Senator Shoman has hit upon a topical issue – that's because of the chilling cases of domestic violence we've seen in just the past month!: Juana
Cowo-Cardinez was killed in Punta Gorda, Keisha Buller was killed in Benque Viejo, Thytis Blancaneux was killed in Lord's Bank, and Merlin Elizabeth
Herrera Mejia, was killed in Belize City. All those domestic murders happened in July! It's a staggering statistic – and a worrying state of affairs.
But what's driving all this homicidal domestic violence? And what can be done to save victims of intimate partner violence from the cycle of battery
before their partner seriously harms kills them? That's what Courtney Weatherburne asked psychologist and counselor Aimee Jex yesterday. She told
Courtney the violence we saw in July is really just a symptom of a culture of of gender based violence:…
Aimee Jex- Psychologist
"It just seems to happening more violently right now, but there is always that issue of how is a woman being treated in our society. What respect does
she have, what respect does she demand, what respect does a man give to a woman and that's where we have to start looking."
"We have a lot of people who say, "I woulda never touch she, I noh beat woman" – but all day long they're saying degrading things, they're saying mean
things, they are controlling in different ways and we have to realize that is part of intimate partner violence. It's a cycle and the battering and the
beating is just the part we see."
Courtney Weatherburne
"How do you respond to a discussion or a statement like that – that we should not have any pity or sympathy at all to some women because they allow it
to happen?"
Aimee Jex- Psychologist
"What happens is that culturally we allow it – and what you are saying is true the women do allow but the truth is because it we don't know better many
of the times – when we get into a marriage and a man is supporting us, he is the bread winner, we have to do what he says."
Courtney Weatherburne
"What advice to you have as a counsellor to women and men experiencing or going through these issues. Whether it be in a relationship or in a house
setting with kids?"
Aimee Jex- Psychologist
"That was what I was getting to – you have to first of all recognize that you are in a relationship where you are not comfortable. Once you've
identified that there's something wrong, you know you have that gut feeling that there is something going on. So once you have recognized that
something is wrong – you have to make a plan to do something. You have to realize, is there someone safe I can talk to? Or is there something that I
can do? In some people, in some homes, it's important to start your savings, it's important to start sheltering your children from certain behaviours.
So those are the things you have to start doing. You have to start assessing what's going in your home and what the best behaviour could be."
"Try to formulate a plan that you can put things in place that you can easily leave that situation. What I was talking about earlier was having that
gut feeling, identifying it and doing something about it And so you have to realize that you want to keep yourself safe – women have been single
mothers for a long time, men have been single fathers for a long time – the world won't fall if you don't have a partner and what you have to start
identifying is you're looking for the partner that will give you those things that you need and not take away the little that you have."
Jex stressed that domestic violence is not only directed at women, its victims include men.
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