Essay on Aboriginal Women in US Suffer Double the Domestic Violence

Introduction

According to Hart & Lowther, the incidence of violence in the domestic setting amongst the Amerindian women "surpass twice the amount the other tribal group's experience" (Hart & Lowther, 188). This fact, therefore, is alarming given that the American women population is experiencing high levels of domestic violence. A good number of researchers who study violence in the domestic system in an aboriginal community are in agreement that this is a comparatively new observable fact and that colonization is the common point.

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Amerindian women are exposed to general domestic violence that is different from that of normal women due to the elevated risk of widespread household brutality in the Native American community. Besides, Aboriginal communities have identified some risk factors, leaving not only specific barriers to abuse of Aboriginal women but also the US and tribal criminal cases involving judicial persons, hence leaving the confusion underway with the justice system.

What is Domestic Violence?

Many people think that domestic violence is a relationship in which a person (usually a man) beats another person (usually a woman) on a semi-fixed foundation. This is, however, not the solitary method by which domestic violence in the relationship takes place. Domestic violence is "the prototype of behavior in a relationship exercised to achieve or uphold authority and control over partners who are intimate " (Besse 2012). Numerous kinds of maltreatment are used to retain this supremacy and control. These include mental, economic, sexual, psychological, emotional, linguistic, and physical abuse.

Physical violence may include assaults, cuts, burns, and other forms of physical abuse but also encompasses ignoring the physical needs of others, causing injury, or kills pets, including pestering (Besse 2012). Oral abuse is usually an insult or criticism of the victim's behavior or dressing. Emotional abuse comprises isolation from friends and family, insults, humiliation, laughter, public embarrassment, threats to victims and their cherished ones, and suicide threats (Besse 2012).

Psychological abuse occurs after prolonged or intense emotional abuse. It is at this moment that the victim begins to internalize by believing all conveyed by emotional violence. Sexual abuse is the emergence of criticism on sexual behavior, sexual and emotional withholding as a punishment, the condemnation of victims as unfaithful, the use of sexual names such as "woman" and "prostitute." (Besse 2012).

Financial exploitation includes the management of all economic and monetary decisions, preventing victims from working or asking them to work without being able to obtain money (Besse 2012). Abuse spiritually consists of destroying the victim's values, stopping them from participating in spiritual/religious activities, and condemning the victim's behavior from the perspective of the victim's superior authority. It also includes justifying the abuse through religious beliefs.

Domestic Violence Risk Factors

In the general population, domestic violence has many common risk factors. Risk factors are characteristics of relationships, criminals, or victims with a high proportion of domestic violence. These include criminals and victims under the age of 40, drug addicts, access to public assistance, and criminals or victims who witnessed domestic violence when they were young in their parent's marriage.

In Aboriginal communities, alcohol consumption is progressive (Orange 57). There exists a correlation between drug abuse and domestic violence. It is difficult to determine the cause of the other, but drug abuse leads to amplification of domestic aggression and vice versa. Several tribal societies live in tremendous deficiency, and the people who live there can suffer similar levels of scarcity. The prevalence of domestic violence in Aboriginal civilizations is so great that it appears unavoidable that scores of offspring will observe domestic violence involving their parents and develop to stay in the equivalent sequence.

Other than the soaring risk factors for domestic hostility that prevail in the Amerindian community, Native Americans furthermore face incredibly precise risk aspects that only Native Americans face. Hillary N. Weaver emphasized that colonization is the leading cause of primary domestic violence in Aboriginal communities. She defined the colony as "a social migration and destruction, including the values, cultures, beliefs, and lifestyles by the outside world" (Weaver 1552) and how the colony resulted in changes in gender roles of indigenous peoples.

Colonization's Influence on Domestic Violence

European settlers introduced Western patriarchy to indigenous peoples. This patriarchal system is closely related to the root cause of domestic violence in the general public. According to Weaver, "prior to making contact with Europe, there was little domestic violence, and severe penalties were imposed" (Weaver 1555). Native American violence has become a serious problem in Aboriginal communities since Amerindians during the colonial period "internalized women and children as helpless possessions."

Internal pressure is an additional threat dynamic in Aboriginal communities; however, not in the broad populace. As elaborated by Poupart, internalized oppression refers to the progression of American Indians being mixed up in a Western culture (Poupart 87). During the process, American Indians began to hate each other because of the internalization of information heard in Western customs. Because this hatred of oneself is primarily aimed at their racial community, it can lead to domestic violence as a means of passing it on to other members of the race and expressing hatred.

