Term Paper on Psychological Effects on Women as a Victim of Violence (First three pages)

Women have been known, and the idea is supported also by a number of psychologists, that they have a tendency to cope with disasters at a better level then men. They have the ability to generalize the things at a greater speed than men do. However, the current events of disasters formally termed as TERRORISM has triggered much focus on how women psychology might be affected after survival from terrorist attacks. Before considering the post terrorism (disaster) effects on psychology of women victims, some basic facts must be taken into consideration. The dictionary describes terror as a state of ‘intense fear.' According to the official FBI description, terrorism is defined as, "the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The aim of terrorism might be to publicize a cause, or the aspiration to gain concessions or bring about a social or cultural change in the society. However, there is no commonly accepted or recognized definition of terrorism, (Long 1990). The classification of terrorism may be done in three different ways:

• Domestic terrorism, which is terrorism in one’s own country against one’s own people
• International terrorism, which is terrorism in another country done by individuals not sponsored by any state
• State sponsored terrorism which is done by government against their own people or in support of international terrorism
 

When subjected to terrorism, women fear different things and fear them differently from men. The difference may be the result of dissimilarity within history between the two sexes. Women have always been depicted in literature and even in mythology as subservient and passive, and femininity had been considered a gender next only to being male. These views and reviews on women is still based on history, that is, history researched and written by men in their versions and has little to do with women’s versions, mantle the female personality and pushes deep within women a collective unconscious, which is utterly theirs.

 

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However, even though their place in history has so many effects on their generalized fears, personal experiences must also be taken into consideration. For example, a woman who suffers wife battery may eventually develop fear of marriage (or even just on things associated with wedding ceremonies like wedding rings, gowns etc.). A woman who was raped may start to fear dark places or dead-end alleys. Other terrifying experiences, each unique to every individual, may have diverse bearing on different women.
 

Also one thing that must be put into consideration here is the difference between fears and phobia. According to Reader’s Digest’s ABC’s of the Human Mind, fear is more of a reaction to a real threat – a specific threat. Further, it must also be observed that, “fears may [even] function as protective devices.” When a woman tries to observe her surroundings or the things that are happening around her, she can work on the information she gets for her advantage. For an instance, she learns from the news that most female victims of rape were assaulted in narrow alleys; she can then avoid narrow alleys as a protective adjustment in her behavior, or a terrorist hijacking may make her avoid taking trips by plane, becoming more conscious of suspicious persons, etc.

Phobia, on the other hand, is “like a fear gone wild, robbing a person of reason.” When a woman cannot behave conventionally anymore because of the fear, it has definitely turned into an irrational phobia. For example, she may avoid going to huge or old buildings that might portray a possibility of collapse, may go to work anymore because she is afraid of being assaulted and she needs to pass by narrow corridors when going to her office. The worst part in having phobias is that a woman knows that her fears are somewhat irrational, and even at some times, foolish – and yet, she continues to fear about them.  As mentioned earlier, these more common and more generalized fears are somewhat part of the women’s collective unconscious, as described by Jung. In most cases, they are not clearly defined and understood because women have changed a lot over the passage of years. In acute cases, however, these fears dominate the women’s emotions and even become in charge of their lives.

 

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Women who have close encounter with death and have survived the attacks of terrorism, see death as a correlative of their fear of rape, even though fear of death is considered a universal human emotion. Dying is feared probably because it will prove that they are really weak and unable to cope with their sickness (if they died of sickness) or situations (if they died of unexpected events like terrorism).