Domestic Violence Extends Beyond the Victim to Social, Cultural, Economic and Political Consequences

The media holds victims accountable for their assault therefore, holding them accountable for finding their own solution.

Courtesy: Bernie's Lil Women Center 

Domestic violence is becoming more prevalent in the media. However, in doing so, the media is normalizing and desensitizing the issue to the public. In the media, victims are held responsible for getting into abusive relationships. The individual victim is blamed for being the problem so that person is said to be responsible for finding the solution. 

Nancy Berns, author of Framing the Victim: Domestic Violence, Media and Social Problems, validates that, “domestic violence has become a social problem about the victims. . . . The victim is celebrated for having the courage to leave the abusive relationship or, conversely, blamed for staying and letting the abuse continue”.

In women’s magazines victims are urged to find their own solutions to their problems. On the other hand, men’s magazines attack the feminist movement and say that women are just as violent as men. Magazines and other forms of mass communication would rather share a story about a victim solving their own problem then having to elaborate on the fact that our culture is screaming for change.

Rebecca Laufer, Social Media Coordinator at Herizon House, believes that the media portrays domestic violence cases on an individual basis. Victims are blamed or excuses are made for the violence. However, what the public doesn’t get to see is the emotional, financial and verbal abuse that domestic violence encompasses. By disregarding these issues the media forces the public to think that these forms of abuse are not abuse at all.

CBS news once included this statement in an article saying that, “It gets frustrating for us when that person may well not want to continue with that effort to take that first step, and step away from their involvement in the cycle of violence”. CBS, along with other news programs, do not understand the emotional state of the victim. They don’t comprehend the danger and emotions that go into leaving such a relationship.

In an anonymous survey taken at the University of Maryland 48 out of 54 total participants believed that the media inaccurately reflects domestic violence. It is appalling to see that this many people know there is something wrong in the news coverage of domestic violence, yet the media continues to victim blame and undermine the issue completely.

The NFL donated airtime during the Super Bowl to air a public service announcement raising awareness for domestic violence.

Although, most magazines unfairly represent domestic violence, politically liberal and progressive magazines focus on the social, cultural, economic and political forces that cause this violence against women.

The battered women’s movement, which was a small group of activists who raised awareness of domestic violence in the 1970s, represented domestic violence accurately. Different from most media outlets today, the movement associated victim empowerment with social change instead of change within the individual. By defining domestic violence as a social and political problem they knew it needed social and political solutions. These activists’ stated that they “wanted to exonerate victims from blame, identify abusers, locate abuse within social and cultural context and specify community responses and help for victims”. Above all else the movement believed that victims should not be blamed for the abuse that they are faced with.

Cortney Fisher, Deputy Director at the Office of Victim Services in DC, believes that the media inaccurately portrays domestic violence.

Although most media channels continue to victim blame, Verizon and NFL’s William Gay are standing up against domestic violence. Verizon HopeLine hopes to collect one million donated phones by 2015 with their 1 Million Phone Drive to Stop Domestic Violence.

HopeLine collects old cell phones and chargers, refurbishes them and raises money from selling them back to the community. The money raised is donated to domestic violence awareness and prevention programs. Verizon’s website states that over 11.4 million phones have been collected nationwide, $29 million cash grants have been provided to domestic violence organizations, and 190,000 phones have been donated to domestic violence victims and survivors.

The NFL donated airtime and funds in order to air a 60-second anti-domestic violence PSA at the last Super Bowl. It is part of No More, which “is a unifying symbol and movement to raise public awareness and engage bystanders around ending domestic violence and sexual assault.” The commercial has a woman calling 911 pretending to order pizza in order to get the police to come to her home without tipping off her abuser. It ends with the line: “When it’s hard to talk, it’s up to us to listen.” Virginia Witt, director of No More, tells Rolling Stone that they hoped to spread awareness on the effort to end domestic violence and sexual assault.

Courtesy: The Face of Patriarchy

The more commercials streamed like the one above will raise more public awareness for domestic violence. Then the media will be forced to shift towards educating the general public and focusing on the abuser instead of the victim.

The media must concentrate on the abuser so that victims feel more comfortable reporting their abuse.

Linda Osmundson, who has been working with domestic violence victims for 30 years, gives three words of advice to journalists. First, she states that they need to focus on the abuser because the victim does not need to be re-victimized. She argues, “Women don’t report abuse for a lot of reasons. Maybe the batterer got to her and said if you tell I will hurt you and your family.” For that reason we should not be focusing on the victim. Second, she talks about how alcohol is usually involved in the cases she deals with but it is vital to not allow alcohol to be used as an excuse for the abuse. Her final word of wisdom is that, “Abuse is a world view, it is not a disease…if you get to guys when they are young there is some hope they can turn around.”

Fisher explains her role in assisting victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

In a similar way to Osmundson's arguments, Bern’s argues that coverage on domestic violence cases should focus on, “why, how, and to what end violence is used as a means of conflict resolution and of maintaining control in relationships.” We must shift media’s focus to the abusers and the social and cultural issues that domestic violence involves. In doing so, the public would learn how and why the abuser did what they did and how they were able to change their ways.

Domestic violence and sexual assault are very prevalent on college campuses. One in six women on college campuses are affected by domestic violence or sexual assault. In the survey roughly 26% of the 54 students believed that domestic violence was not an issue at the University of Maryland. After hearing the above statistic it is shocking that students do not find it to be an issue on this campus.

63% of students believe that our school has enough resources to help the victims of sexual assault. One of the most well known resources is Campus Advocates Respond and Educate (CARE) to Stop Violence. It is located at the University Health Center and is a confidential resource where primary and secondary victims of domestic violence and sexual violence come to discuss their situations. CARE’s phone number is on the back of every student’s ID card.

The most important thing you can do as an individual to help is to know the facts about domestic violence and share them.