Violence and Abuse of Children and Women Nursery Rhymes

Domestic Violence

Not all nursery rhymes, folktales, and fables depict 'sweet' stories. The horrific images of women held in captivity in pumpkin shells and starving dogs demonstrate examples of atrocities portrayed in the early stories. Over the years, Mary Goose stories have undergone 'sanitization'. Earlier versions of the stories portrayed a myriad of atrocities. Earlier versions of the rhymes depict gruesomeness of the violence. Domestic violence occurs as a core theme in the old Mary Goose nursery. Wives and daughters suffered the brunt of abuse that included beatings and murder. Early Victorians believed that the rhymes would encourage their daughters to grow and become dutiful and obedient wives.

Nature of domestic violence

The stories present a multifaceted and complex approach to the issue of domestic violence. For example, the story of an old woman who lived in a shoe presents depicts a bizarre meaning of the text that talks about child abuse (Gustafson, 2014). In the story, the woman mistreats the children by giving them broth without bread. Further, she whips them soundly, and she goes ahead to purchase coffins for the children. Child abuse undermines the rights of children in a myriad number of ways. The society has endeavored to resist child abuse practices that affect family institutions. As depicted in the story, the practices inflicted physical and mental torture on children.

The Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Easter rhyme portrays a gruesome hidden meaning as it revolves around the aspects of infidelity, relationships, and murder (Gustafson, 2014). In the story, Peter's wife occurs as a hooker. As Peter fails to restrain his wife from having sex with multiple male partners, he decides to kill her. After killing the wife, Peter decides to hide her body in a large pumpkin. The moral story behind the story focuses on educating women of the essence of demonstrating faithfulness to their husbands. Failure in doing so results in fatal consequences such as death. Despite respect held to the marriage institution, hefty penalties of death occur as an act of gender violence against women.

Scope of the Issue within the Society

Gender violence against women and children dates back in history as depicted in the early Mary Goose rhymes. Today, still a section of women and children live in an insecure world based on the fears of the atrocities that may hit them. The atrocities include rape, sexual harassment, forced prostitution, forced marriages, child labor, and human trafficking, amongst others (White, Koss, & Kazdin, 2011). Research indicates that the ongoing violence against women and children goes under-reported. Further, victims of the atrocities have failed to receive public services. Reasons for nonreporting include the absence of professional services offered to the victims. The magnitude of this issue has called for the intervention of agencies such as the UN to investigate and propose realizable efforts to curb the atrocities of the society.

Misconceptions about Gender Violence