Extent Attitudes to Sex and Violence in Society - Essay Example

To what extent are attitudes to sex and violence changing in society' Humans and the society have evolved from the era of nomad to civilized one. But despite all these the same society has undergone various phases of evolution and development with main factors being the introduction of science and technology as external factor as well as various psychological factors like sex and violence. Even poverty and existence of an individual as a unit has been the multiple of a list of factors with some of them specified above. The research proposal concentrates around the two very important factors namely sex and violence. These factors have been very instrumental in shaping the mindset of an individual as well as the society as a single entity. These factors are also multiples of various sub-factors that cultivates violence as well as perversity in an individual towards another individual and the society. Introduction Being intelligent is a gift. The ability of analyzing things differentiates us from rest of the creatures. This ability has led humans to transform themselves from a nomad to a civilized one. But this civilization and development have been achieved with some cost which caused a gap between countries, societies and finally families. If we talk of social attitude towards sex and violence as one of many reason behind the evils of society especially that of household abuses then economic insecurity among women and children are very much the main factor causing all sorts of negative onset. The household is basically controlled by senior male members who don't give any say to female members over things leading to financial and economic condition of the family. They are mostly illiterate or have working knowledge of things which gives them some opportunity to earn money. All this laced with habits of alcohol or drug abuse makes up a very dangerous combination which ultimately gives way to exponential rise of household abuses. With mostly females and children at the receiving end, they are an easy target or prey. Alcohol abuse and drug abuse have long lasting effects which culminates to loss of health and aggravation of poverty. Persons with the habit that of usage of illicit drugs is more violent and aggressive in nature (National Survey of Drugs Use and Health, 2). A family is always talked of being a unit of social system but in some part of western world and almost whole of Asia and Africa, the life of women and children is miserable because of conditions in the family itself. The male part comprising of father and son are financially sound but fairer sex or females' condition is not just bad rather it is miserable. All this leads to a condition where women are poor while their husbands or brothers or sons are not. But this is not the end of all sorts of oppressions. The newly searched form of household abuse is men afflicting their wife with HIV/AIDS virus. In most of the poor families, males migrate to cities in search of work and money. They get themselves affected with virus because of unprotected sex. And when they return they finally transmit it to their wives. Due to this, number of innocent sufferers of this deadly virus is on increase with potential high enough to cause an epidemic (Jacobson, 41). Poverty and continuous domestic violence has its effect not only on current generations but also on next generation because of children being regularly exposed to violent behavior. This actually opens a cycle of oppression and aggression with those children becoming more volatile and aggressive. Their chances of economic and academic successes get diminished to another low and will become another source of family and household abuse (Bloom, 16). In the paper by Vincent J. Bolt and Kate Bird, lack of resources and asymmetrical power relations often result in the discrimination of resources of the intra-household resources which include food, health care and education (13). Even if the females manage to earn some money, their income is being considered as the household income and again they have face discrimination when it is being distributed (Bolt, 14). Poverty and lack of education has prevented any possible social renaissance. The birth of a male child is still considered as very important phenomena. This sometimes led to the birth of a number of girls when parents go on giving birth to babies till the birth of a male child. With already poor household and lots of mouth to feed and a male child, the female members are forced to sacrifice their share in every possible resource sharing (Bolt, 20). The Helsinki Process in its report has stated that families suffering with persistent poverty and hunger are more prone to disease and violence especially domestic violence (11). The report also states that these people perform badly on health index too. They are in continuous chain of disease, conflict and with poverty contributing a lot to epidemics of infection with all access to health care being blocked (Helsinki Process, 15). So it's not a surprise if world wide more than 500,000 women die annually in pregnancy with 99% being a part of developing but poor countries (Helsinki Process, 15). Sexual abuse is no longer considered apart from household abuse. Females, especially young girls are often an easy prey to thus menace. Living under poverty right from the childhood has made a big mark on the male psyche. This has caused an alarming increase in violence both physical and sexual towards females in the household. The protectors have now become predators with females living in fear through out their life (Kvinna Till Kvinna, 23). So houses are no longer a secure place. It's not the case that that poverty creates situation which promotes abuse but it is actually a trap with getting out of it being more complex than getting into. Prolonged illness or migration can be some of the reason causing poverty and finally escalation and sufferings of women. But this abuse makes one more vulnerable and thereby chances of getting out of the hell created due to poverty get diminished. More abused and especially by near ones creates insecurity of highest level with no one to console (Now Legal and Education Fund, 1). Abusers' atrocity not only ends with abuse only. They try their best to prevent all sorts of help and any attempt of abused to attain economic independence. These males are poor and are thrashed all over their lives initially during childhood and now by their employers. Their level of frustration is extremely high which finally lead to their wives and children who are now at the receiving end of their frustration. They are alcohol abused and finally abuse their family members (Bloom, 13). Wife beating is a regular feature in those families. These people are very much prone to high risk sex and they finally transmit all this to their wives (Bloom, 23). The wives have more in their life left. They can only