Men must be protected from being pressured by traditions and macho culture into committing violence again women or other men.

Domestic violence seems to have been part of a sex war that has been waged against women. It is far easier for men to use violence to force submissiveness onto women, than any other method.

Fortunately, not all men want to do this.

Some men have been forced to be violent against women through their culture. This is seen very clearly in the ‘honor’ system in some countries where a man is ‘dishonored’ if a woman doesn’t obey him or show him disrespect.

So men are forced by social pressure to use violence against women. The point is, where is the social pressure coming from? Who is benefiting from this tradition?

20th century thinking and protests

It is my opinion that if we look at Western countries up until the beginning of the 20th century there was a similar system. The traditions were not so formalized, as in other cultures, but it was considered that a man wasn’t a ‘real man’ if he couldn’t dominate his wife. And if his wife showed disrespect then a husband had the ‘right’ to beat his wife.

During the 20th century Western women organized themselves to protest against these traditions. In the 20th century a man can now be put in prison for beating his wife or girlfriend. The very brave women who questioned these traditions had a difficult time. Some people really believed it was, ‘God’s will’ that women should be subservient to her husband. While up until the 1970s, psychologists were claiming that domestic violence was all right because all women were masochists. Yet in spite of this, attitudes in western society about domestic violence have changed dramatically in a hundred years.

But this change also happened through a rise in status of women in western countries. Women who protested about domestic violence back in the 19th century were hardly listened to, because of their low status. As women in the West gained voting rights, became better educated, and started to have professional jobs, their opinions could not easily be dismissed.

The nature of domestic violence

So the issue is also about a woman’s status in society. Domestic violence is all about controlling women and keeping them subservient. There is not an easy solution to this problem because women who who protest will get punished in some countries.

At the same time, men must be protected from being pressured by traditions and macho culture into committing violence again women or other men.

This is a response to the blog-post “Call to action: Your views on men and domestic violence”.

The opinions expressed in this text are those of the author.