Domestic Abuse

“One day, as Deborah’s stood at the sink doing dishes, her hands covered in soap bubbles, Cheetah ran into the kitchen yelling something about her sleeping around on him. Then he smacked her.” (Skloot 150)

          

Domestic abuse is always a hard pill to swallow. Why would anyone who claims to love someone ever lay his or her hands on that person to cause harm? Even though the reasons for this behavior are unfathomable for a lot of the population this is something that happens much too often. In Deborah’s case she became so worn out, tired, and hopeless that the only exit she saw was to kill her husband. This treatment put her in such a terrible place that she considered murder; murder, the same thing that she said her brother needed to turn himself into the authorities for (Skloot 147). Deborah only resorted to this because she felt trapped; she did not have anywhere else to go and he was the father of her children, and by the time she finally decided to do something about the abuse she wanted him out of her life for good. This situation is not only specific to Deborah, 1 in 4 women report experiencing domestic violence in their lifetimes (“Domestic Violence Facts”). So many other women go through the same pain and suffering that Deborah had to endure and this should never be the case for any human being. Domestic abuse is a massive problem in our society and it stems from our problem of resorting to violence to solve arguments instead of words. No human being should ever touch another to cause harm, but this is what we have been taught. We have been taught that to receive submissive behavior from others we must show them who is dominant. In order to end domestic abuse we need to do away with this backwards thinking and teach people that violence is never the answer.

Word Count: 287

Skloot, Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2010. 150. Print.

"Domestic Violence Facts." Click To Empower. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.