Editorial: Domestic violence happens to all genders

Courtesy Photo | ALBUQUERQUE, NM, UNITED STATES 10.14.2020 Photo by Airman 1st Class Ireland Summers 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Jason Dean, 377th Air Base Wing paralegal, poses for a photo for Domestic Violence Awareness Month at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, Oct. 13, 2020. Domestic violence can happen to anyone and can include intimate partner violence, violence between adults and violence from a parent figure to a child. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Kiana Pearson and Airman 1st Class Ireland Summers)  

FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

10.27.2021

Courtesy Story

Fort Bragg Garrison Public Affairs Office

FORT BRAGG, NC -
Archita Graves
Army Community Services

Harvard University student, Charlotte Ruhl, defined implicit biases as the unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that can manifest in the criminal justice system, workplace, school setting, and in the healthcare system.

What does implicit bias have to do with domestic violence or intimate partner violence?

When a person has a bias, it impacts how they will view a situation, which in turn impacts how the victims of domestic violence are treated.

Have you ever heard about a case of domestic violence and automatically assumed that the offender was male and the victim was female?

That assumption is an example of implicit bias.

According to the Center for Disease Control, one in four women and one in seven men will experience physical violence by their intimate partner at some point during their lifetimes.

Family violence theorists argue that intimate partner violence is not a unidimensional issue of one gender being victimized but, rather, a systemic family problem.

Violence can affect any type of relationship regardless of age, race, gender, or sexual preference. Men and women are equally capable of engaging in violence against an intimate partner. Based on the initial reports of family violence researchers, their findings can lead people to believe that gender could create an inaccuracy in the reporting.

For example, samples taken from battered women shelters and centers would lead one to believe that women are typically the victims while males are the perpetrators.

Have you ever heard of a battered men shelter and/or center in your community?

Neither have I.

M.E. Gilfus, a well-known researcher and social worker, established how one describes and portrays intimate partner violence can lead to significant deviation in how research is designed and conducted, how the results are interpreted, and how policies and interventions can be supported thereby creating biases.

The purpose of this article is not to minimize the impact that domestic violence has had on women, but rather to bring to light the impact domestic violence has had on men.
Acknowledging our own biases regarding domestic violence and intimate partner violence could create space for more male victims to seek and get the help that they need.

For more information, contact the Army Community Service, Family Advocacy Program at [phone].

- Paraglide -

• Date Taken: 10.27.2021
• Date Posted: 10.27.2021 13:55
• Story ID: 408130
• Location: FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US