Introduction :
In this paper, we will present to you a series that deals with a scourge of which more than 220 000 women are victims : conjugal violence. According to the latest findings in 2017, in France, a woman dies every 2.8 days from the blows of her partner or ex-partner. This is a spine-chilling analysis.
Unfortunately, this scourge affects all women in the world. Indeed, as Papa Seck (statistician for the UN) notes : “violence against women is everywhere, in both developed and underdeveloped countries”. According to the UN and the OECD, highest percentages of domestic violence are found in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.
In these areas, approximately 37% of women experienced violence by the hands of their partners, with peaks of 78% in some Central African countries.
We decided to make you aware of this phenomenon by presenting this series on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that take place on November, 25th.
Content of the series :
This American series available on netflix since October 1st relates the story of a mother named Alex Russe. In the middle of the night, this 25 years old woman decides to run away from home after a violent quarrel with her boyfriend. This man is the father of their 3-years-old child, named Maddy.
Under the influence of alcohol, this young father threw a glass on a wall, but the little girl was affected. Indeed, she received fragments of glass in her hair.
After spending a few nights in her car, she meets a social worker who helps her find a job as a cleaner. The series allows us to better understand the vicious circle in which these women are feeling stuck. She can’t be entitled for housing if she doesn’t have a job, but she can’t have a job because she doesn’t have childcare for her daughter.
Finally, she found a place to stay at a home for abused women. However, she does not feel legitimate to be there because she has not been physically abused.The distinction between physical and psychological violence is very clear, the latter type of violence is rarely taken into consideration by the justice. In fact, since Alex did not file a complaint, Maddy’s father has obtained custody of his daughter on the pretext of the mother having no place to live and she abducted the child away from her father without telling him.
Moreover, throughout her process, we note the importance of family and friend support, as isolation is a factor that aggravates the situation of battered women. In this context, Alex does not have any outside help at this time and therefore cannot pay for a lawyer, contrary to Maddy’s father.
In total, because of her isolation, Alex has had to move several times, work extra hours, in order to become independent to provide for her daughter. At the same time, she has to take care of her own mother (herself having experienced conjugal violence when she was younger) who is now suffering from psychiatric disorders (delirium, manic states). This parentification behaviour is an additional weight for Alex. To overcome this lack of social support, Alex’s strategy was to set up a talking group in the battered women’s home so that women could share their stories and support each other.
Throughout the series, we can notice a psychological hold by Alex’s boyfriend. He tries to help her as much as he can to get her back home, but once the victim has been manipulated, the violence starts again. The girl’s emotional development is wrecked, as seen in a scene where she is frightened by the screams and hides in a cupboard. Alex returns to the battered women’s home and the director tells her that the average battered woman will return to her persecutor six times before she is completely free of him.
In the end, Alex was able to gain sole custody of her daughter because her ex-boyfriend realized during the mediated visit that he was a danger to her daughter (due to his alcohol-related violent behavior). Alex moves to another country to resume your studies and offer her daughter a life far from violence. This outcome is positive because the father decides to work on his problems and give custody of her daughter to her mother because this is the most beneficial for her development.
Conclusion :
We recommend this series because it reflects the journey of a woman who had the courage to go far from persecutor, and this without external support and without money. It should be noted that even if it is a story inspired by real facts, many women don’t dare to ask for help because of shame or fear of the future.
By Melissa LEBOISSETIER & Amelys KANIA (M2 PEADID)
Bibliography :
https://droitdirect.fr/fiche/les-chiffres-de-la-violence-conjugale/#
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1069150/femmes-violence-conjugale-monde-etat-des-lieux