affection can generate an unconscious emptiness that destroys the relationship that children have with their partners or friends.
2- Stress and stomach ache
Both children and women who suffer some type of domestic violence can trigger episodes of stress, anxiety or even depression.
Interestingly, living in family environments with a risk of threat makes children also add this violence to headaches, stomachaches or general malaise, without any apparent explanation.
3- Fear of loneliness
As a consequence of the episodes of violence experienced, children also generate feelings or emotions related to the fear of being alone or even the fear of dying.
Anger or tension are also consequences of violence experienced continuously. Living constantly in a state of alert implies an alteration in the nervous system and, in the long term, problems related to heart health.
4- Interiorization of machismo in women
One of the serious consequences of female aggression is that she assumes the sexist roles her abuser tries to instill in her.
Dangerously, being the object of sexism and machismo internalization implies adopting a passive attitude towards violence.
Thus, as the first collateral damage, children will be the first to receive these values, which can be neutralized by education, in other areas of society, based on respect and equality.
5- Lack of confidence
One of the first elements that is tried to remedy in the case of women victims of gender violence or children is self-esteem.
Self-esteem, understood as the positive assessment that the subject has of himself, is essential to be able to get out of a case of constant aggression, as it allows him to adopt enough confidence to flee from the aggressor.
In this sense, the first thing is to realize that you are the victim of a case of violence and, from there, seek help.
Thus, the first premise is to work with the will of women, free from any type of conditioning.
Psychological support will not only focus on strengthening the person’s confidence and security, but also on educating the values of equality, on obtaining autonomy and on modifying filial maternal relationships distorted by the situation of violence.
6- Isolation
As a result of this violence, the battered woman will gradually leave her circle of friends, either because of a feeling of guilt, which we will mention later, or because of fear or apprehension of receiving new aggressions.
In the case of children, they may show some distance in their relationships with classmates, which prevents them from asking for help and causes a state of self-absorption.
7- False guilt
At some point during the violence, the woman may feel guilty for having produced the situation of violence in her home in her emotional partner and, in itself, the behavior of the aggressor.
Thus, the victim may think, after a process of internalization of sexist and sexist roles, that she deserves her partner’s curses for having left her alone or for having gone away, for example, to enjoy some time.
8- Violence calls violence
Children who participate in childhood violence show patterns of aggressive behavior in spaces such as the schoolyard or in classrooms in general.
Thus, children who have observed how violent behavior patterns were reproduced in their home, or in particular how their fathers abused their mothers, may act as aggressors towards their partners.
9- Violence crosses the boundaries of the home
Once more advanced forms of abuse are practiced against children and the couple, the aggressor tries to control their external relationships. Among which are phone calls, for example, with work or school colleagues.
A paradigmatic case is the sabotage of family gatherings in which the attacked person is humiliated or mocked.
Among other examples, this violence can be detected in the aggressor himself, noting the irresponsibility he has to take care of his children.
10- Maintenance of patriarchy
This violence against women not only poses risks at the local level, but also at the global level.
Not assuming standards of equality in the social imaginary, fueled by clichés and stereotypes that feed the media, means letting patriarchy or “parental government” maintain its domination and extortion over the freedom of men, women and Children of the future
violence against women
The origin of violence against women in the family has its origins in patriarchy. Historically, authority and power in patriarchal organizations have been exercised by men over children, women and the family itself.
In patriarchy, there is an attempt to control the woman’s body and her productive force is oppressed.
In this sense, and to prevent violence from advancing, it is important for women to detect the initial stages of violence by their romantic partner. What starts with threats, breaking objects, irony or provocation, continues with pushing and hitting, slaps, rapes, fractures and ends with burns, drowning or even death.
In this case, the woman who suffers gender violence has a set of psychosocial characteristics, such as:
- Fear
- Anxiety
- Depression
- lack of communication
- Changing self-esteem
- Uncertainty
- Demotivation in general
- Eating disorders
- Little power in decision making
- Patterns of childhood violence
- sleep disorder
- frequent anger
Thus, domestic violence does not usually start suddenly. In this sense, there are mechanisms for its progressive increase.
Thus, the aggressor’s control tactics can change from one to another, and progress towards gender violence is usually very slow, so that the identification signs are confused until their recognition is very complicated.
At the beginning of the relationship, the controls will not be too serious and will be done with good intentions. However, these guidelines almost always make women victims of gender-based violence.
Gender violence pyramid
Violence escalates on a prolonged scale through three stages: escalation, escalation, and descent. The first escalation occurs with the “pregnancy of dependency and isolation”.
There are a wide variety of coercive tactics on the part of the aggressor, such as taking over economic control, convincing him to leave his job, or distancing himself from those who can support him. A very common case is that the aggressor suggests to the victim that he spends a lot of time with his friends and little with him.
As a consequence, the woman generates a false sense of guilt for abandoning the man.
After this first climb in the pyramid of violence, the climb reaches the top, or failing that, the so-called “vigorous assertion of dominance”.
This phase consists of creating an intense fear reaction in the victim through a very established force action. Generally, it is usually some kind of physical assault or use of serious threats or damage to some kind of personal valuables.
Immediately afterwards, the abuser enters the third and final phase of the pyramid called “regret”. In it, the aggressor apologizes to the victim, giving her gifts. This phase is also known as the “honeymoon”.
However, tension will start to become apparent over time. It is not possible to clearly say the time that elapses between each stage, as their durations are very variable in each person and in the abuse relationship.
The only certainty is that, in this circle of violence and abuse, attacks always happen at a more frequent pace, being more dangerous for the victim.
family mediation
Mediation allows parents to reach an agreement in a climate of respect, cooperation and solidarity with their children, who are most affected by this violence at home.
To do this, couples can ask a third party to intervene in a neutral way. Who receives the name of mediator of the family and whose objective is to create a space for dialogue and consensus between both parties.
However, when a member is unable to assume its responsibilities, mediation is inadvisable and, in many cases, impracticable.
Thus, in places like Spain, state laws prevent mediation in cases of violence.
