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Violence – What is it???

Filed under: General — triassic @ 2:10 pm Mon 8th May 2006

We hear this word so much these days that the interpretation becomes blurred. For instance :-

fervour: intensity of feeling or expression

Violence in this interpretation is a positive emotion. In order to stop someone injuring property or someone else do you commit an act of violence??

Can readers please supply this post with the legal interpretation as used by the family court. I am writing a script based on this subject and became surprised at my own inability to define it clearly. Below is what a couple of dictionaries define it as.

Your own succinct interpretation would be appreciated. I would also like both genders to respond. Thank you.

Violence refers to acts of aggression and abuse which causes or intends to cause criminal injury or harm to persons, and (to a lesser extent) animals and property.1 The term “violence” also connotes an aggressive tendency to act out destructive behaviours.


violence n

1. physical force: the use of physical force to injure somebody or damage something
– threats of violence

2. illegal force: the illegal use of unjustified force, or the effect created by the threat of this
– robbery with violence

3. destructive force: extreme, destructive, or uncontrollable force, especially of natural events
– the violence of the storm

4. fervour: intensity of feeling or expression
– the violence of her response to our suggestion
do violence to something to violate, harm, or damage something

Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

5 Comments »

  1. violence can be anything a woman says is violence..whether it happened or not is moot….. thats how th FC inteprets violence.

    Comment by starr — Mon 8th May 2006 @ 3:51 pm

  2. I have definitions of violence from
    – Women’s Refuge.
    – Living Without Violence Programme.
    – Feminist Bible (Ellen Bass’s book ‘The Courage to Heal’.

    Which one would you like?

    Comment by Al D Rado — Mon 8th May 2006 @ 5:03 pm

  3. Thanx AL. If you have a brief description from each give me the lot.

    Bill Clinton, when he was the most powerful man in the world, defined sex with a woman as intercourse. Defining words that are used for a political purpose is very important should you wish to expose hypocrisy.

    Comment by triassic — Mon 8th May 2006 @ 8:43 pm

  4. It’s not brief, but a copy & paste will save you a lot of typing …
    (and you’ll have to reinstate section numbering and bullets …)

