Experts Call for Domestic Violence Redefinition
The very broadest of definitions of domestic violence label it as “a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation.” Broken down further, the term domestic violence encapsulates everything from assault or threats thereof, intimidation, sexual or emotional abuse, and even economic deprivation.
Recently, there has been an outcry among experts calling for the term ‘domestic violence’ to fall into disuse. Their main reasoning behind this is that they feel domestic violence sounds overly sanitized, and they wish for the crime to be called what it is: kidnapping, intimidation, assault, etc.
These experts are quick to mention that they have no problem with the legal system, or the handling of these domestic violence cases. Rather, the issue they have is with the term itself. Mitchell Rosen, a licensed marriage and family therapist, as well as domestic violence expert, says “by using the phrase ‘domestic violence’ many people believe what has occurred is something different than an attack, intimidation or kidnapping.”
He goes on to express concern that when people hear a man is guilty of domestic violence, in their head they see a man standing in a doorway preventing a hysterical wife from storming out during an argument, or a woman grabbing her husband’s arm and leaving bruises.
Rosen is an advocate for separating the catch-all ‘domestic violence’ term into subcategories, thus allowing government agencies and non-profits to specialize in what services they offer. He believes that will allow victims of truly horrific domestic violence to immediately get help from people who specialize in exactly what the victim is going through.
“When we use domestic violence as a catch-all term,” Rosen says, “that encompasses everything from inadvertently grabbing a person and leaving a mark, to beating the bloody heck out of someone. The term leaves too much to the imagination.”
Rosen is pleased by the recent trend among judges to take domestic violence cases more seriously, and how therapists nowadays are required to have training in domestic violence. He calls the trend “encouraging,” but wishes for the label to change.