Children and Child Abuse

Even without child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault can have severe consequences for children. A comparison between the likelihood of children and sponges is that the younger the child is, the more they behave like sponges. Children internalize everything they see and things they go through, creating brain patterns that tell children how to act properly. There exists evidence that mothers to offspring who were physically abused during pregnancy are prone to be hyperactive, depressed, anxious, or aggressive (Besse 2012).

As a result, in the future, kids who have witnessed domestic violence become further liable to be victims or perpetrators of domestic hostility: they grow up in households where this was ordinary and in their personal relationships as adults start exercising this "normal" behavior.

Why Are People Staying?

This is a frequently asked question by persons who have not gone through a relationship of domestic violence. In the general population, victims are reluctant to leave criminals for various reasons. Criminals often limit their access to work and money, which raises serious concerns about how they can survive economically well when they leave (Besse 2012).

Many victims are afraid of retaliation by the offender in cases that they leave for various considerable reasons. The decision to leave by a victim is the fatal spot in a domestic violence setting (Besse 2012). There are also a number of problems with children while considering the departure of the victim. He/she does not want the criminal to leave with the child, he/she may be afraid that he/she will be trying to take it, and the child ought to have a father/mother in his / her life. When criminals start abusing children, most victims abandon the idea, but many are afraid of losing their children's custody.

External pressures on scores of victims are due to cultural or religious beliefs and influences from the family (Besse 2012). Occasionally members of the family prevent sufferers from parting from the abused state. This can be attributed to the cultural or religious viewpoints of the family, or because they are also abusers. Families may perhaps not understand the whole range of domestic hostility.

Many cultures and religions prevent or disapprove of divorce. For victims belonging to these cultures or religions, it is extremely complex to bring together the courage to leave not only the authors of the violence but also your own God or other higher powers or entire cultural groups one belongs to.

Because abusers isolate victims from their family and friends, victims are usually very aware that they have no place to go if the case that they choose to leave and have no person to turn to. A number of victims refute the occurrence of such abuse or play down its severity. A lot of victims dread that when he/she leaves, no one will believe it. This apprehension is exacerbated when sufferers plan to report mistreatment to law enforcement.

Several victims are unaware of domestic violence as well as domestic violence signs. For example, matrimonial rape has been legal for many years, and many victims still believe that it is a matter of wife /husband's rights. Similarly, if the victim is of abused kin, she possibly will think that the ill-treatment is customary. Following extreme emotional cruelty, the victim is usually let know that she is vain, obese, ugly, stupid, or yet fortunate that the criminal is with her. Scores of victims have minimal self-esteem. They may believe that you should be mistreated or fear that they will not find someone who loves them.

The last reason a victim stays is love. This may seem counterintuitive, but few abusers are violent when meeting a potential romantic partner. In the case that they do, they are less likely to find partners to violate. At the beginning of a romantic relationship, the abuser generally behaves like an ideal partner in many ways, and it will grow over time to stubbornness. They then push for serious romantic relationships with time. These victims are then faced with abuses. Before that point in time, a lot has fallen in love with the people they had known before. They wish for the stop of abuse, not love.

All women of the Native American origins face equivalent barriers when it comes to going away, but members of the Native American community exacerbate some unique barriers that face Aboriginal women. The feeling of going nowhere and having no one has been enlarged by Aboriginal women. Many camps are small communities, so the perpetrator can easily find them if the victim finds another person in the camp to settle with.

Few people have the money to create and maintain a safe haven for victims of domestic violence. Many protected areas are generally exceedingly inaccessible in rural areas. Some victims may not be familiar with what the family aggression sanctuary is nor where the closest shelter will be. Various victims also do not have any experience or may have exceedingly inadequate know-how outside the protected area. They may fear that if they choose to sue, they may be further harmed by non-Aboriginals, police, or criminal justice systems.

Poverty and rates of unemployment on reserves are much higher than the nationwide standard (Orange 85), and these figures were created earlier than the last downturn. Aboriginal women that are victims of domestic hostility will have an economic uneasiness about economic withdrawal than ordinary women.

The Law on Domestic Violence

Victims of domestic violence are often afraid to report abuse and have good reasons. The criminal justice system in the United States generally reviews individuals who make statements of sexual assault and domestic violence by creating a justice system. The cross-examination of the perpetrator's counsel is a microcosm of this criticism.

Aboriginal women who want to account for ill-treatment are struggling more than other ordinary women. As Hart and Lowther point out, in the case a woman of Native American origins is in the casualty of household aggression by a Native American, the federal government a...