Home | Letters | BREAK CYCLE OF VIOLENCE

BREAK CYCLE OF VIOLENCE

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

 Sir,

The best form of comfort we can get as citizens of this beautiful kingdom is to hear our leaders recognising intimate partner violence as a major problem in the country that needs urgent action.


Remember we are not just doing this for ourselves but we are doing it for our future generations. If we don’t act now then it will only get worse. I know we all want our children to live in a violent free society, but how is this going to happen?


Recent statistics have shown that most cases of gender-based violence happen in the home, a place where everyone expects to be safe. The different forms of violence and abuse happen to all forms of couples, married and unmarried.


While women are more likely to experience domestic violence, men account for a limited number of the victims of reported intimate partner violence cases. However, in the many cases in which men become violent towards women, it is valuable to examine certain societal attitudes toward men that are destructive and can increase instances of violence.

While many advances have been made toward creating equality between the sexes, we still live in a patriarchal society. Expectations that men should be strong, masculine, and more powerful than women can be very destructive to a man at risk of becoming violent.

The shame triggered by the idea that they are appearing weak or unmanly can trigger some men to become enraged or to act on violent impulses. It is very unfortunate that no matter how wise or educated a man can be, most of us are still trapped in what is called the ‘Man Box’.


This box is so powerful that even in the absence of other men, you still want to do things that a majority of men believe in no matter how dangerous or negative those things are, instead of what you believe in as an individual.


We are all capable of being who we want to be in our relationships. Help should be availed to both survivors and perpetrators of abuse.  Let us look at programmes that have worked in other countries to help rehabilitate men who’ve been violent by helping them get to know their real self, teaching them to recognise their emotions, and enabling them to feel compassion and forgiveness for themselves and others. They will gain a sense of self as separate individuals, thus cultivating self-esteem, responsibility and empathy.


Many people who commit abuse were either abused themselves as children or witnessed abuse between family members. To break this cycle and to reduce the cases of domestic violence in the generations to come, we have to implement programmes that are effective and help violent perpetrators get the knowledge and help they need not to create the next generation of violent individuals in their children.

Rehabilitation programmes that emphasise self-reflection, self control, empathy, and which build resilience, can allow them instead to offer their children and partners love, concern and tenderness. That way, even in times of economic strain, people will have the psychological understanding and coping skills to avoid turning to violence.

S M

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: