It could be how it is represented in the media including news and television shows. Often you can turn on the tv and see some talk show host interviewing victims of domestic violence. If you are not paying strict attention you could get the notion that it is something only happens to certain kinds of people.
Maybe it's a certain ethnic or income group. It could also be a group whose educational background is not as extensive as say for instance the talk show host doing the interviewing.
Statistics which can be an indicator or just a snapshot in time can also "confirm" that domestic violence is almost exclusive to one group or another.
Impressions are one thing; reality is another. Lynn Woolsey found that out. Ms Woolsey is a
Congressional representative for California's sixth district: "I represent an affluent district, but when I worked to form my county's first battered-women's shelter, some nights there were no beds left. Violence against women crosses all economic lines."
As well as color lines, ethnic lines and educational lines. It could care less where you live, what exclusive clubs you do or do not belong to, where your kids go to school or the type of car you drive.
That's because domestic violence is not about society as a whole. Of course the environment you grew up in can have an impact on your behavior but all too frequently it becomes the primary measuring stick.
Therefore it can come as a shock to some of us when we find out couples that live in a poor neighborhood with extremely limited educational backgrounds have been happily married for countless years and have
never experienced one instance of domestic violence.
Meanwhile married couples who are at the other end of the scale are domestic violence personified.
This is not to say that it cannot affect one group or another disproportionately. It is to say however in the final analysis domestic violence comes down to the interaction of two individuals regardless of what district they live in.
Article written by Daryl Campbell. Discover the nine step formula for surviving an abusive relationship at
The Relationship Tip.
