Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Although it shares this month with Breast Cancer Awareness, it doesn't get the attention that it so rightly deserves. Women, and in many cases, men to are pummeled sometimes beyond all recognition by husbands/boyfriends, wife/girlfriends at rates that are on the increase. I won't pontificate on why people choose to stay in such dangerous situations, although I know why many do, as probably you do as well. I am not going to judge in this space. My intention is to share the information I've gleaned in regard to this topic. But before I venture any further, please take note of the phone number provided below.

IPV, short for Intimate Partner Violence is a very frequent occurrence all over the world. According to data from the CDC's National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey(NISVS), about 1 in 4 women and nearly 1 in 10 men have experienced contact with sexual violence, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime and reported some form of IPV-related impact.

Wife beating was made illegal in all states of the U.S. by 1920. Modern attention to domestic violence began in the women's movement of the 1970s, particularly within feminism and women's rights, as concern about wives being beaten by their husbands gained attention.

A UN report compiled from a number of different studies conducted in at least 71 countries found domestic violence against women to be most prevalent in Ethiopia. In the U.S., numerous studies have found that women and men are equally likely to report to researchers that they have hit their partners during the preceding 12 months. Domestic violence, they argue, exhibits gender symmetry: that is, an equal number of women and men are it's victims. Surprisingly.

Health consequences of IPV include, increased health problems such as injury, chronic pain, STDs, depression, and PTSD as well documented by controlled research in abused women in various settings

Of the 2340 deaths at the hands of intimate partners in America in 2007, female victims made up 70%. FBI data fro the mid-1970s to mid-1980s found that for every 100 husbands who killed their wives in the U.S., about 75 women killed their husbands. 

Marital Status. Cohabitating women are at greater risk of domestic violence and uxoricide than married women. Research has found that cohabitating women are nine times more likely to be killed by their intimate partner than a married woman. A number of possible reasons account for this finding. 1) Cohabitating women are more likely to be young, with a lower level of education and are more likely to bring children from a previous relationship in their home with their new intimate partner. 2) In addition to this heightened risk to a mother with stepchildren, the genetically unrelated stepfather also poses a risk to the child; research has shown that children are at much greater risk of violence and filicide(murder of a child) from stepfathers compared to a genetic father. Research has found that the presence of stepchildren can significantly increase the risk of uxorcide(the murder of one's wife or female romantic partner. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out). The killing of a partner is called mariticide. A large number of filicides are accompanied by uxoricide and suicide.

It goes without saying both alcohol and drug abuse contribute greatly to domestic violence. Today's stresses, learned behavior from childhood. also contribute to the mix among a myriad of other reasons/excuses. Some people are just not good and decent human beings.

My own godmother was a victim of domestic violence. My beloved Momma Eva. She was a hairdresser and gave me what I used to call shaky curls(what a seven year old calls banana curls). He hardly served any time. Full disclosure, I saw him once and almost ran up on the curb to run over him. He killed a beautiful woman. Eva Mae Campos. I'll say her name. I would overhear my parents talking, because little ones love to listen to things they should not. She suffered greatly. Frequently. Even my dad tried to get her to leave. But every one has to have their own fill, revelation, epiphany, if you will. Sadly she never did.

So if you know someone suffering through this, be there for them, but just know, they won't make any moves until they're ready. Just pray they do before it's too late.

ONE FINAL THING... I am still awaiting word on how to bring the 3rd and final breast cancer blog to you. I'm dreading typing it, praying that my techie comes through and helps me out. Fingers crossed. 


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