A socio-pathological phenomenon in society. Abuse and mistreatment of women.

Introduction

The issue of violence against women is a global problem. Many people either consciously or unconsciously overlook this phenomenon, or downplays. Gender-based violence (including rape, domestic violence, mutilation, murder and sexual abuse) is a major, not just a health problem for women worldwide. Although gender-based violence is a significant cause of female morbidity and mortality, it is almost nowhere considered a public health problem. Deep-rooted views on the relationship between men and women, social alienation of discussing "private matters" in public, and especially the lack of interest of competent people prevent the solution of this worldwide problem.

View of women in society

Who is a woman? This is the fundamental question that brings us to the essence of being human. In the 21st century, this seems like a banal question. After all, today we know almost everything about women as such, we have gained many new knowledge from various scientific disciplines. It sounds like a paradox, but sometimes it seems that we know it the least today.

In human society, a woman should not be forgotten, she should be focused on her extraordinary, central and fertile element – ​​femininity, because a woman experiences her whole person much more intensely than only as a whole. What he does, he does with his whole being. All events, perceptual, biological, emotional, psychological... are interconnected in it. A woman is based more for concrete and synthetic thinking, she thinks more in relationships. It relates everything mostly to persons. Her speech is not straightforward and easy to understand. The words he utters must often be understood in a different way than their exact meaning. A woman expresses herself indirectly, in detours, hints a little, with a few words, sometimes just one word or a gesture, and she already thinks she has expressed herself sufficiently. A woman thinks and perceives in relationships, she looks at everything through the personality that it somehow affects. He can hardly imagine the truth without a person behind it. For a woman, it is important who said it and also how he said it, how he was dressed, etc. A woman perceives it all.

A woman's mission is motherhood. Society should properly appreciate the work that a woman does in the family and in raising children, recognize her value on a social and economic level. Women primarily take care of their children and the household. John Stuart Mill was also a great supporter of emancipation and openly spoke out against men's inability and unwillingness to treat women fairly. He does not only criticize the present or current state. He also tries to outline visions for the future, efforts to transform marriage. "It should be a union of a woman and a man on the basis of friendship and equality. However, the reform of marriage and parentage requires the reform of the educational and social system and traditional cultural customs." (1)

Only thanks to the understanding and help of the husband and the whole family can they be involved in society. It is therefore necessary to introduce new models of behavior and evaluation of women's activities into our society.

General definition of the problem of violence against women

The topic of violence in society is a highly topical problem, and its importance is also emphasized by the fact that in recent years there has been an increase in criminal activity with an element of violence against women and children.

In today's postmodern society, all prejudices that arose as a result of socialization regarding women and children must be reduced. This question must be brought to all the responsible institutions of society (police, courts, education, healthcare), analyze its causes and thus create prerequisites for the successful adoption of a strategy to combat violence against women and children, with the aim of creating a society in which all people can coexist without prejudice and fear of violence.

Violence against women is not just physical violence. Violence is any behavior by a man aimed at exercising power or control over a woman and children. The most common forms of violence:

Physical violence - includes various forms of brutal treatment: kicking, sucking, pulling hair, beating with intent to death, burning. The violence increases over time and becomes more and more brutal. Fearmongering is another means and part of the dynamics of violence against women. "Fear of further violence is often the most powerful tool of coercion. Once the victim feels fear, there is no need to use physical violence because fear acts as an intimidator." (2) Psychological abuse includes emotional and verbal abuse. The disabled person feels this as a violation of their sense of self-worth and psychological health. This form of violence includes, for example, mocking in public, insulting statements about appearance or character, name-calling. Men often use these expressions to deflect attention from their own violent acts by looking for the problem in the woman. Social violence is behavior that aims to isolate a woman from the environment. This includes, for example, banning contact with family or friends, locking in the apartment, blocking the phone, and the like. Economic violence means abuse of the power to dispose of financial resources. A man e.g. he does not give financial means for living, or gives only an insufficient amount, conceals his assets and the amount of his income, but controls the woman's income. Sexual violence includes all sexual acts that are forced on a woman. "Sexual violence is an act of aggression and abuse of power and is not the result of uncontrollable sexual urges." (3) Harassment and terror, frequent phone calls, threatening letters, spying, stalking, verbal threats ... these are other frequently used means of controlling the victim. We know cases of the rapist threatening with a weapon, sometimes also to third parties (children, relatives or pets).