    2.7 Definitions of Psychological Abuse
    2.8 Definition 1 — Family Court Definition
    “Psychological abuse is established as a matter of social science. One of the most useful definitions of psychological abuse is “that it is constituted by acts of omission or commission by a parent or guardian that are judged by a mixture of community values and professional expertise to be inappropriate or damaging” (McDowell 1995). The phenomenon has a legislative definition in s.3 of the Domestic Violence Act 1995. There is no attempt at definition in either the Guardianship Act 1968 or the Children and Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989.”
    “Cases involving allegations of psychological abuse under these three Acts constitute a significant proportion of the Family Court’s Case workload. Common presentations within the cases before the Court are:
    ? inter-parental conflict witnessed by the child or children (for ease and reference “child” will be used to denote both child and children);
    ? using the child to seek derogatory information about the other parent;
    ? engendering secrets in an attempt to undermine the other parent;
    ? the placing of a child in a conflicted loyalty situation with a step-parent;
    ? the withholding by the custodial parent of reasonable contact with the non-custodial parent;
    ? the undermining of a child’s predictability and stability by a non-custodial parent’s unreliability in exercising contact,
    ? premeditated relocations to achieve an inappropriate diminution in contact with the non-custodial parent; and
    ? the invocation of successive and excessive re-applications to the Court.
    All of these presentations are characterised as legal disputes within the legislative framework of the aforementioned Acts but most are characterised as guardianship disputes under the Guardianship Act 1968”
    Refer to Psychological Abuse: The Family Court Response 2001 and Beyond – A Personal View of a Family Court Judge, a paper presented to the Triennial New Zealand Law Society Conference and 4th New Zealand Family Law Conference, Christchurch – Judge Jan Doogue
    2.9 Definition 2 — Abusive Relationships from “The Courage To Heal”
    IS MY RELATIONSHIP ABUSIVE?
    Because many survivors grow up in homes where abuse was the norm, they often have a hard time identifying and acknowledging abuse in their adult lives. In Getting Free, Ginny NiCarthy gives some guidance for recognising abusive relationships. Has your partner done any of these things to you?
    2.9.1 PHYSICAL ABUSE
    ? Punched or shoved you
    ? Held you to keep you from leaving, or locked you out of the house
    ? Slapped, bit, kicked, or choked you
    ? Hit or punched you
    ? Thrown objects at you
    ? Abandoned you in a dangerous place
    ? Refused to help when you were sick, injured or pregnant
    ? Subjected you to reckless driving or kept you from driving
    ? Raped you
    ? Threatened or hurt you with a weapon
    2.9.2 SEXUAL ABUSE
    ? Made demeaning remarks about women
    ? Treated women as sex objects
    ? Been jealously angry
    ? Insisted you dress in a more sexual way than you wanted
    ? Minimised the importance of your feelings about sex
    ? Criticised you sexually
    ? Insisted on unwanted touching
    ? Withheld sex and affection
    ? Called you names like “whore” or “frigid”
    ? Forced you to strip when you didn’t want to
    ? Publicly shown interest in other women
    ? Had affairs with other women after agreeing to monogamy
    ? Forced sex
    ? Forced particular unwanted sex acts
    ? Forced sex after beating
    ? Committed sadistic sexual acts
    2.9.3 EMOTIONAL ABUSE
    ? Ignored your feelings
    ? Ridiculed or insulted women as a group
    ? Insulted your valued beliefs, religion, race, heritage, or class
    ? Withheld approval or affection as a punishment
    ? Criticised you, called you names, shouted at you
    ? Insulted your family or friends
    ? Humiliated you
    ? Refused to socialise with you
    ? Kept you from working, controlled you money, made all decisions
    ? Refused to work or share money
    ? Taken car keys or money away
    ? Regularly threatened to leave or told you to leave
    ? Threatened to hurt you or your family
    ? Punished the children when he (or she) was angry at you
    ? Threatened to kidnap the children if you left him
    ? Abused pets to hurt you
    ? Manipulated you with lies and contradictions
    Refer to Pages 234-235, The Courage to Heal — A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, Ellen Bass and Laura Davis
    2.10 Definition 3 — Domestic Violence from Hutt Valley Stopping Violence Services
    2.10.1 MALE PRIVILEGE
    ? Making all the big decisions
    ? Acting like the “Master of the Castle”
    ? Being the one to define men’s and women’s roles
    ? Treating her like a servant
    2.10.2 PHYSICAL VIOLENCE
    ? Restraining, pinching
    ? Pushing, shoving, hitting
    ? Slapping, choking, pulling hair
    ? Punching, kicking, grabbing
    ? Using a weapon
    ? Twisting arms, tripping, biting
    2.10.3 USING COERCION AND THREATS
    ? Making and/or carrying out threats to do something to hurt her
    ? Threatening to leave her to commit suicide, to report her to welfare
    ? Making her drop charges
    ? Making her do illegal things
    2.10.4 USING INTIMIDATION
    ? Attempting to make her afraid by using looks, actions, gestures
    ? Smashing things
    ? Destroying her property
    ? Abusing pets
    ? Displaying weapons
    2.10.5 USING EMOTIONAL ABUSE
    ? Putting her down
    ? attempting to make her feel bad about herself
    ? Calling her names
    ? Attempting to make her think she’s crazy
    ? Playing mind games
    ? Attempting to humiliate her
    2.10.6 USING ISOLATION
    ? Controlling what she does, who she sees and talks to, what she reads, where she goes
    ? Limiting her outside involvement
    ? Using jealousy to justify actions
    2.10.7 USING BLAMING
    ? Shifting responsibility for you behaviour to her
    ? Saying she caused it
    ? Attempting to make her feel guilty
    ? Describing the situation in a manner to convince others it’s her fault
    2.10.8 USING CHILDREN
    ? Attempting to make her feel guilty abut the children
    ? Using the children to relay messages
    ? Using visitation to harass her
    ? Threatening to take the children away
    2.10.9 USING SEXUAL ABUSE
    ? Making her do sexual things against her will
    ? Physically attacking the sexual parts of her body
    ? Treating her like a sex object
    ? Making degrading sexual statements
    2.10.10 USING ECONOMIC ABUSE
    ? Preventing her from getting or keeping a job
    ? Making her ask for money
    ? Giving her an allowance
    ? Taking her money
    ? Not letting her know about or have access to family income
    Refer to Pages 234-235, The Courage to Heal — A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, Ellen Bass and Laura Davis

