Domestic Violence and Control Case Study Assignment (Essay Sample)

Domestic Violence and Control Case Study
Name
Institution
Domestic Violence and Control Case Study
Introduction
Domestic violence is not a recent happening in the society evident from its occurrence throughout the human history. For instance, from social and cultural perspectives, a woman was a property of the man; hence, the man had a responsibility to discipline the woman as well as children and slaves. The man had the powers to engage in the physical beating of the woman. In spite of the presence of laws, it was only until the early 1970s, when the United States justice system and law enforcement began to perceive the concern of domestic violence as a crime. During this period, social services for the domestic violence victims were nonexistence. The paper purposes to respond to domestic violence and control case study involving Eddie.
Discussion
At the offset, Eddie exerted power and control over the victim in the following ways. The first way was through emotional abuse. Emotional abuse was noticeable from Eddie calling his victim names such as ‘slut, liar,’ and ‘bitch.’ The second way was through isolation. Eddie controlled every action of the victim, for instance, denying her the right to have breakfast with her parents a routine she had prior to meeting Eddie, limiting her time to do shopping as well as forcing her to come straight home from work without delaying. Thirdly, Eddie used male privilege to exert power and control over the victim. The male privilege was unmistakable in Eddie treating the victim like a servant visible in him making all the big decisions in spite the decisions involving the victim. A compelling example was Eddie deciding to limit the victim visiting her parents without his consent. The last way was through coercion and threats (Wallace & Roberson, 2011). Eddie threatened to drive off to Dead Horse Point if the victim hurt him.
The domestic violence entailing Eddie and the victim was not preceded with other types of abuse. Whereas Lombard & McMillan (2013) allege that in most instances, other forms of abuse such as stalking, spiritual abuse precede domestic abuse or sexual assault, in the example of Eddie and his victim, the case of domestic violence was only apparent on suddenly after the victim was gone to the grocery store for more than hour. Prior to this sudden violence visible in Eddie slamming the victim, which resulting in the victim hitting her head on a piano, Eddie, and the victim had a cordial and warm relationship for three months. This relationship was perceptible in Eddie buying the victim flowers and cards for this period. However, the consistent action of buying the victim flowers and cards can be presumed as Eddie being obsessed with the victim as well as attempting to hide his insecurity through buying the victim flowers and cards every day.
Eddie was able to isolate and control the victim in the following ways. The first way was through Eddie controlling what the victim did, the people the victim saw or visited as well as the people the victim engaged (Wallace & Roberson, 2011). In the instance of what the victim did and the people the victim visited, Eddie enforced time limits of ten minutes to visit the grocery store or her parents, which resulted in ensuring that the victim could not visit her parents or sister. Moreover, during her time off from work the victim had to sit by the phone to respond to his five-minute interval calls. In the second instance of the persons, she talked too; Eddie used to batter her when he found her talking to her the manager at work. The second way Eddie isolated and controlled the victim was through limiting her outside involvement. This limitation was palpable in ten-minute time limits he had set the victim to visit either her parents or the grocery store.
I harbor the perspective that domestic violence is more than physical abuse of the victim by the perpetrator. Domestic violence based on this case study involves power and control of the victim. While, physical abuse such as battering, beating, shoving, head butting, arm-twisting and other forms of assault make the basis and larger part of the physical abuse, power, and control often orchestrate this physical abuse of the victim. The perpetrator ensures that through power and control, for instance, using threats and coercion, the victim will always be afraid to report the abuse to authority hence the ...