Domesic Violence

7 Pages 1712 Words

in the U.S actually passed a law making wife beating illegal until 1883. Although laws were passed to make it illegal, none were strictly enforced. Even up until the 1970's, wife beating was still fairly acceptable. The police most often would attend calls of domestic violence but would leave things to be resolved by the family. This ease and lack of enforcement allowed for the continuation of the abuse. The 70's became a period of protest and change for the women's rights movement. By the 1980's major changes started to take place. Police no longer ignored calls of domestic violence and more people were being convicted and punished for crimes of domestic violence.
The acceptance of domestic violence is still seen today. It's acceptance is reflected in popular culture through the expression "rule of thumb" which comes from and old English rule that a man could beat his wife with any reasonable instrument as long as it was no thicker that his thumb. Even in today's society domestic violence is still very common and more needs to be done ...