The huge scale of the problem on a global scale requires a public discussion on the topic of gender-based violence in society, considers it important to examine the motives of the perpetrators, the social framework in which violence occurs and to inform about the consequences of violence in every society, including ours.

Violence against women appearing in society

The dimension of domestic violence is alarming and no society can claim that it does not occur in it today. Only its forms and trends change in individual countries. Some groups of women are more vulnerable. These include refugee women, as Heise points out, women in prisons and correctional facilities, disabled women, retired women, and young girls.

Research on violence against women does not have a long history. The issue of harming women in the immediate family circle began to be more widely monitored only thirty years ago, but foreign research was initially oriented towards the extreme - the murder of wives and children. Only later did it become clear that this problem affects practically the entire human society.

Consequences of violence against women

The beating and abuse of girls and women is a phenomenon that occurs throughout human history. For millennia, the superior position of men has been customary in society, since patriarchy replaced matriarchy. This inhumane and women-degrading right of men to punish and humiliate women was supported and maintained by legal, religious and cultural norms.

Through the socialization of children in family and social life, these patriarchal patterns are further passed on and preserved. If we want to eliminate violence from women's lives and if we want to prevent it, we must necessarily destroy myths, remove patriarchal cultural patterns and provide new models of a truly equal position of women and men in the family.

Gender-based violence is a major problem worldwide. Women who have become victims of violence have undermined self-confidence, the violence that affects them regularly endangers their health, making it impossible for them to fully participate in the life of society. Gender-based violence also represents a major health problem for women all over the world, it is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among women. Abuse can have an impact not only on mental health, but also to a large extent on physical health, even with a delay and can cause, for example, arthritis, high blood pressure and heart disease.

The relationship between abuse and the psychological disorders caused by it also seriously affects the mortality rate of women. Women who are under constant pressure have a higher susceptibility to suicide, abused women are 5 times more likely to attempt suicide than non-abused women. The main risk factor for murders of women and murders committed by women is domestic violence.

Domestic violence most often remains unrecognized and unpunished because its perpetrators are victims in silence or are apparently condoned. Women, as victims of violence, endure violence mostly in the greatest solitude. Not because they are silent, but because we cannot hear them. "Breasts alone, brain shaken, skin scratched, soul torn, I can't scream - the neighbors stare, I scream for help - they don't listen." (4) In many cases, not only neighbors, but also their own family members, living in the same household do not see, or rather do not want to see, the violence committed by a man against his own wife and children. If the victim calls the police, they are afraid to admit that they saw something. They are afraid that the abuser might take revenge on them, and they are also afraid of the environment, which tends to judge others for "messing into the household" of other neighbors.

Being a victim of persistent or sudden violent behavior and not having the possibility to trust a person who should sympathize and help means to be deprived of support, solidarity and justice. It is another form of violence that joins violence committed in the family, in an intimate relationship. Trauma experienced in isolation has the most devastating impact on a person. If a woman is beaten by her husband, or a daughter to her father and has no one to confide in, things are raging inside her until the situation can escalate into suicide. Crisis centers in Slovakia also manage lines that are free and where victims are advised by experts, but many times it helps victims just to have someone to talk to, to confide in someone about the trauma that is bothering them.

Complete elimination and rehabilitation of the consequences of the abuse experienced is possible when the abuse is completely and permanently stopped. A woman is able to recover from the consequences of abuse only if she leaves the rapist and cuts off all contact with him.

Many women endure the psychological consequences of abuse worse than the physical ones. They suffer from fear, anxiety, fatigue, post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep disorders, as well as eating disorders. These disorders are common long-term reactions to violence. Abused women can become dependent, easily influenced and can lose the ability to make independent decisions.

