DV Awareness
Dear Editor: October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
In popular media, when reading about domestic violence, much of the focus has been around the victims with the question centered on why they stay in abusive relationships. Frankly, there are a million reasons why someone might stay. The reasons range from worrying about losing their children, to not having the financial means to leave, to being told that it is a sin to get divorced, to worrying about the shame that will come with leaving, to the fear of dying if they leave (because leaving an abuser is often the most dangerous time in most abusive relationships), to not wanting to leave because they love this person and are hopeful things will change.
As domestic violence advocates, our work is aimed at giving resources and confidential support to those experiencing domestic violence. When you start believing that you know better than the person experiencing the violence and what choices they should or should not make, you start mimicking the control they experience in their abusive relationship.
Can we ask ourselves, why is there so much focus on why victims stay? Why do we not focus more on why people batter?
One thing that is for sure, is that perpetrators do not look a certain way and do not come from a certain place. Perpetrators of domestic violence come from every racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic background. The definition of domestic violence is when someone exerts power and control over another person, most often in an intimate relationship. They can use physical force to control another person, but often it looks like emotional abuse, coercion, gaslighting, or sexual abuse.
The risk factors of domestic violence are factors within our society, our closer community, our personal relationships, and individuals that can make it more likely for someone to be a perpetrator of violence. Many of the same risk factors of domestic violence are also risk factors of other forms of violence.
One societal risk for domestic violence is harmful societal norms about masculinity and femininity which in part highlights why domestic violence is often perpetrated at a higher rate by men against women. A few individual risk factors for domestic violence include witnessing violence and a history of violence victimization. For example, witnessing or experiencing violence in the home as a child increases your risk for perpetrating violence as an adult.
The reverse of risk factors are protective factors, or positive influences that make it less likely for an individual to perpetrate violence or be a victim of violence. SAFV’s prevention department works with community partners to increase protective factors within the community. While there is not one answer to why people perpetrate violence, by examining the risk factors, you have insight into what we need to work against to create a community free from violence.
Natalie Wojcik, Executive Director
Sitkans Against Family Violence
Vaccinations
Dear Editor: Mandatory vaccinations sound obnoxious to start. Biden has mandated vaccinations for federal workers. Has this been done by a president before or is he the first president to do this. The first president to mandate vaccinations for his workers was the first president, Gen. George Washington. He gave his government workers (soldiers) smallpox by inoculation. A type of vaccination where the pus from a smallpox sore is put on an open cut into the person being inoculated. This was done with a weaker form of the disease so the person would get a milder case.
We lost one major battle during the War for Independence from England because our troops weren’t vaccinated. Half of our troops (5,000) were sick with smallpox and we lost the battle. After that, soldiers got vaccinated. The history of the United States of America might not be a history at all if mandatory vaccinations were not required for our troops. We would be a country like Canada, New Zealand or Australia. We would bow before the British Queen. My revolutionary war ancestors would not think kindly to that.
If George Washington can mandate vaccinations for the betterment of the United States, then why can’t Joe Biden?
Mike Mayo, Sitka
