Annual Record of the National Women’s Rights Commission showed that domestic violence totaled 61.1% or 14,540 cases of women becoming victims of domestic violence (record up to end of November). This was despite the existence of policy - Law No. 23 Year 2004 on Elimination of Domestic Violence (PKDRT).
The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that violence was the use of physical force and power, threats and acts on a person, committed by individuals, or groups that resulted in trauma, deaths, psychological damages, growth disorder, and loss of rights.
A psychologist, Sisca Efnita, M.Psi said that child abandonment was also a form of violence, even a child abandoned by parents for a few days of holiday constituted violence, during the seminar conducted by Yayasan Yaphi in collaboration with Komasipera (Komunitas Masyarakat Sipil Peduli Perempuan dan Anak Surakarta or Civil Societies for Woomen and Children in Surakarta) – a network of activists against violence on women and children at Anawim Hall, Yayasan YAPHI, on Tuesday (3/12/2024). She also said that sexual violence happened in public sphere, including in offices. There was a regulation on this issue – Law on Sexual Violence that articulated nine types of sexual violence, including catcalling, sexual exploitation, forced contraception, forced abortion, rape, forced marriage, forced sexual work, sexual slavery, and sexual torture.
Sisca explained about cyber violence such as making available pornographic videos and cyber-bullying. She also told about a case in a dating apps, where there was a sex video call where the perpetrator taped the event and threatened the victim. This was cyber-violence through the threat of making the video available publicly.
Violence against children included physical violence triggered by the perception that the child was lazy and stubborn. Violence against children may start when parents were channeling their anger towards children. A child experiencing violence may be vulnerable to bullying or may become a perpetrator of bullying. It was therefore important to explain to the child what part of the child body that should not be touched by others.
Data of the Ministry for Women and Child Protection (Kemen PPPA) suggested that violence happened more against women than men. Furthermore, victims of violence were often children than adults, and violence against children involved more often sexual violence.
Violence against women often involved physical violence, domestic violence , and more often associated with adultery, or triggered by economic factor, as a result of, for example, online debt, gambling, that led to violence.
Perpetrators of sexual violence were often people closest to the victims, and when children became victims of sexual violence, they would likely become perpetrators of sexual violence. Impacts of sexual violence of women and children included: trauma, depression, paranoia, powerlessness, fear, anxiety, nightmares, feeling of shame, negative self-image, free sex, and alcoholism and drug use.
The question then was why were violence not reported immediately? There were few reports despite the many cases. This was because victims believed that what happened was a shame and disgrace that shocked their dignity. May victims (i.e. housewives) remained dependent on perpetrators. There were also victims trapped in their own fears, self-pity, and hope that the perpetrator(s) may change their behaviour.
What should be done by people who were close to victims, in order to know what happened? They should loook at changes in habits, and be careful and cautious in finding for information. Avoid judgment towards victims – assuming that victims were happy to do it. Such judgment would make victim sad and feeling worse. There was one call center/hotline to contact: 129, and if it was truly bad, then consult an expert.
The government policy tended to address the violence, not preventing it. Yet preventon was much better in order to change the way of thinking, for example change the way people perceive the cause of violence, which was usually fights over money/income, reduce the opportunity to see pornographic materials to stop sexual fantasies, and change the idea that there was freedom to express oneself. One needed to return to the perspective of why humans were created and to humanize human
Children Would Hate Parents Who Committed Violence
A second speaker, dr. R. Prihandjojo Andri Putranto explained why people perpetrated sexual violence, and what is safe and healthy sex – i.e. physiology and anatomy, sexual identity as a thought form, sexual orientation, and sexual abuse. A sexual relationship became a sexual violence when there was no consent by the two parties.
Food had effects on menstruation in a child who became young adult. Prihandjojo also explained the myth about early menstruation being associated with early menopause. He also explained about what parents had to do – inform their child(ren) that it was necessary for them to wash their own underpants so that they were able to see if there were signs of vaginal discharge.
He also explained that the brain was the most powerful reproductive organs because everything started with the brain and about male and female hormones - estrogen and testosteron. dr. Andri said that the brain exposed to pornography was different from brain not exposed to it. The same could be said of brains that experienced depression and those that did not experience depression. It was important for him to explain embryology where the genes were given by the parents. He also explained that in the growing phase, children took cues from the patterns of care. A number of factors influenced growth, and if children saw violence by parents, they would hate their parents for it. (Renny Talitha/Astuti)
