Mohammed Alam

English101
Period 2 Tu.Th
Professor Andersen
11/29/15
When Media Speaks Violence Loses
With the growing advancements in technology media has become very widespread, being
used in many different platforms, and becoming very popular among all groups of people. Today
media plays a very significant role in our society giving us a source of information on whats
going on in the world around us, entertainment, voice etc. Media is all around us from the shows
on televisions, to the apps on our phones, to the music and radio stations we listen to, the books
and articles we read, and even to the brand new tabs we open on the internet. Now does the
media do enough to depict and cover domestic violence cases so that silent victims such as
children and people our age know whats right or wrong, and how to combat it?
In many relationships, and families around the world members argue, and fight with
one another. For some this argument or fight is just simple stage in their life happening once in a
blue moon, but for others its an ongoing day to day problem that sometimes ends with one or
multiple members getting brutally injured, or even killed. Whats even worse about this is that
the people who experience this; whether they were physically hurt or not, experience emotional
tremors, they live in fear, and even lose their trust in other people. Domestic Violence as this is
known as is a serious issue in the world today affecting countless numbers of people. In a study
done by the CDC (Center for Disease control) on average nearly 20 people are victims of
physical violence by an intimate partner every minute and that is in the United States alone
(NISVS Infographic, 2014). Keep in mind this is only based on the people who have reported
domestic violence and had actually been physically abused. The NCADV states that 1 in 5

women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of severe physical violence by their partners in their
lifetime(NCADV Statistics,2015). Only in recent decades domestic violence has been seen as
an actual issue, before that domestic violence was seen as a moral or ethical issue, a plain
personal family problem.
So what exactly is domestic violence defined as? Well the typical dictionary definition of
domestic violence is given as Violent or aggressive behavior within the home, typically
involving the violent abuse of a spouse or partner (Oxford, 2015). In an interview I did with a
young domestic violence victim/abuser named Shaun; he defines domestic violence as A lot of
physical abuse as well as emotional abuse, but also having fear in your partner, and the victims
can be male or female (Shaun, Personal Interview, October 28, 2015). Both of these definitions
are absolutely correct but theres more to it. Domestic violence is any type of abuse whether
physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, or even economical/financial between two or more
people in a relationship, or family. Some people tend to say that domestic violence happens only
to those who are dependent on others, to people who are not going to speak out. But the truth is it
does not discriminate. Women, men, children, the rich or poor, whether youre lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, or straight, even if youre educated or not it can occur to everyone
including me and you.
Domestic violence can have many effects on children, families, peoples mental health,
and behavior. In the book Children and Exposure to Domestic Violence it says Studies indicate
that child witnesses, on average, are more aggressive and fearful and more often suffer from
anxiety, depression, and other trauma-related symptoms when compared to children who have
not witnessed abuse or been abused (Judd, 2013, p.147). Domestic violence affects both victims
and witnesses, as you can see children face many types of problems being a witness. Along with

children families get broken up, parents end up getting divorced, and children end up choosing
who to live with, or even get sent to foster care. Many mental health problems can also be seen,
people may have cases of PTSD, depression anxiety etc. Behavior also becomes a big issue
especially among the kids, some kids may act out in rage towards others by imitating what they
see, not only that but some can even become abusers themselves when they get older.

Today the Majority of people with access to the internet has some type of social media
account. Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. do a lot to depict, and inform
people about domestic violence. Ordinary people who want to have a voice take action to spread
awareness by posting their views, pictures, and even telling their personal account of domestic
violence. Through constant verbal and emotional abuse he convinced me that my family hated
me and that the people I considered friends would never be my friends if they knew the real me.
That is why, despite being hit more times than I can count I stayed. The fear of the unknown
and the complete loss of self-worth kept me trapped for over two years (Nikki, n.d.). This post
on Tumblr for example gives a personal account of Nikkis fight against domestic abuse done by
her husband, and shows detailed information of what she went through.
Posts like these on social media accounts are what can help raise a lot of awareness. The
actual account of someones experience with domestic violence can be used as a lesson for
someone who might currently be in an abusive situation. It can be a place where one can learn
what to, and not to do to avoid situations like this. In a report done by wearesocial.com it
shows that in January of 2015 there were nearly 2.078 billion people who have some sort of
active social media account (Digital, Social & Mobile Worldwide in 2015, 2015).With this
number in mind another good aspect of domestic violence post on social media sites is that

everyone could see it, unless privatized, a very good post could spread like wild fire being seen
by millions of people, bring awareness. Now although this next thing can come with its dangers
if not done carefully, a current victim could also be able to save her/himself from domestic abuse
by posting his or her situation hopefully getting help, and advice from the large social media
community.
Social media is not the only type of media that depict domestic violence case. Television
is also another big media source. For the most part television is seen as a source of entertainment
where one can just sit back and relax. The viewing of television entertains people of all ages
from young babies to the super elderlies, with shows ranging from Teletubbies shows such as
Judge Judy. Along with entertaining, this type of media also serves as a large information hub,
for example the news channels. The news channels are here to inform us on current events going
on around the world, keeping us up to date. Television also is used to spread specific messages,
such as political, informational, educational etc. This is being done through the use of television
Ads such as the You Want Change, I'll bring it, So Vote for Me, and Smoking Kills we all
see.
Due to the massive amount of viewers news channels receive, it would be one of the best
places to cover domestic violence cases so people like us would be informed about this topic, but
that is usually not the case. Personally Ive watched the news almost every day while doing
homework, or something, and have been doing so for years. From what I recall, I can specifically
say that there were two cases of domestic violence that news channels aired, and talked a lot
about that I can actually remember. And both involved a celebrity, or well know person, such as
Chris Brown or more recently Ray Rice. In the website USNews.com an article written by Casey
Lines, Casey says Although the rate of domestic violence has dropped significantly over the

past decade, the issue remains extremely relevant and far-reaching, and has been spotlighted
recently by cases involving NFL players Ray Rice and Greg Hardy, as well as pop star Chris
Brown (Sobering Stats for Domestic Violence Awareness Month,2015). Most of us know these
cases especially the one involving Chris Brown where he brutally beat another popstar named
Rhianna, and yes both of them being so well known did shed some light upon domestic violence,
but Many, Many, Many cases still get unreported. Not all of us are famous or popular, but that is
no excuse for News channels not to report cases that ordinary people share. I believe that
reporting cases of regular people facing domestic abuse would help more people speak out.

SITES TO ADD TO REFERENCE PAGE

Children and Exposure to Domestic Violence. (2013). In S. J. Judd (Ed.), Health Reference Series.
Domestic Violence Sourcebook (4th ed., pp. 147-158).

I Am A Domestic Violence Survivor. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from

http://soworthloving.tumblr.com/post/100722610978/i-am-a-domestic-violence-survivor
Kemp, S. (2015, January 21). Digital, Social & Mobile Worldwide in 2015. Retrieved December
1, 2015, from http://wearesocial.net/blog/2015/01/digital-social-mobile-worldwide-2015/
Leins, C. (2015, October 9). Sobering stats for domestic violence awareness month. Retrieved
December 1, 2015, from http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/10/09/soberingstats-for-domestic-violence-awareness-month
NISVS Infographic. (2014, September 8). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/infographic.html
Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from http://www.ncadv.org/learn/statistics