Gender Violence & Alcohol Consumption Relation and Consequences

Introduction

Alcohol consumption and violence are multi-causal social phenomena that generate negative consequences for the health of human beings and are often associated. The harmful repercussions of alcohol go from the personal and family to the social sphere, with its consequences of deterioration in health, interpersonal relationships, increased marginalization and violence, all linked to multiple crimes that are part of daily life in many parts of the world [1].

Alcoholism is recognized as the most transcendent and widespread of drug addictions and this category is not only conferred by the condition of alcohol as a model drug, but also by its character as a porter drug, a term that expresses its facilitating action of the consumption of other substances including illegal ones Menéndez GR, et al. [2]. Alcoholic consumption often leads to manifestations of violence that may or may not constitute crimes. From the observation in the legal practice in Matanzas, it has been verified that many crimes against life and personal integrity, against the normal development of sexual relations and against the family, childhood and youth occurred under the influence of drugs by part of the victim, the perpetrator or both.

Likewise, many family conflicts are triggered by drug use, giving rise to lawsuits whose object can be divorce, marital liquidation of assets, and the establishment of the communication regime with children, among others.

The relationship between gender violence and alcoholic consumption, as well as its criminal legal consequences, could be verified through a criminological study developed in 2018 in the municipality of Cárdenas, Matanzas province, Cuba.

Body of Paper

Theoretical approaches about alcoholic consumption and gender violence. Alcohol is the only legal and non- medical drug capable of affecting consciousness and personality, as well as causing the dire interpersonal and social consequences associated with the most harmful drugs known to date, including cocaine and heroin Menéndez GR, et al. [3].

It is a paradox, socially costly, to worry only about prevention in the field of illegal substances and to commercially promote the consumption of legal ones where alcohol is included.

Psychologically the porter drug determines an attitude of tolerance towards the consumption of substances with a high risk of damaging health. Its generalized social consumption leads to the community development of an attitude of unconditioned tolerance where consumption in inappropriate situations is accepted, as well as the state of intoxication by alcohol and later by other substances Menéndez GR, et al. [4].

Alcoholic consumption is a triggering factor for conflicts due to the effects it produces on behavior and the setting in which most of them arise is the family one, which is why it is linked to intra-family violence.

Violence is also frequently associated with relations of power-subordination, emerging intra-family gender violence. The issue of gender violence is inextricably related to issues of sexuality that impose the dominance of terms such as gender, sex, gender equality and equity, gender roles, gender violence, among others.

The terms gender and sex are commonly used synonymously and although they are related they do not mean the same thing. Sex refers to the set of physical, biological, anatomical and physiological characteristics that distinguish human beings, which allow differentiating men and women from birth.

Sex refers to the biological differences between men and women.

“Gender is a sociocultural and historical construction on the set of characteristics, functions, meanings, identities, relationships and behaviors attributed to people according to their sex, it is a conception of the masculine and feminine that has forged a culture” [5].

The gender category, as a socio-historical and cultural construction, is not a stable structure; it is a process that can be stable and mobile. It is possible throughout life to change the gender worldview of a subject, as the person can change as well as society, values, norms and way of judging the facts.

Gender identity and gender role are components of gender socialization of mandatory reference in this work, since it depends on their appreciation that some acts in gender matters that historically have been identified as normal by the law are classified as violent. Cultural conception that exists about them, demonstrating supremacy of power or inequity of rights and obligations. Gender identity is defined as the intimate awareness and feeling of being a man, woman, masculine, feminine or ambivalent Gutiérrez AY, et al. [6]. The gender role refers to the norms of conduct that a specific society assigns to certain people and how they assume and express those assignments in their daily lives.

Gender stereotypes are simplifications and pre- established ideas, socially generated, generalized and attributed to people by the fact of belonging to one or the other sex. Various concepts of gender violence have been offered throughout history, it is assumed that gender violence concerns all acts or omissions through which another person is harmed, discriminated, ignored, subjected and subordinated in the different aspects of its existence for reasons related to gender, for transgressing the hegemonic models of the masculine and feminine.

There are different types of gender violence and they manifest themselves in different settings. For the present study, physical and psychological intra-family gender violence stands out, due to its relationship with alcoholic consumption.

Family Gender Violence and its Impact

Intra family violence refers to all situations or forms of abuse of power or mistreatment (physical or psychological) of one family member over another or that develops in the context of family relationships and that causes various levels of damage to the victims of these abuses Jiménez VY, et al. [7].

Alcoholic consumption and domestic gender violence cause harmful consequences for people and many signs or symptoms coincide and can manifest themselves in various areas:

• Affect Area: Depression, irritability, anxiety, fear, dysphoria (feelings of bad humor, verbal or physical aggressiveness without stimulus that triggers it, especially towards children), and feeling that nothing moves or affects them.
• Psychological Area: Sleep disturbance, anorexia, bulimia, and tachycardia, and menstrual dysfunction, erectile dysfunction in men, frigidity and impotence.
• Cognitive Area: Memory disorders, amnesia, attention deficit, and consciousness disorders.
• Physical Area: Blows, burns, contusions, wounds, fractures, tears.

Domestic Violence, Crime and Alcohol Consumption

The consumption of alcoholic beverages, associated with violent behavior in the family setting, sometimes leads to the commission of crimes, frequently highlighting the crimes of threats, injuries and murder. A study carried out in 2018 in the municipality of Cárdenas in Matanzas, made it possible to establish the existing relationship between the aforementioned crimes committed as a result of domestic gender violence and the ingestion of alcoholic beverages of 18 crimes of injuries committed in 2018, nine of them were the result of domestic violence, of which three were committed under the influence of alcoholic beverages and in eight the victim was a woman.

In the period covered, 13crimes of threats were classified, of which 10 were the result of gender violence, nine of them in the scene of family relations, the woman being the victim and in two of them the ingestion of alcoholic beverages was present.

Five crimes of murder were committed, two of them as a result of gender violence, one of them intra family with the ingestion of alcoholic beverages and in both the victim turned out to be a woman. Thus, it is evident that the criminal commission is one of the consequences of alcoholic consumption and gender violence.

Conclusion

Gender-based violence and alcohol consumption are related and cause deteriorating consequences for health and social relationships. Alcoholic consumption often leads to the commission of crimes, which could be verified in a criminological study carried out in 2018 in the municipality of Cárdenas, in the province of Matanzas, Cuba.