Middle School
Worksheets
Family Violence Hurts
Domestic Violence Month
Reading Comprehension for October 13
I found a purse one day. It was an ordinary purse. I looked inside for a name or an address.
First, I pulled out a billfold. Oddly, it had no I.D. or money in it. That didn't help. There were pictures of children. The woman that lost the purse must have been their mother.
Next I checked her address book. I thought it would give me a clue for finding her, but it was empty! I didn't see any friends or family listed. Wasn't that strange?
I found Band-Aids in there. Then I pulled out something crumpled. It was a hanky, and it was damp. It had makeup smeared on it, like someone had cried into it.
Finally, I found a paper. It turned out to be a letter. I read it, and this is what it said:
To my husband,
I'm so sorry I made you angry. I try to be the perfect wife, but I'm never good enough. Why can't you love me the way I am? It hurts when you call me stupid. Will you ever stop hitting me? Sometimes I wish I were dead. But then I wonder what would happen to our children. I wish you wouldn't yell at me and hit me in front of them. I don't understand how you can be sweet and good one minute and then turn mean and hateful. Do I really deserve it?
I have a confession to make. I didn't really find a purse like that. I made it up to teach you about the women who are victims of family violence. Family violence is what we call fighting within a family, where somebody is getting battered by a member of his or her family. A person who is battered has been hit or beaten. It is abuse. It can happen to a woman, a child, or even a man.
There are four basic types of abuse. Abused women may suffer from any combination of them. All children in abusive families suffer from at least one of them, because it causes emotional damage to witness another person being abused. We will focus on three types of abuse, and they are as follows:
| 1. Emotional Abuse - This involves fear that lasts for years, even after escaping the physical violence. It also involves guilt, a feeling that something must be wrong with the victim or else he or she would not be treated so badly. Guilt can lead to depression and confusion. | |
| 2. Psychological Abuse - This involves threats, forcing the victim to do embarrassing things, and constant insults. | |
| 3. Physical Abuse - slapping, shoving, hitting, or kicking. Sixty percent of men who beat their wives also beat their children. |
What makes people abuse their own family members? Many abusers were victims of abuse themselves. Maybe it makes the person feel powerful, or maybe he or she's just in a bad mood or using alcohol or drugs. Alcohol and drugs change the way people act. Abusers never learned that while it's okay to be angry or upset, it's never okay to take those feelings out on others. After the fight, the abuser may shower his victims with gifts, promising it will never happen again or that it wouldn't happen if only the victim would change somehow. In a week or two the abuse happens again. It happens over and over.
