Preventing violence against women and children

EVER since the story of Adam and Eve, likely written by a man, some men have tended to blame women for male misfortunes, weaknesses and their tendency to violent behavior. Overwhelming research has shown that most violent acts — physical, sexual, psychological, emotional and verbal — against women and children have to do with family relationships, including a present or past intimate relationship or the lack of a happy one. Violence in an intimate relationship comes mostly from the male partner who wants to assert his dominance and power of ascendency over his partner and children. Research has also shown that violence against women and children in a family is caused mostly by the male partner not having his desires, demands, urges and needs satisfied by his female partner. That causes a power struggle, the male asserting himself over the woman and children, leading to verbal arguments, jealousy, disharmony, anger, and eventually, physical violence or even sexual assault.

The aggressive behavior of the man toward his female partner can have roots in the absence of positive childhood experience of loving, caring parents with strong virtues of mutual trust, affection, protection, honesty, openness and faithfulness. Without that example of good parents in childhood, a person, especially a male but also a woman, will have had a bad or even abusive childhood experience. They will not have learned how to love and care and give affection with patience and understanding to each other or their children. They will have experienced family discord, conflict, arguments, broken homes, lack of affection and love, rejection, great instability and violent language, and violent acts, physical and sexual.