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Beliefs and attitudes towards male domestic violence in South Kivu

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par Ndabuli Theophile Mugisho
University of KwaZulu Natal - Master 2011
  

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2.5 Prevalence of domestic violence

The occurrence of domestic violence is undeniable because it affects family members of rich as well in poor countries.

In industrialised countries like Japan, 59% of the women surveyed in 1993 were found assaulted physically by their current or former husband and this from women of the age of 16 (Wilondja, 2008:53). Meel (2005:215) also noted that in the United Kingdom (UK) and in the United States of America respectively 25% of the women who were interviewed in 2004 described having experienced physical violence in one episode from their partners in their homes.

In their research conducted in developing countries in 1998, Fikree and Bhatti (1999:197) identified that in Kenya 42% of 612 women surveyed believed to have been beaten by their husbands. In Uganda, 41% of women were abused physically and even harmed by their partners and 41% of men revealed that beating a wife was normal family life. Based on these facts, it proves necessary to detail the connection between masculinity, power and GBV.

2.6 Link between masculinity, power and GBV

By considering the different kinds of violence that happen in different places among people, we notice that the devastating majority is committed by males. Sanday (1981b) comments that nearly all rapists, most domestic abusers and murderers and most individuals implicated in street fights and riots are men. In fact, history shows that warfare is powerfully men's deeds, which signifies that the sizeable bulk of the world's soldiers are men and boys. Statistics prove that most of the world police, detention centres' warders, politicians, admirals, almost all the generals and bureaucrats who control the systems of collective or institutional violence are men (Connell, 1985:5).

Despite the above arguments, most men are not aggressive. However, when violence occurs, it is mostly men who are involved.

This applies for both interpersonal and interstate conflicts. This is enough to clearly understand the connection that lies between being male and the use of violence.

There exist widespread beliefs that aggression is hereditary among men. Hearn (1996b:36) argues that males' sexual abuse of females, other males and children is the outcome of too much testosterone, or men's genetic makeup, or men's inherent violence. Such beliefs are wrong. Such deep negative values help to acquit and tolerate men from their violent behaviours and beliefs, which justifies the status quo. However, Sanday (1981b) acknowledges the existence of entire cultures in which GBV is nonexistent or remarkably unusual.

Alternatively, GBV includes domestic violence, rape and other forms of domestic violence that are social and cultural facts and never biological ones (Hearn, 1996b:58). The relation between violence and maleness is a social and historical product; it is not a biological one. Violence can be unlearned, just as it was learned and being man can lead to becoming loving and caring human beings. In reality, it is manhood or masculinity that triggers men to fabricate this close connection men and violence.

It requires a lifetime's education and preparation about becoming a true man. The influential type of maleness gives to both boys and men such qualities as violence, control, a feeling of

right to using hard power and emotional heartlessness. These are supported by some traditions that justify the violence and the power of men. Consequently, many men learn how to behave violently, how to be repressive of understanding and exceedingly aggressive. Barnett (2000:80) and Ongala (1993:42) confirm that the image of maleness reflects a man who cannot be resisted in his family or community. Thus, violent men and boys are partly acting out the dictates of what it means to be a `normal, complete and real' male.

The link between GBV and power is important to know. Domestic violence by men preserves and conveys power over family members that are women and children. Men's violence remains a fundamental insight that the violence committed by men is key for the organisation and maintenance of gender inequality. In effect, rape and other forms of sexual abuse have been considered as typical terms of the operation of male power over women. In this connection, Miller and Biele (1993:53) state that `rape is the final expression of sexism, a perfectly designed weapon of social control.' When men apply violence in intimate relations, they are reinforcing sexism, the beliefs of male dominance and superiority (Hearn, 1996b:29). The institutionalisation of male supremacy and patriarchy are in both the public and private areas and they are fundamental in accounting for GBV.

To illustrate this, sometimes men's domestic abuse can be the effect of possessiveness and jealousy. In men's mind there is the sense of the justification to punish their women. This translates the conviction that that violence is an acceptable and logical form of punishment as a form of expectations regarding women's domestic work; and the importance for men of maintaining and exercising status and authority over women (Levy, 1991:23). In fact, men's domestic violence in families and homes `is only understandable in the context of power inequalities and gender norms, and can be seen as a development of dominant-submissive power relations that exist in normal family life'(Hearn,1996b:31). In the same vein, men may react violently if their power and honour are mistrusted and other approaches have failed or when they feel threatened when family members do not do what they expect (Gelles, 1997:58).

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