Media Portrayal of Intimate Partner Violence

This CSW parallel event Media Portrayal of Intimate Partner Violence was sponsored by the NGO Committee on Mental Health and co-sponsored by International Psychoanalytical Association, American Psychiatric Association and Dianova International. This session focused on mental health, especially for victims and survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The session started with the experience of Alicia, a survivor of sexual and physical violence from both her father and first husband. Alicia, who had a childhood steeped in violence, poverty and neglect was raped at the age of 14 and became pregnant at the age of 15 by a forty- something year old man. Despite the abuse suffered at the hands of this man, she was forced into marriage with him and saw this as her escape from her sexually abusive father. During her first marriage, she was continually beaten, even when she was pregnant. A chance for escape presented itself after childbirth and she took it but was unfortunately unable to take her child with her and Alicia has not seen her son in 10 years. Alicia has been able to transform her narrative from victim to survivor with the support of friends, her social worker and psychiatric intervention. Alicia’s story is one of many that tells of the horrific effects of intimate partner violence on the victim, family and society as a whole.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) refers to any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to anyone in a relationship. IPV is a global problem and this is addressed by a myriad of health organizations such as WHO and CDC. According to the CDC, in 2012, 1 in 2 homicides of women were by intimate partners or family members. More than 1 in 10 women have experienced forced sexual acts globally. 41 percent of women who were sexually violated experienced it before age 18 and there is a multitude of negative impacts such as feeling fearful (62%), concern for safety (57%) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD, 52%).

IPV has adverse consequence on the individual, the family and society as a whole. With IPV comes psychological issues for the victim but also for the children who are exposed to a hostile home environment which could disrupt development. There are also economic costs of IPV. The costs are significantly severe in low-to-middle income countries.

Country estimates of IPV costs

US- $5.8- $12.6 billion

UK- ₤23 billion

France- €2.5 billion

Globally, IPV takes up 5.2% of the global GDP. This ranks it higher than civil war which takes up 0.25%. Therefore, IPV is a situation that needs to be addressed globally. This can be done through a variety of interventions and preventive measures such as inclusion of men and boys in the war against IPV, teaching healthy relationship skills, creating protective environments with zero-tolerance for violence, providing economic support for families and launching media awareness campaigns. With these measures in place, we can tackle risk factors for IPV.