The relationship between violence perpetrated by an intimate partner and psychological disorders also affects women's mortality through an increased risk of suicide. "Suicide is not a meaningless death. It is often a demonstration of the hopelessness of a woman who is unable to cope with violence from her partner, a woman who has not found support in her environment and considers suicide the only way out of this vicious circle". (5)

The medical consequences of rape and sexual abuse by a stranger prove that gender-based violence does not only take place at home, in the private sphere. It is a society-wide phenomenon, occurring outside the family as well. Sexual assault can cause physical injuries as well as emotional trauma. The worst consequence of such abuse can be falling into unconsciousness and subsequent death. Women who have survived rape show different symptoms caused by the trauma at different times - nightmares, depression, inability to concentrate, sleep and eating disorders, feelings of anger and humiliation and self-blame. Victims of rape outside the home are also prone to suicide attempts. For women, the consequences of rape can last for several months, years, for more unstable women until the end of their lives. Even after many years, after which the woman has had time to psychologically "process" the rape, these women are more likely to develop deep depression, alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, drug addiction and other addictions, as well as personality disorders and many others.

In addition to physical injury and emotional harm, raped women are at risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Another serious problem is unwanted pregnancy. Even today, there are countries where abortion is illegal, even in cases of rape, or where safe abortion is unavailable. Thousands of raped women have to suffer double humiliation - rape and unwanted pregnancy, the result of which is the birth of a child who is not responsible for anything.

Conclusion

Violence against women is also a hidden obstacle to economic and social development. By sapping women's energy, undermining their self-confidence and endangering their health, gender-based violence prevents them from fully participating in society.

If we denied the great and irreplaceable role of women in the family, we would close our eyes to reality. We are not talking about her housekeeping skills, but about a set of moral qualities that cannot be summed up in a few words without simplifying and forgetting something. Women have an amazing ability to accept people, to express and give love, to make others happy and to love everyone as they are, selflessly and unconditionally.

Author: Slavomír Laca Used literature:

1. BENEDICT, H.: It's not your fault! Prague: One Woman Press, 2003, 373 p. ISBN 80-86356-17-5.
2. BODNÁROVÁ, B. – FILADELFIOVÁ, J.: Domestic violence in Slovakia. Preliminary research report. Bratislava: International Center for Family Studies, 2002, 122 p. ISBN 80-89048-06-4.
3. CVIKOVÁ, J. – JURÁŇOVÁ, J.: Piata žena. Aspects of violence against women. Bratislava: Aspekt, 2001, 385 p. ISBN 80-85549-28-X.
4. ERDÉLYIOVÁ, R.: Strategies for the elimination of violence against women. Bratislava: Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic - Secretariat of the Government Council of the Slovak Republic for Crime Prevention, Office of the Minister of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, 2000, 85 p.
5. HEISE, L.L. – PINTAGUY, J. – GERMAIN, A.: Violence against women: hidden damage to health. Bratislava: PRO FAMILIA: Aspekt, 1998, 72 p. ISBN 80-967964-0-2.
6. HIRIGOYEN, M.F.: Psychological violence in the family and at work. Prague: Academia, 2002, 232 p. ISBN 80-200-0994-9.
7. STUART, M.J.: The servitude of women. Bratislava: Kalligram, 2003, 168 p.

(1) STUART, M.J.: The subjection of women. Bratislava: Kalligram, 2003, 168 p. (2) BODNÁROVÁ, B. – FILADELFIOVÁ, J.: Domestic violence in Slovakia. Bratislava: MZS, 2002, 122 p. (3) ERDÉLYIOVÁ, R.: Strategies for the elimination of violence against women. Bratislava: Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic, 2000, 85 p (4) HIRIGOYEN, M. F.: Psychological violence in the family and at work. Prague: Academia, 2002, 232 p. (5) BENEDICT, H.: It's not your fault. Prague: One Woman Press, 2003, 206 p

The contribution was made at the 5th annual scientific conference with international participation entitled 'Social-pathological phenomena and marginalized groups', which was organized by the Queen's Peace Institute of Medžugorja Bardejov, the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies Brno, Faculty of Philosophy UPJS Kosice and was held on October 8, 2010 in Bardejov.

Publications of the author of the article: PaedDr. Slavomír Laca, PhD

Základy sociálnej pedagogiky - Social pedagogy undergoes constant development in connection with the development of the entire society, which is marked by social changes related primarily to the growing technology, automation and globalization of the world, but also to the growing number of socio-pathological phenomena in society.

Vybrané kapitoly z etiky pre sociálno-zdravotnícke profesie - Currently, we can state that there is a large increase in scientific knowledge about man as a rational individual at the level of the human population, up to various issues. Multiple and complicated ethical questions regarding human life are increasingly coming to the fore.