Sin by Silence

I watched the movie Sin by Silence (2009) and I was completely confused about what to think. It was so depressing to be honest. I couldn't help but think that killing someone is never OK but at the same time, I saw that these women didn't see any other choice. They were so brutally abused. Years after the abuse and homicide, Rosemary Dyer could still barely talk about what had happened to her. Watching the video, I could see that these women and the many like them were not cold-hearted killers. After watching the movie I decided to look more at battered women's syndrome.

According to our book, battered women's syndrome is considered self defense, even thought they may not be in danger at the time of the killing. It is a defense used in court when domestic abuse victims kill their abusers. The four characteristics of the syndrome are that they victim believe that the violence is their own fault, the victim has an inability to place the responsibility for the violence elsewhere, the victim fears for one's life and/or the children's lives, and the victim has an irrational belief that the abuse is omnipresent and omniscient. The victim feels that the only way to escape the violence is to kill the abuser. This theory is based on the theory of learned helplessness and the cycle of abuse. (Gosselin, 2010)

If you didn't notice, I tried to use gender neutral language when I was describing battered women's syndrome. You also may have noticed that gender neutrality is a theme of mine. Gosselin (2010) also discusses the issue of the term battered women's syndrome. This is because it ignores male victims of abuse. There is a trend that it is now being called "battering and its effects" instead. I think this is an important issue and a good change. Whether abuse is happening to men or women, they are both being damaged psychologically. Research has proved that in many ways but another reason I think this is a valid issue is because the defense has been used in at least one same-sex partner homicide to help a domestic abuse victim. 

Battered women's syndrome ties into the movie because the women's whose stories were covered in the movie were convicted before battered women's syndrome was considered a scientific theory. There is more information about the movie and the issue on the movie's website: http://www.sinbysilence.com. Many of the women were given a second trial based on this new theory that provided new evidence. Doing some research I found that they have been trying to pass a bill in California called AB593 to help these women convicted without the help of this evidence.This video Support AB593 - The Sin By Silence Bill (2012) gives some information on the bill that they are trying to pass.

I thought this movie was really interesting and thought provoking. It made me want to do some deeper research into the theory of "battering and its effects." A song that really related to the movie for me was Independence Day by Martina McBride. The YouTube video Martina McBride - Independence Day (2010) is accompanied by the lyrics (1993) and describes an individual overcoming intimate partner violence.

Independence Day by Martina McBride

Well she seemed all right by dawn's early light
Though she looked a little worried and weak.
She tried to pretend he wasn't drinkin' again
But daddy'd left the proof on her cheek.
And I was only eight years old that summer
And I always seemed to be in the way
So I took myself down to the fair in town
On Independence Day.

Well,word gets around in a small,small town
They said he was a dangerous man
But mama was proud and she stood her ground
But she knew she was on the losin' end.
Some folks whispered and some folks talked
But everybody looked the other way
And when time ran out there was no one about
On Independence Day.

[Chorus]

Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today
Is a day of reckoning.
Let the weak be strong,let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay
It's Independence Day.

Well,she lit up the sky that fourth of July
By the time that the firemen come
They just put out the flames
And took down some names
And send me to the county home.
Now I ain't sayin' it's right or it's wrong
But maybe it's the only way.
Talk about your revolution
It's Independence Day.

[Chorus]

Roll the stone away
It's Independence Day.