Violence, Ostentation and Image în Actual Romanian Society

Romania passed very quickly from the forty-five years of communism, in which material differences weren’t so obvious and in which if you were rich meant whether you were big in the party, or you weren’t living in Romania, to a capitalistic Romania, with rich and poor people. Romania became suddenly after revolution a place where you could make easily money.

Using the relationships and because of the lack of a legislation which might reflect a real economy , the Romanians, found different ways to make money. A lot of money. Romanian society had, suddenly, a lot of rich people, who had become rich over night, with businesses more or less legal.

The apparition of people with money generated a new problem: now that there are money, what can we do with it? As answer there appeared clubs, where you may spend your money, the casinos developed and Romania was invaded by luxurious foreign cars. Thinking of the fact that the medium salary is 500 Ron and that in this kind of clubs a 33cl bier is minimum 12 Ron, we begun to understand the differences and to see the message: the reality isn’t for everybody! Not the message annoys, because it can be ignored, but the violence with which this seems to be imposed, not to be transmitted to you. The opulence isn’t anymore what it used to be last centuries, now it is similar to the manelist who owns a Mercedes and a golden necklace over the black T-shirt, or with children raised in rich families, who live to spend daddy’s money, until they will inherit the business of the family. When you don’t see the reality that the money earned correctly very hard, when you are used since childhood to have everything what you want and when you forget or you never knew the times when it used to stay on a queue for a pound of meat, when the seven years from home never existed, the risk is to treat everything superficiality and snobbishness, with an opulence generated by loss of consciousness and impertinence. Shortly, “if you are not in fastidious clubs, at parties of society, you don’t exist!”

Both in Romania and in the rest of the world violence is a very popular phenomenon and it is part of our lives. Although some of us are trying to have a normal life we do take part of it no matter if we are the ones that do harm or we are the victims.

However, violence functions at all kind of levels. We are ourselves, individually, responsible for how we live, for our noble acts as well as for the atrocities we commit. We are not dependent on the examples of prehistoric people, on animal behavior, on prophets, genes or economic law.

The domestic violence

Domestic violence is common in Romania and occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another. Domestic violence has many forms, including physical violence, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, intimidation, economic deprivation, and threats of violence. Fifteen percent of women said that they had been victims of physical abuse, and three percent had been victims of sexual abuse. Although the phenomenon is widespread at all levels of Romanian society, the Government has failed to provide women with appropriate legal and institutional tools to fight against the abuse.

Physical violence is the intentional use of physical force with the potential for causing injury, harm, disability, or death, for example, hitting, shoving, biting, restraint, kicking, or use of a weapon. In general, victims of physical violence in a family context are subject to different and numerous violent acts over time. The immediate effects of physical violence include bodily injuries, physical disabilities, and even death of the victim.

Psychological violence, which also qualifies as “emotional abuse”, is used to manipulate and control. Its effect is cumulative over time and it has serious long term consequences for the victim. Specialized literature indicates that this type of violence is a central factor for abuse within the family.

Sexual Violence/Sexual Abuse is defined by any sexual contact not desired by a partner or for which a partner did not express a valid consent. Unconsented sexual intercourse is rape. A general definition of rape is sexual relations that are obtained without consent by force, threat, and/or constraint. A spouse can be raped by her husband. The concept of spousal rape exists if relationships between partners are official.