The lesson in which we created the two sides of estella influenced what I wanted to achieve in my final look. This meant I wanted to incorporate a black eye.
I looked into dosmestic abuse. The victim support website outlines how there are different forms of domestic abuse.
- Physical abuse: Pushing, hitting, punching, kicking, choking and using weapons.
- Sexual abuse: Forcing or pressuring someone to have sex (rape), unwanted sexual activity, touching, groping someone or making them watch pornography.
- Financial abuse: Taking money, controlling finances, not letting someone work.
- Emotional/psychological abuse: Making someone feel bad or scared, stalking, blackmailing, constantly checking up on someone, playing mind games.
I want to focus on the physical abuse, creating side effects of this which are evident on Estellas face.
The website also states that The police estimate that they get a call every minute from someone who is a victim of domestic abuse. Its clear that this is an issue which is evident in todays society but I wanted to look back and see whether it was still such a prominant thing to happen in the victorian era.
I found information on something called the "Victorian Wife Beating Epodemic" Throughout the 1800's wife beating was extremely common. It wwould only cause concern and outrage from others if it was exceptionally physical or endangered the life of the wife. It was believed in those times that it was every mans 'right' to beat his wife in order to correct her. If she had upset or annoy him or refused to obey his orders it was common for the husband to beat his wife.
Although domestic violence towards wives was given increasing attention by social and legal reformers towards the end of the 19th century, the first animal-cruelty legalisation in Sudan was passed in 1824, however legal protection from domestic voilence was not granted to women until 1853. Even then the law did not outright ban domestic violence, it just limited the amount of force that was permitted to a man attacking his wife and children.
Some people liken the popular Victorian puppet show, Punch and Judy to a story of domestic voilence. This shows that this was a relevant issue of the time and was also socially accepted.
cannasue (no date) Posts about Victorian Weymouth on Victorian tales from Weymouth and Portland. Available at: https://susanhogben.wordpress.com/tag/victorian-weymouth/
Punch and Judy (2015) in Wikipedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy#Characters
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