By Johanna Calderon
“Why domestic violence victims won’t leave” was an informational workshop presented to ELAC students on Oct. 13 in E3-325.
According to sociology professor Eileen Le who spoke to the students, it is never easy for the victims because they are in love with the person and hope that they can change them. At first everything is going wonderfully, but then little-by-little the abuse isolates them from everyone.
Domestic violence affects all genders and doesn’t matter what age the victim is.
For teenagers it is difficult for them to escape because they are not experienced with emotional love.
In the workshop it was said that a person who suffers from an abusive relationship might have been convinced by their partner that it will all be well at first. However once things are settled, the relationship turns abusive.
One of the factors is that the victims don’t have a place to go or are low-income. They might not work because their partner convinced them not to because the partner will provide for them.The control the abuser has takes away the victim’s independence.
It’s difficult to get help from a loved one because some of the families are very traditional and believe women should stay at home and take care their husband. When the victims try to get help from the family, the family might tell the victims to stay because they have to, and not get the husband mad so they don’t get hit.
Some of the victims faced abused as teenagers during their first relationship.
One of the reasons why they stay in a abusive relationship is because they get scared of hurting their families or other victims. They feel so terrified and they don’t want their family to suffer because of them. They feel guilty if something happened to family.
In the presentation, the students saw a video about Leslie Morgan Steiner who was a victim of domestic violence. She told her story about how her nightmare began and how she got out.
The students know how jealousy can be a big part of the abuse because if there’s a partner who is too jealous then they won’t let the partners see their friends and family. The abusers want to know where the victims are and tell them what to wear.
However some victims believed that having a jealous partner is a way of showing love but it breaks the person’s confidence.
Victims began to withdraw from the family and tell them everything it okay when they are hurting inside.
To know someone who’s a victim of domestic violence can be hard because they want the victims to get out but it is not easy when they are so scared. There’s are resources that that can get help at the Student Health Center F5-302.