BlackGirlTragic.com - What Is Domestic Violence - What is Domestic Violence and How Does It Affect Black Women?

Jun 27

Jun 27 What Is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence can be defined as repetitive acts perpetrated by a partner that involve gaining or maintaining power or control.Also called “intimate partner violence,” domestic violence can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic or psychological. It often manifests itself through verbal or physical threats or intimidation.

According to the United Nations, domestic violence behavior can include any attempt to “frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame, injure, or wound someone.

”There is no particular profile that fits a domestic aggressor. As with the perpetrator, the victim can be of any race, nationality, sexual orientation, gender or religion.

How Black Women Are Impacted By Domestic Violence

When it comes to black women in America, domestic violence is even more devastating. “Because of the history, because of the 400-year gap and 400 years of being left at the starting line while other groups have moved forward with ease, that holds us back,” Cecily Johnson, director of strategic initiatives at the Domestic Violence Network, tells CoburnPlace.org. “That’s the root cause. It’s a combination of things we’re not given. We’re just not given opportunities in education that generally would be made available to other populations, specifically white populations. And it’s socioeconomics. Typically, the higher you are in that socioeconomic strata, the greater access you have to education and resources where you can get some of this information, where you can receive services.”

The Guardian reports that four black women/girls are murdered every day in the United States.If we omit the fatalities, multiple scientific studies have concluded that black women endure higher rates of murder, rape, racism and domestic abuse.

Why is this epidemic continuing in our communities?

There can only be one answer. American awareness is woefully inadequate. “There’s never been a moment in our society where there’s been a reckoning with the particular kinds of violence that’s meted out against Black women,” Kimberlé Crenshaw, a black feminist legal scholar, said in the Guardian article.

Why Are Black Women So Vulnerable?

Black women in the United States are especially susceptible to domestic abuse through no actions of their own.

Let’s discuss some reasons why this is the case

:Institutionalized Racism And Sexualized Violence

The past treatment that many black women have faced make them hesitant to report domestic abuse comparitively speaking. This is the case even though they are three times likely to die from domestic violence.

There is also a racial component that has served to internalize the trauma of years of physical, mental and emotional abuse.According to an article from Ferris State University’s Jim Crow Museum, “The idea that black women were naturally and inevitably sexually promiscuous was reinforced by several features of the slavery institution. Slaves, whether on the auction block or offered privately for sale, were often stripped naked and physically examined. In theory, this was done to insure that they were healthy, able to reproduce, and, equally important, to look for whipping scars - the presence of which implied that the slave was rebellious. In practice, the stripping and touching of slaves had a sexually exploitative,

5sometimes sadistic function. Nakedness, especially among women in the 18th and 19th centuries, implied lack of civility, morality, and sexual restraint even when the nakedness was forced.

Lack of Adequate Mental Health Services

Centuries of racial disparities when it comes to health care have contributed to a disconnect when it comes to treating and administering mental health services for black women.

As a result, black women have higher rates of not only mental illness, but death for common health conditions in America, which includes things like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, and heart disease.

Stereotypes And Tropes

In an online study of college students, compared to a white woman, a black woman was perceived more negatively “on items related to historically rooted societal stereotypes about sexual activity, sexual risk, motherhood status, and socioeconomic status.”

The study also found that a pregnant black woman was “perceived as more likely to be a single mother and to need public assistance than was a White target described as pregnant. Current findings, along with evidence that societal stereotypes have damaging effects, underscore the importance of diversifying images of Black women and increasing awareness of how stereotypes affect perceptions of Black women.”

As the study’s summary so eloquently puts it: “From the mammies, jezebels, and breeder women of slavery to the smiling Aunt Jemimas on pancake mix boxes, ubiquitous Black prostitutes, and ever-present welfare mothers of contemporary popular culture, negative stereotypes applied to African-American women have been fundamental to Black women’s oppression.”

If you are someone you love is suffering from domestic violence, you can do something about it.Here are some resources: