I am currently taking a social work/women’s studies third year course called Abuse in the Family. This course is designed to shed light on abuse not just in the family but in society as a whole. There was recently an issue which came up in class which really hit a hot button with me. We were watching a short film clip on male violence against women and female violence against men. Keep in mind that this is a third year social work class full of future social workers. As we were watching the clip of a woman being harassed by her male partner, the class was silent. As soon as the roles were reversed and we were presented with a woman being violent by hitting and yelling at her male partner the majority of the class began to laugh. Remember that these are our society’s future social workers...
As soon as the film was over I could feel the rage brewing inside of me because of how inappropriate this was, for someone to laugh at violence. So I put up my hand and posed a question to the class asking how they, as future social workers, could sit there and laugh at the violence on the screen. People immediately began getting defensive and saying things such as “well the acting was funny” and my response to that was it should not matter if the acting was bad or not, you are laughing at an image of violence. Why did nobody laugh when the woman was being beat by the man? The acting was just as bad. But we have been socialized not to laugh at male violence against women because it is considered to be "serious" whereas female violence against men is "less harmful".
People do not realize the stigma attached to female violence against men, and they do not understand the severity of their actions when they were laughing at the violence. What if there was a man in the class who had been abused by his female partner? How would he feel sitting in this class with people laughing at that image? It is a fact that women do abuse men, and that men tend to under-report this because of the way society reacts to such an accusation, “oh what you aren’t man enough to defend yourself?” This needs to change because violence is violence, it is harmful and damaging no matter who is committing the act.
Education is key when it comes to changing stigmatizing views on issues; the more we know the more we can create change. The future is shaped by our present actions, and apparently our future social workers view violence as funny. Sensitivity training is one thing that many entering the helping professions need to get involved with and I am curious to find out if this is offered and if people actually get the proper training.
©2011, Zain Alglaieny
Zain,
ReplyDeleteThe issue of silencing violence done by women against men is a very important one. Society usually does not depict women who hurt men in popular media, and when it is done, men are often given the impression from other men that it is easier to leave the relationship, and since men are often times larger physically than women, they stigmatized even more if they choose not to defend themselves. I think that the dominant discourse feels that men are incapable of being abused with the opposite discourse of women only being harmed to abuse, therefore creating a greater gap between the issues.
I have taken a few social work classes as well, and the introduction classes (from what I have seen) do not depict violence against men by women. Perhaps some professors are unable to use academic work to teach students about these important issues; not that is should be an excuse either. For example, I wrote a paper last semester on the effects of domestic violence on children, and out of the fifteen articles that I located, only two of them mentioned briefly that some children view domestic violence towards their fathers.
As a sociologist, I feel that more studies need to be completed in regards to this issue to destroy the silencing so that our future social workers can be aware of the different forms of domestic violence and abuse in general.
Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to reading more of your blog!
Teires
I agree that there is a stigma of diminished masculinity that comes with admitting that you are being abused by your female spouse.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that in a class that is supposed to be filled with future social workers, who have taken courses about violence against women, have little respect for the opposite situations.
We are raised to believe that men should not be able to show emotions, but in this day and age, and with the maturity levels of most University courses which try to teach in a holistic manner, we should be able to recognize that women can be just as violent towards their male counterparts.
I find it disgusting that those who are supposed to be there to help abused persons, are laughing at a situation that is rarely reported, as well as giving such sad excuses as you said, the acting was just as bad when it was the women who was on the receiving end of the violence.
I really enjoyed how you defended your actions, and did not sit by while people laughed at the situation.
-S
Teires:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you have said about the discourses around female violence against men. It usually is a hush hush issue because masculinity has been shaped to the point where it is not alright for men to show emotions such as fear or sadness because it is not "macho". I have also taken a few intro social work courses, and from what I remember violence against men by women was not presented, maybe there is not enough academic research based on the fact that men tend not to report because of the stigma attached. One way this stigma can be diminished is by, like you said, more research in the academic fields so that men do not need to feel silenced. Thank you for your feedback, and I also look forward to reading your blog!
-S:
I agree with you 100%, the more we laugh the more stigmatized the issue becomes and this is unhealthy. One of the reasons why I spoke up in the first place was because I did not want to regret not saying something later on. When we stand up for an issue, no matter how big or small, no matter how effective our actions are, that little bit helps in the long run. I will not sit by and watch a group of soon to be professionals laugh at an issue which is damaging in our society, it is unacceptable.