Domestic Violence: An Introspection

Running head: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: AN INTROSPECTION
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: AN INTROSPECTION
Name of the student
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Author Note

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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: AN INTROSPECTION
Introduction
There has been introspection, analysis, discussions and debates related to the position
of women in the society, women’s safety and security, violence and gruesome crime against
women and remedies that might be brought to improve the status of women in the global
society. As far as violence and crime against women are concerned, domestic violence is
considered one of the most important topic of discourse. However, domestic violence is
standardised as a “gender neutral” concept of violence which can be practiced upon anyone
irrespective of gender, age or economic background that can be practiced not only by spouses
or the in-laws but also by parents or other family members towards children and elderly
people. However, global studies denote that domestic violence has obnoxiously affected the
women folk to a greater extent. The respective essay is an analytical, argumentative and
reflective essay that intensely introspects different approaches and discourses related to
domestic violence on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, cultural background, economic
status and age. The respective essay specifically deals with domestic harassment of
economically and financially dependent women as well as the quintessential domestic
violence faced by south Asian immigrant women in the context of western world. Two
episode footages of a popular Amerian television series namely “Law and Order Special
Victim’s Unit : Spousal Privilege and Honor” have been watched, studied, reviewed and
rhetorically analysed to decipher the mentioned issue. It focuses on the immigrant specific
factors such as discrimination on the basis of colour, gender, ethnicity and mannerism leaves
the south Asian immigrant women in the United States, the most vulnerable and the most
marginalised sections of the western society. It also focuses on the strategies which
financially and economically dependent women follow for survival and stabilisation of their
marriage, casualties they face, which in certain events claim their life and the other options

2DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: AN INTROSPECTION
that are being opened to rescue them from such gruesome situation by offering them a better
standard of living and peace. The essay concludes with recommendations of policies to
empower women worldwide so that such social casualties can be avoided.
Episode 1: Spousal Privilege
The episode “Law and order : Special Victim’s Unit: Spousal Privilege” is a crime-
thriller episode revolving around a failing marital life of a professional soccer player AJ and
his wife in which his wife is a victim of verbal, mental and physical abuse inflicted on her by
her husband. The episode shows the reluctance of the victim in complaining to the police and
the court about the assault that was inflicted by her spouse AJ in order to save her and her
family which is assumed to be an archetypical character of a domicile and dictated wife in a
patriarchal society. However, while going through the article “A theoretical Framework for
Understanding Help-Seeking Processes among Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence”
which talks about formal as well as informal social support that can be provided to the
victimised women, the mentioned television series episode cannot totally be correlated (Liang
et al., 2005). In the episode, it can be seen that in the court room during the trial, the wife of
the soccer player is seen reluctant to say anything against her husband but the informal
support and cross-questioning of the victim by the lawyers breaks her down and she reveals
that the only reason behind her reluctance was her intention to save her family, especially her
son, who was also treated obnoxiously by AJ. The concept of spousal privilege, which
designates the power to the spouse about not disclosing their confidential marital
communication, is observed in the case and it seemed to be creating a barrier in the path of
trial and justice for the victim. However, the most intriguing factor that is noticed in the
episode it that when AJ, the victim’s spouse was arrested and sentenced to prison for two

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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: AN INTROSPECTION
years, Paula (victim) complained to the cops that it was her choice to remain with AJ and
they have violated her choice, destroying her family. Such behaviour pattern can be traced by
going through the article “Domestic Violence- examining the intersections of race, class and
gender: An introduction” where the fear of institutionalised stigmatisation and socio-
economic dependence among women in United States and all over the world has been
mentioned. Paula too, was also a victim of institutionalised hegemonic patriarchy as well as
stigmatisation apart from remaining socio-economically dependent on her spouse, which was
the reason behind her reluctance to complain against him. The article mentions that such
cases of domestic violence is often classified as “family problem” and are not given
importance to in social dynamics. Such complacent attitude towards victimised women is
definitely needed to change. Throughout the episode, certain behavioural pattern of the
couple, Paula and AJ could be observed. When Paula was asked questions or interrogated by
the cops or the other social workers and professionals, she was constantly kept an eye on by
her spouse AJ. It seemed as if AJ was controlling and dictating his wife even while she was
having conversation with others. Such dominating and controlling attitude of men towards
women has been institutionalised and normalised by the age-old tradition of patriarchy in
family which had justified the dominance of males over families and society as a whole,
resulting in supressing women and executing violence on women within the boundaries of the
family as well (Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005). The episode “Spousal Advantage” of “Law and
Order: Special Victim’s Unit” has mainly focused on the issues of the domestic-violence
victimised coloured women and their plight in the patriarchal as well as a racist society where
they have been negatively marginalised and neglected. The victim as well as the culprit
depicted in the episode are coloured. The negative stereotyping of the coloured citizens of
United States, especially women, is an actuality (which is not depicted clearly in the episode)
and according to the article “Domestic Violence: Examining intersections of race, class and