    26.4 Definition of Violence — Women’s Refuge
    The Women’s Refuge has the following published definition of Violence .
    26.4.1 Psychological Violence
    Psychological violence is about the stuff that makes you feel like you are crazy and doubt yourself. It’s about coercion, manipulation and control.
    Psychological violence is when they:
    ? Play mind games
    ? Threaten you
    ? Smash up your belongings
    ? Hurt your pets
    ? Do stuff that frightens you
    ? Stalk or follow you
    ? Don’t let you make any decisions
    ? Stop you from seeing your friends and whanau/family
    ? Don’t let you go out alone
    ? Deny the abuse “It wasn’t much. Just one punch”
    ? Drive fast to make you feel really scared
    ? Criticise or make fun of you ethnicity or culture
    ? Call you racist names
    ? Get out a gun or knife
    ? Go crazy with jealousy
    ? Hit you then apologise and cry
    ? Keep you up all night while they rave on and tell you off
    ? Lie
    ? Swear and put you down “You’re fat/ugly/lazy/stupid/mad”
    ? Humiliate you in front of your friends “You’re a ho/bitch/slut”
    ? Threaten to tell the authorities “If you leave I’ll report you to social welfare”
    ? Keep tabs on you wherever you go
    ? Make you feel guilty “It will be your fault if I kill myself”
    ? Blame you “You made me do it. If you’d just made the tea then it wouldn’t have happened.”
    ? Bash you then blame something else “I didn’t mean to do it, it’s just that I had a bad day at work”
    ? Make sure you know they’re the boss — you have to do everything just like they want it
    ? Tell you what to wear, how you should do your hair and makeup
    ? Let the children see or hear violence.
    26.4.2 Physical Violence
    Physical assaults, and the threat of physical violence, back up the power of psychological violence.
    Physical violence is:
    ? Punching
    ? Bashing
    ? Choking
    ? Slapping
    ? Pinching
    ? Kicking
    ? Hitting you with anything
    ? Biting
    ? Burning you with a cigarette
    ? Throwing things
    ? Strangling
    ? Pushing
    ? Pulling your hair
    ? Spitting or pissing on you
    ? Tying you up
    ? Holding you down
    ? Locking you in a cupboard
    ? Using a knife, gun, belt, or any other kind of weapon.
    26.4.3 Sexual Violence
    Sexual assaults and violence include:
    ? When an adult says sexual things, touches in a sexual way, or has any sexual contact with a child under 16
    ? Rape
    ? Forcing you to have sex
    ? Making you feel guilty if you say no to sex
    ? When you give in to sex to put them in a better mood or to avoid a hiding
    ? When you have sex so they will stop pestering you
    ? Making you do sexual things that hurt, make you feel ashamed, or bad
    ? Sexual harassment
    ? Unwanted sexual touching
    ? Forcing you to watch pornography
    ? When they keep having affairs and you don’t like it
    ? Not using contraception when you ask them to
    ? Forcing you to get pregnant
    ? Not being allowed to take the pill
    ? Forcing you to have an abortion, or not letting you have one.
    26.4.4 Economic violence
    Economic violence is about:
    ? Stealing your money and belongings
    ? Controlling the money so you don’t have a say
    ? Giving you an “allowance” that doesn’t cover the bills while they spend all the money on themselves
    ? Checking all your receipts and the mileage on the car
    ? Keeping your money card and bank book
    ? Refusing to pay child support, or be named as the father
    ? Using your name for loans, credit cards, WINZ grants so that you get the debt
    ? Forcing you to sign a ‘prenuptial agreement’
    ? Forcing you to work
    ? Forcing you to sell drugs, or steal
    ? Making you go on the benefit illegally
    ? Not letting you go out to work or study
    ? Not letting you have your name on the house and other property.
    26.4.5 Spiritual violence
    Spiritual violence includes
    ? Stopping you from expressing your spiritual or religious beliefs
    ? Not letting you go to church/ temple
    ? Putting down or making fun of your beliefs, traditions, or culture
    ? Anything that attacks your wairua/spirit.

    Comment by Al D Rado — Mon 8th May 2006 @ 8:58 pm

  5. Thanx mate, brilliant. No wonder this industry is so big.

    Comment by triassic — Mon 8th May 2006 @ 9:51 pm

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