hope some thing better in next life only. With most of these cases being a part of developing nations and war torn ones, the chances of getting justice is the least. They are abused on every possible ground and finally become mentally unstable with effect being faced by the child they have born. These children are abused and are a regular viewer of violence against their mothers. They grow in that environment only become either a new abuser or a target of getting abused. The chain goes on with main cause being unequal development of society and rise of poverty. Literature Review The humans have reached to the current age of information after getting a number of destruction and wars. Initially, it had to fight adversities of earth and its surroundings and after the formation of some civilization, it had to fulfill the expectations of the society and associated challenges as well as the responsibilities that came up along with the evolutionary process. This violent instinct is the outcome of the growth of the negative fighter characteristic that is remnant from the earlier days of struggle. The same old natural characteristics are very active and are always thriving to make some impact on the behavior pattern and have been the ultimate source for every single occurrence of the crime. The purpose of this paper is look into the impact of change in attitude towards sex and violence over the condition of the society. It has concentrated on domestic violence and different household abuses with main cause being poverty. Though civilized and much more intelligent than other creation of god, there are sections in the society which is living in condition which is just inhumane. And for higher class and ever growing middle class, these poor are a scar on modern urban society destroying the beauty of big cities and metros with their dingy slums. But when the civilization gets out of its narrow mindedness, it realizes growth of the whole race requires a defined research of different issues related to poverty and the effect it causes. When issues like the diseases that have gripped this civilized world in this 21st century are discussed then the discussion will zero in to the seven different causes. They are Substance abuse, Homelessness, Prostitution, HIV, Violence, Poor Parenting and Poverty (Bloom, 5). But when the whole issue is delved into with greater care, each of the above stated causes has its roots or a part of it into the attitude of the society towards sex and violence. These have been the real cause that creates a citizen with diminished civic and moral sense. The end result has been the development of a child into a person with criminal mindset. As, the child in its formative sees many things and in accordance with its understanding capability it takes decision (IVDB, 2003), a healthy child hood is a very necessary thing to stop the creation of any criminal. Sex and violence has been some of the important factor that could affect the child as a person and human being. The child is more vulnerable towards some social abuse like alcohol abuse, substance abuse and economic abuse. The insecurity level is so high that sometimes it may lead to physical and sexual abuse. The condition of both male and female are critical and most of the time the life is on the edge. But females' lives in particular are more on tip of the knife. With slightest of mistakes they have to face domestic violence like beating, thrashing and sometimes forced intercourse. In the words of Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights "For women, gender is itself a risk factor threatening human security; the secret violence of household abuse, the private oppression of lack of property or inheritance rights, the lifelong deprivations that go with lack of schooling and the structural problem of political exclusion." (6). Violence and criminal mindset might be the result of the lack or excess of many factors that affect life and life style. Sub-factors that have strongly associated and have become reason can be those mentioned below. Material wealth: It depicts the average financial state of area or the society which breeds crime. It quantifies the very material or average prosperity of the family and the society of which a person is a part of. The lack of houses or accommodation of a large number of people in a small house sharply reduces the quality of up bringing of a child (IVDB, 2003). Health: This factor has its importance while quantifying security at the physical as well as mental health of the people. It decides the affluence and the penury that has been faced by the child (IVDB, 2003). Social security and stability: The overall development and upbringing of a child is a multiple of this factor. The child is greatly affected with its neighborhood and hence every thing that happens in the neighborhood makes an impact on the child's social as well personal behavior (IVDB, 2003). Family life: The condition of a family on an average is an indication of family life of the child. The divorce rates are being given the status of indicator for quantifying this factor. The rising instances of single parenthood are another very important cause. The separation is a very traumatic experience of a child and can be a reason behind the creation of a situation of loneliness and the state of depression (IVDB, 2003). Community and Social Life: This factor corresponds to the social behavior of the child and how much adjustable his attitude is. The negligibility in social life corresponds to lower interest of the child in community life thereby increasing another wave of insecurity at personal as well social level (IVDB, 2003). Job Security: This factor is self explanatory and is being indicated through unemployment rate expressed in percentage. A secure job to a youth makes him more confident and ultimately he or she turns out to be a better prospect to the society. At the same time the insecurity in this factor causes frustration and causes the occurrence of diminishing patterns in above mentioned factors especially material well being (IVDB, 2003). Research Question The research work involves answers to a list of questions that can provide ways to solve the problem. The tentative list of questions is as follows: a. How does violence creeps into the psyche of an individual' b. What are the factors behind the occurrence of sadistic attitude' c. What are the impacts violence on society and other factors that form the society' d. How does the society as a whole become more hostile towards women and children due to rise in negative sexual psyche' Research Details a. The sample Various African nations could be considered as the sample for undertaking the research in an area that has not been surveyed till date. War torn African nations have been among the most suffering from excessive violence and sexual abuses. b. Data Collection Method c. Access d. Ethics e. Questionnaire Speculative Conclusion Read More