Author Archives: jessical

Domestic Violence

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      Through examining “Domestic Violence:  A Cross-Cultural View”, by Elaine Leeder, domestic violence is similar in India, Japan, and Africa depicted through the “reflection  of structural inequality and cultural attitudes about gender”(p. 248), presented as a major global issue.  Domestic violence in each society, is justified by beliefs, striving to achieve desired values held by that society, at the expense of others.  Specifically, partaking in violence using physical or emotional abuse to socially control a gender while empowering another, illuminated by the theoretical social-conflict approach.

      However, the reason giving rise to domestic violence varies.  For example, “many forms of domestic violence in India occur as a result of rising industrialization and modernization”(p. 248).  In contrast, Japan is a highly industrialized country, but “male violence in Japan seems to cross all socioeconomic strata” (p. 250).  In addition, society in Vietnam still values “the old Confucian ideas of ‘thinking highly of men and slightly of women’ seem to inform beliefs about hitting one’s wife” (p. 251).  Moreover, in Africa, specifically “Uganda, violence against one’s wife is accepted as legitimate” (p. 252), referred to as part of  “our culture” (p. 252). 

      With our focus on India, industrialization and modernization have led to increased child abuseIndia as a result from a “greater amount of stress”(p. 249), placed on middle class families, striving to gain upward social mobility, suggesting violence as an avenue used to release frustration created by not readily having the means to achieve goals.  Child abuse may also be a result of the traditional aspect of Indian culture, which entails a “pattern of corporal punishment in raising children,” in which the “children are socialized to obey their parents, with use of strict discipline” (p.249).  This statement proposes child abuse is considered a norm, passed from generation to generation.  Additionally, the “family is highly hierarchical, and now that more families are moving away from the joint family, there is less support for raising children and sharing household tasks” (p. 249).  This statement exemplifies the change in family life, causing strain from balancing the family and household needs with less support and more responsibility.  Indian society is also ingrained with the use of corporal punishment, exemplified in a study, which reported “56.9 percent report having used ‘acceptable’ forms of violence, while 41.9 percent engaged in ‘abusive’ violence”(p. 249).    

       Child abuse in India is an important concern, “particularly in rural villages”(p. 249).  According to Barbara Miller, who had “found significant discrimination against girl children there”(p. 249).  This discrimination incorporates many forms of thoughts and actions, ranging from being thought of as less than, to the “withholding of medical care for girls and preferential feeding of boy children” to “female infanticide”, supporting the social inequality faced by females starting at the time of conception, forward.  The discriminatory cultural attitudes in relation to gender snowballs from this point onward, spanning from one generation into another, being considered part of the norm.  This supports why wife battering is a prevalent issue, accented by the “normal” family dynamic tradition.

      Wife battering is referred to as “a fairly common occurrence”(p. 248), validated if the woman “does not behave herself” (p. 248), not “fulfilled societal  expectations”(p. 250), “dowry problems, a wife’s infidelity, her neglect to household duties, or her disobedience to her husband’s dictates” (p. 249).  Through examination of the text, wife battering in India has alarmed the attention of both the Indian government and feminist organizations. 

      Although Leeder refers to rising industrialization and modernization increase the likelihood of family violence, wife battering is common in high income countries such as Japan and the United States reflecting the cultural views attached by society in regard to gender.   Most women never complain about domestic violence because there is little or no help available to support great change and/or support the ideology behind the abuse.    

      The individual, legal, historical, and cultural factors that help explain their silence, are generated from the beliefs and values their society holds.  For example, India “having fulfilled societal expectations seems to provide a deterrent to abuse” (p. 249).  Japan, “unlike the United States, Japan has no specific laws against wife battering as a crime, and there is no governmental funding for services that address the problem”  (p. 250).  In Vietnam, “laws were passed to equalize the rights, positions, and interests of women” (p. 251),“unfortunately, today the vestiges of Confucian ideology still linger” (p. 251).  Historical factors in Africa, exemplified “if a woman attacks her husband, the violence is considered criminal,” but “there are no specific laws against wife battering” given that “it is hard to implement the law since law enforcement officials view the problem the way the public does, as not a problem”  (p. 252).

