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The question posed here is an interesting\none. Is violence an inevitable part of human existence? There have\nbeen many scientists studying human evolution that differ on their views about\nif humans are \u201cnaturally\u201d violent. There is evidence that early\nhominids were, in fact, very passive and later evidence that suggests that\nviolence was used only to expand territory to support increasing human\npopulations. While the knowledge continues to develop in this area,\nit is important to note that much of the early writings related to humans\nnatural tendencies towards violence were written between the 1st<\/sup> and\n2nd<\/sup> world wars, when it was critical, in western thought, to\nview humans (in particular men) as \u201cthe hunter\u201d and when “It was very easy to see warfare and violence as\ninherent in the human condition during a period when humanity was literally\ntrying to exterminate itself.” according to Professor Michael Bisson,\narchaeologist at Montreal’s McGill University (Whipps, 2006)<\/p>\n\n\n\n What about violence targeted at women? The origin of violence\ntargeted against women, however, is easier to pinpoint. In\nparticular in North America, but in similar patterns all over the world,\ncolonization brought with it a structured view of women as subordinate to men\nwithin the context of all social spheres. Prior to colonization, indigenous\ncommunities had more balanced governance and social value systems related to\ngender. Women held critical roles and responsibilities within their communities. During\nthe process of colonization, patriarchal belief systems, typically stemming\nfrom \u201cnew religions\u201d where there was only one god and he was male, were forced\non the settled societies. \u201cColonization disrupted the\nbalance of complimentary gender roles and shared power in Indigenous\nsocieties.\u201d and the \u201c settlers introduced new values and ideals steeped in\nwhite male superiority and suppressed the leadership roles women held in many\nIndigenous societies.\u201d <\/strong>(Bear)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, this\npatriarchal view of women remains, which contributes to the epic proportions of\nviolence targeted at women. Mayela Garcia and Gloria Sayavedra note\nin their writing on \u201cViolence Empowerment and Women\u2019s Health\u201d in Mexico that\n\u201cGender based violence is socially tolerated violence against women because\nthey are women. Sometimes it is used consciously to perpetuate\nmasculine power and control, sometimes it is an unconscious\nexpression. Either way, the damage caused by violence, perpetuates\nfemale subordination.\u201d Gender based violence is an \u201cact of force or\ncoercion with an intent to perpetuate or promote gendered hierarchical\nrelationships\u201d. (Garcia, 1996)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the United States,\nfeminists have long been calling attention to the promotion of violence against\nwomen through structures of patriarchy. Data is hard to collect and\ntherefore the problem is hard to articulate. Even some of the most\nwell-known and agreed upon statistics like, 1 in 5 college age women will\nexperience sexual assault (White House Council on Women and Girls Report, 2013)\nand 1 in 3 women will be the victim of physical violence from an intimate\n(NCADV, 2018), are still fraught with collection problems that prevent us from\nseeing the full picture. For example, data is collected typically from reports\nto police or victim services. Often women don\u2019t report, including\nwomen historically marginalized by policing agencies and other governmental\nstructures. Many victim\u2019s groups have direct connections with these\ngovernmental agencies creating barriers for women seeking out victim\nsupport. Most recent examples include the United States governments\ntargeting of immigrants, undocumented or otherwise. Many local\ncommunities had created mechanisms that would prevent victims of gender based\nviolence from having to disclose their immigration status. The\ncurrent presidential administration has begun to force these communities,\nthrough threats of retaliation, to share information related to immigration\nstatus with the federal immigration policing agencies. This has led\nto a great deal of fear within communities of undocumented people, and women\nwho are undocumented or have family members that are, are no longer reporting\ntheir domestic abuse to police or seeking out victim support. This\nalso doesn\u2019t account for the numerous women seeking asylum because of domestic\nviolence in their home countries, who are separated from their children and\ndetained at the border, often indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, data\nrelated to sexual violence typically focuses on those women who have access to\nprivilege in society, as is illustrated by the focus on women experiencing\nsexual assault on college campuses. There has been a great deal of\nmedia and governmental attention given, in recent years, to the violence\nperpetrated on women who are college students. While this is a\ncritical threat to the advancement of women in society overall, in an\neducational system that is not open and free to all, the women who attend\ncollege tend to have social identities with more privilege (white, middle to upper\nclass, non-parents, not required to work). This focus, therefore,\nmisses the vast numbers of women who experience sexual assault from communities\nthat are poor, marginalized, working, aging, etc. According to the\nRape, Incest National Network, \u201cAmerican Indians\nare twice as likely to experience a rape\/sexual assault compared to all races\u201d. These\nstories don\u2019t become the headlines in the national news and our societal\ninstitutions tend to ignore them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While\nthe U.S. has certainly made some progress in addressing the issues of gender\nbased violence, it has a long way to go. Until the norms of society\nchange, and we create equality in other areas like eliminating the inequitable\ntreatment of women in education, work environments and leadership, the home\nwill remain a dangerous place to be for women.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The question posed here is an interesting one. Is violence an inevitable part of human existence? There have been many scientists studying human evolution that differ on their views about if humans are \u201cnaturally\u201d violent. There is evidence that early hominids were, in fact, very passive and later evidence that suggests that violence was used only to … <\/p>\n