Wife Battering Is A Serious Issue That Is Usually Looked At By Feminis

Wife Battering is a serious issue that is usually looked at by feminists as one of the most relevant signs of the oppression of women. This form of oppression symbolizes the fight women have against the patriarchy and it's hold on social freedoms. There are different spheres which women fight in, music and the music industry is one example of an arena of struggle. Wife Battery is a subject usually delved into by feminist bands or female song-writers, but it takes on a different light when written about and performed by an all male team. With the different perspective comes a new way to prevent this social dilemma. "The Watchmen" and "Matchbox 20" are both male rock bands which have hit the top forty again and again, and who explore the issue of domestic violence. The Watchmen are a Canadian band that gets at least a gold record with every album they release. Matchbox 20, are from the US and sold over 5,000,000 copies of their debut album, with "Push" being one of their biggest songs. The media is a huge sphere of influence in our society, and music is a part of that sphere of influence. The songs Run and Hide and Push both hold reign as popular songs by popular bands so they send their messages even louder than most forms of protest. The fact that the songs are by male artists can only strengthen that voice as wife battery is usually a "female" issue when brought to the public. In this paper I will analyze the effect of the music and it's genres on the social issue of wife battery and examine the topic of domestic violence itself. The artists I have chosen represent the "male voice" of not just feminist protest, but also of the fight for equality and freedom. Domestic Violence There are many definitions for domestic violence, the definition that will be used in this paper is "violence between heterosexual adults who are living together or who have previously lived together in a conjugal relationship."(MacLeod, 1980). While the topic of abuse in lesbian and gay relationships is still an important issue, it broadens the main topic of this paper a little to much to me mentioned. Most reported cases of abuse in the domestic household have to do with wife abuse and the definition of that is: ...violence, physical and/or psychological, expressed by a husband or a male or lesbian live-in loveer toward his wife or his/her live-in lover, to which the "wife" does not consent, and which is directly or indirectly condoned by the traditions, laws, attitudes prevalent in the society which it occurs (MacLeod, 1980). This kind of violence occurs within every facet of society and not just those of low-income of class. There are four types of violence: physical, sexual, emotional and social abuse and each type forms a continuum from minor to major lethality (Tolman, 1997). The most obvious form of violence is physical abuse. This begins with lack of consideration for the physical comfort or needs of others (forgetting a person is waiting for a ride or walking too quickly for a child to keep up), pushing; shoving; hair-pulling escalates to action like punching, bruising and broken bones or injuries which need medical care. Finally, permanent injury can result, using weapons and even murder. A part of physical abuse is sexual abuse. On a continuum this begins with the objectification of women through jokes, humiliating or degrading comments and name calling, it escalates to uncomfortable touching, demands for sex or punishment by rejection of her as a sexual partner. As well, forcing sex after a beating, using weapons to force sex or for sexual manipulation, causing permanent injury and ultimately murder (Tolman, 1997). Another form of violence is emotional abuse. It includes those behaviors that are done directly to the person to render her helpless and totally dependent on the abuser. This begins with jokes about her habits and faults as a women, ignoring her feelings, screaming and yelling menacingly during arguments and repeated uses of insults and humiliation tactics. Threatening to use physical/sexual abuse, blaming and unfounded accusations, geographic isolation or making her stay in the home and destroying her possessions also make up emotional abuse. The last form of