      In addition, the text depicts both “invisible violence”(p. 251) and “visible violence” (p. 251) in Vietnam.  Though laws were passed to attempt to level the playing field, a bit, today the “vestiges of Confucian ideology still lingers”(p. 251), supporting the social inequality of women in Vietnam today.    The “invisible violence” refers to panic and trepidation that “drives the relationships”(p. 251), justified by Confucian ideology.  The “visible violence” is the violence that has caused “numerous injuries and deaths related to violence in the home” (p. 251).    

      Leeder urges us to suspend “any ethnocentric value judgments” about family violence, meaning to examine without judging from our own biased perspective, to use sociology to engage in cultural relativism for more of a correct understanding of what it is and why, and not what it should be.  This does not mean that the global community shouldn’t interfere with a country’s violent practices against women and children, but when we need to this proposes that we need to have an unbiased understanding about their culture, in order to obtain a widely accepted solution.

Jessica

Thinness

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Have you ever experienced or observed the struggle a person faces when dealing with weight issues? For many, weight gain and loss is similar to a rollercoaster ride at an amusement park. The ride excels an individual from one extreme to another, struggling to achieve and maintain thinness, which is acknowledged as beauty and success, through the eyes of our society.

Understanding eating disorders, through research, is critical to learning the attributes that contribute to the design of the struggle. Three theoretical models used to explain and treat eating disorders are the (1) biomedical model, (2) psychological model, and (3) the feminist model. The biomedical model presents “scientific research about the possible physiological causes of eating problems and the physiological dangers of purging and starvation”. Critical review of the biomedical model, argues that it “ignores many social, historical and cultural factors that influence women’s eating patterns”. The psychological model exemplifies eating disorders as “multidimensional disorders” which are shaped by “biological, psychological and cultural factors”, constructive “in its exploration of effective therapeutic treatments”. However, critical review of the psychological model argues that, “like the biomedical model, tends to neglect women of color, lesbians and working-class women”. In addition, the third theoretical model is the feminist model, which “asserts that eating problems are gendered”. This model “explains why the vast majority of people with eating problems are women, how gender socialization and sexism may relate to eating problems, and how masculine models of psychological development have shaped theoretical interpretations”. This model proposes that “thinness is a culturally, socially, and economically enforced requirement for female beauty”. A critical review of the feminist theoretical model argues “bias in research has consequences for women of color”. This statement is supported by Thomas Silber who “asserts that many well-trained professionals have either misdiagnosed or delayed their diagnoses of eating problems among African Americans,” which as lead to “be more severe due to extended processes of starvation prior to intervention”. Research that recognizes African America women, Latinas, and lesbians in effort to “seek to understand how race, class, gender, nationality, and sexuality inform women’s experiences and influence theory production”.

Furthermore, there is an association between sexual abuse and eating disorders, linking sexual abuse “to the origins of their eating problems”. Some women have stated that they resort to binging to help “anesthetize their feelings” while others sedate themselves through eating to “alleviate anxiety and combat loneliness”. Thompson argues that eating disorders are survival strategies, exemplifying food as a resource that provides comfort and security to an array of issues including sexism, heterosexism, and abuse.

Moreover, racism and class standings contribute to eating disorders. For example, “an African American woman, remembered when her white grandmother telling her that she would never be as pretty as her cousins because they were light skinned”. In addition, her grandmother objected to her weight” leading Joselyn to “think that even though she could not change her skin color, she could at least try to be thin”. Class standing than impacted Joselyn’s self-concept. For example, when her father’s business began to prosper, their immediate social circle of people and standards also changed. The “class expectations that their parents experienced exacerbated standards about weight that they inflicted on their daughters”.

In conclusion, Thompson maintains that women’s eating problems are a response to poverty, racism, acculturation, and social class inequality. We might explain the low rates of eating disorders among Black, ethnic, and low-income men as they may resort to other obstructive avenues of behavior, in which they dominate the higher percentage. We often use first impressions of people, especially appearance, to form a theory about who that person is. However, we must remember how important it is to judge a person based on their character, and personality while remaining conscious of not falling into the realm of “judging a book by its cover”.

BY JESSICA