Domestic violence remains to be a wide spread issue in the modern society all over the world. In the modern society, such category as single and divorced women remain to be less protected than, for example, married women. Their status implies that they are usually alone in their houses or with children who cannot guarantee protection from the potential offender. The fact that they usually are familiar with the offender only worsens the situation because such offenders possess valuable information that makes women even more vulnerable and helpless. In fact, domestic acts of violence may happen in each family, even in the families when it had never happened before, however, women who are single and divorced are more likely to become victims and the reasons for it should be examined more closely.

Reasons and Types of Domestic Violence

In general, the idea of domestic violence is based on the wish of one person to keep a control over another person and show his or her superiority. In many cases, the reasons for actions of domestic violence are mental health problems and personality disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, problems with anger management, unsatisfactory condition in financial or sexual aspects, depression, etc.

Domestic violence can be divided into two groups: physical and psychological abuse. The cases of physical abuse involve beating, burning, choking, raping, preventing a person from leaving the building or not allowing to come inside, threatening with dangerous objects (for example, a gun or a knife), stealing, preventing a person to get medical attention, murdering, etc. Therefore, physical abuse is the illegal action or actions towards another person (the victim), aimed at making intentional or unintentional harm or damage.

The cases of psychological domestic violence imply yelling and screaming, criticizing, lying, verbal threats, verbal humiliation (including humiliation in front of other people), and other actions that may lead the victim to feel hurt emotionally (for example, helpless, depressed, etc.).

Any person can be the victim of domestic violence, a male and a female, as well as a child; however, the studies show that in the ‘adults’ category, females become the victims of domestic violence more often than males.

Single Women and Domestic Violence

Studies show that single women happen to be involved in domestic violence more than married women. In fact, social status of women has a significant impact on their physical and especially mental state. Women who do not have partners are more vulnerable because they do not have a constant emotional support from someone. Also, they have a constant feeling of being unprotected in every case of abuse that also affect their psychological condition, which may result in a constant low mood.

In fact, single women more often become victims of domestic violence within the context of sexual relationships because the offender is usually aware of the woman’s social status and knows that she cannot be protected by another individual. If an act of domestic violence comes from a male, he is always aware of not being physically injured himself because in the vast majority of cases men are physically stronger than women. Therefore, men feel their superiority from the physical perspective and think that their violent actions will remain unnoticed and without following punishment from relatives or legislative system.

Since the term ‘domestic violence’ implies the idea of a victim being familiar with the offender, in many cases, the offenders are acquaintances, friends, family members (parents, siblings, etc.), or ex-partners. The abovementioned types of people are usually well aware of major aspects of a single woman’s life and know their both physical and psychological weaknesses. Also, using the personal information of a woman, they can manipulate her and force into unwanted actions, such as sexual harassment and humiliation (in private or in front of others).

Moreover, single women are often the victims of repeated domestic violence. Violent action towards single women are usually committed in private situations and do not imply witnesses who can confirm the fact of domestic abuse. From this perspective, there is a good basis for offenders to take an advantage of it, and perform abusive actions repeatedly. Many women do not try to protect themselves from repeated domestic violence by not telling about it to anyone, including legislative authorities because they feel shame, or fear that it will make the offender angry, which will lead to further acts of domestic violence. In addition, abused single women are afraid that no one will believe them because sometimes there are no proofs of being abused (especially in the cases of psychological violence, committed in private).

Also, single women are always affected negatively by their status that can be resulted in the low self-esteem. Such attitude towards their own personality can be resulted in thoughts with the idea that they deserved such actions from other people. In addition, such women can be afraid of being left completely alone, which usually results in keeping silence about being victimized. Therefore, single women believe that it will be better for them to stay victims and to be abused than stay alone. This approach is completely wrong because, in such cases, women do not see or do not want to believe that they are not appreciated by the offender and worsen the situation by staying victims.

Divorced Women and Domestic Violence

Divorced women also can be found in the risk group of domestic violence victims more often than married women. The women’s status of being divorced usually negatively affects their psychological condition that can be resulted in low self- esteem, depression, etc. Every divorce happens for a serious reason and sometimes the reason is the husband’s violent behavior. Women who had faced domestic violence while being married often face domestic abuse after divorce.

In the majority of cases, the offenders are acquaintances, friends, relatives, ex-partners, ex-husbands, and even their children. Since divorced woman face problems with feeling confident and protected, they are more vulnerable both physically and emotionally. Offenders, especially ex-partners and ex-husbands, are usually aware of the main weaknesses of divorced women, and they often use this knowledge for manipulation and forcing women to participate in unwanted actions. Acquaintances, friends, and ex-partners can manipulate divorced women by threatening to reveal some private information (for example, having sexually transmitted disease in the past, sexual orientation, etc.). Usually such threats have a negative impact on the emotional state of a woman, making her feel more unprotected and vulnerable at the moment of threats. In the cases of domestic abuse that comes from the ex-husbands, divorced women are forced into become victims if they receive threats of physical harm, humiliation, revealing private information, or not being allowed to see, care, and protect their child or children. Unfortunately, divorced women may face domestic abuse from their own children. Such behavioral pattern can be based on scenes from childhood when they could observe their mother being humiliated and abused by their father. Since children may not process the received information properly, they may think (consciously or unconsciously) that father’s violence towards mother is a common thing and there is nothing wrong or illegal. Also, the common reasons for divorced women to face domestic violence from their children or ex-husbands are alcohol and drug abuse, mental health issues and personality disorders, depression, etc. In addition to abovementioned, it should be highlighted that divorced women are also the victims of repeated domestic violence. The reasons for it are similar to the ones for single women, they are afraid of being left completely alone or being hurt physically and emotionally. Also, if the violent actions were performed in private and there are no vivid physical injuries or witnesses, divorced women are commonly afraid that no one will believe them, and thus, they will not be helped, which may cause even more serious depression. Moreover, women usually believe that their offender will reconsider his or her violent behavior and stop committing abusive actions. However, if a woman who faced domestic violence will keep silence about it and will not inform relevant authorities it may only worsen the situation that can result in committing suicide or murder.

Taking into account all mentioned above, one should say that almost every woman who is divorced or single is less protected in physical and psychological aspects, as they do not have a constant and proper support from relatives, friends, or partners. Thus, at the moment of domestic violence, it is rather hard for them to protect themselves, especially if the offender has physical superiority. Also, psychological state of single and divorced women plays a significant role in their behavioral pattern, and often they are depressed and show less will to fight back. In order to improve the current issue, new programs should be designed and implemented to teach women how to respond and act properly when facing domestic violence

Unfortunately, abused females do not always inform the authorities and continue to suffer from being victimized, which usually leads to serious depression or mental shifts, bad physical state, or even committing suicide or murder. Therefore, with the help of authorities and special programs, they should be explained that their offender must be punished with the help of the legislative system, which will exclude the possibility of being involved in the repeated acts of domestic violence.

Hi! My name is Thony Wilson! I am a master in English philology and literature at Michigan University. I am currently working as one of the best writers at the essay empire Also, I study feminine psychology.