a posting substitute

because i have been too busy hawking up phlegm and doing these research projects to post a real post... i decided to share my introduction to my most recent attempt at this skool work thing with you. this is for my violence in families course. if any of you are interested enough that you want to read the whole thing after it is completed... i advise against asking me because this is really the only part i am making any effort into being quality. so yeah... let me know if you see any typos.

The Battle of the Sexes… Literally.
A Research Project on the Effects of Gender on Domestic Violence

In a world that clearly, even if it isn’t consciously, defines life along gender lines, it is important to always consider the effects of the spoken and unspoken rules these line create. These laws govern us in ways that span from our careers to our families to our interior-designing color palettes. One cannot deny that we are living in separate spheres of female and male… and that only the daring really ever cross over to the other side.

Attempting to put a socially constructed ideal of “male” and “female” into the real, imperfect human population limits everyone. Now, this is not a bitter diatribe directed towards the gender stereotypes of today… this is just plain, factual, background content for a more curious problem. And that problem is domestic violence. We know it happens, and just like with gender, the covert laws of private vs. public domain limit us as to how much we know about it. It happens within the home. It happens within the family. Rupturing the sphere we have created for the “Kodak moments” that fill a family’s ideals, violence becomes an unspoken terror that haunts us in the back of our minds.

So what does gender have to do with domestic violence? The spheres, as separate as they may be, are all intertwined. In studying one, it is impossible to achieve clear understanding without delving into the others. Simply put, the traditional gender roles in our society can be a factor in perpetuating ideas and myths about violence. The gender roles we have created for the family environment strictly control how that environment operates. Granted, these are all generalizations and stereotypes, but they are the assumed default setting. The standards. We have the role of the father, being the provider and the master of the house. And his partner, the mother, supporting her husband, taking care of the family and household responsibilities. These roles place the male in power. With these preconceived notions and through familial examples and traditions passed down from generation to generation, it is no wonder that beating, raping or mentally abusing the wife is common practice.

The eight following articles have been chosen to bring different aspects of gender, family and violence together, in hopes of showing the negative effects gender stereotyping can have on the family… resulting in the perpetual domestic violence present in our society.