Domestic Violence in the Home

I was a young man who was raised by my mother and my grandmother. The essential aspects of my identity were created by these strong and independent women. My education as well as my socialization was being done at home and through family friends who were also women. At about 7 years old, I entered into public school. Actions and feelings that I thought were normal, natural, and acceptable became points for the other children to pick on me and call me derogatory female names. The fact that I felt it ok to cry when I was upset, or I felt bad for someone who was hurt; were signs of weakness and an open forum to ridicule me by the other boys. Around this same time, my mother begin a relationship with a violently verbally abusive man who also did not like my "feminine" ways. I began a lifelong forced rewiring of my natural feelings and original teachings that caused me to ponder for many of my adolescent years my true identity in the world as a whole.

In my adulthood I realized that I had seen firsthand what many men experience unconsciously and there was a need to prevent this type of brain washing and sexist socialization. I am now part of the Delta Project, a project created and funded by the CDC to eradicate Interpersonal violence, which has become a lethal epidemic in our society. The point of Delta is to create programs to educate young men and boys about the problems of gender power roles, domestic violence, and personal respect. In this way, the Delta Project is on the forefront of preventing the disease of violence that men are creating. Men are responsible for 85% of the violent crimes in the nation, 95% of domestic violence, and 75% of the murders in the nation. If we were to find that a certain bug was destroying a crop, we would eradicate the bug because we cannot teach it to not destroy the crop. That is the grand opportunity we have as a society, and fellow people have, we can educate the men of the world to change their ways and to see the ills of the past, and create a better future for everyone.

We, as people of this world, have the oportunity to change the ideas and thoughts of the world to recreate the way people view domestic violence and interelationship violence. Each time there is a person who is abused mentaly, physicaly, or sexualy by someone who they know; there is another destruction of the people we are trying to save and help. The plight of the victims of domestic violence will continue as long as people continue to be ok with thisd type of violence. Many people will turn their head when they see one petrson hit another, and with that turn of a head the domestic violence that person accepts what has happened. This type of acceptance, allows the continued abuse and destruction of all people no matter what kind of abuse they are suffering. In the end, we should begin to speak up now!