When thinking about the family, thoughts of love and support come to mind. Family can be the people closely related to a person or just a close friend that you call a member of your family. All in all when we think about the family we seldom think about the rough time they go through. A problem that some families have faced throughout the years is domestic violence. Domestic violence which is defined as any type of abuse inflicted on a member of the family is a serious problem. Domestic violence has been evident in the family, even during the 1950s, what was know as the golden ages but seldom reported. through some research we can see that even the golden ages weren't so golden. Popular TV shows during that era such as Leave it to Beaver depict a perfect nuclear family where the father tries to keep up with work and leisure time with the kids and a mom who stays home and maintains a perfect image and keeps the house tidy. Even the media tries to cover up that family life isnt so perfect all the time. Domestic violence in families is evident but seldom spoken about for many reasons such as trying to maintain the ideal traditional family portrayed through the media. In this report I will look at reasons as to why domestic violence occurs, the linkage between how family was portrayed in the media and why domestic violence goes unreported, I will also look at other reasons as to why domestic violence goes unreported other than maintaining a perfect family status. I will use authors such as Coontz, Cheal, Mitchell, Dorothy Smith, Rutherdale , Berk, Sherman, Langan, Innes, Felson et al and Carlson to show these. Reasons for Domestic Violence There are different types of ways that a family member can be abused. In this essay it will be focusing on the domestic violence inflicted against women by their husbands. Some of the violence that women encounter can be physical violence. This is where pain, or discomfort is inflicted on to their partner, by punching, slapping, rough handling etc.This type of violence can also result in murder. Another type of abuse can be psychological, this is when someone puts down their partner by name calling or insulting them and making them feel worthless, and alone. Financial abuse is when a partner misuses money or property (Mitchelle, 2014, pg. 342). Sexual abuse is also another common type of abuse that can be found in some families. This is when a woman is forced into sexual activity, without their consent it can also lead to unwanted pregnancy and pain (Cheal, 2014, pg 275). Throughout history women have faced violence within the family, but the question is why does it happen? What reasons do men have to be doing this. One reason given from a feminist point of view is the idea that men have always been seen as superior to women (Cheal 2014, pg. 279). This power can be seen in the nuclear family. Dorothy Smith explains this idea called the ideological code in the Standard North American Family. This is where there is a legally married couple; a man and a women, where the man is the breadwinner, and the woman stays home to take care of the kids and maintain the house (Smith, 1993, pg. 52). This type of family structure became popular during the 1950s, it was seen as the norm. One reason for this had to do with the media's portrayal of the family during this time period. Tv shows, magazines, newspapers, show the Standard North American Family as being nuclear (Gazso, 2013). In this type of family the man is seen as more powerful because he is the one bringing home the money. Throughout history and even still today even though the nuclear family is not as popular as it was during the 1950s, men are still seen as the dominant sex, example includes in the workplace. For one thing even to this day women are seen to spend more time with their children according to census Canada. This is because women are the providers of food for newborns and even though both men and women have opportunities for maternity leave, women are the ones who usually take the time off while the man stays at work (Gazso, 2014). Also men are seen as dominant in the workplace because women are still seen as the nurturer and the ones who bear the children, therefore men are the better choice when it comes to who will be hired for a job in the same position. Employers will look at a women of the same experience as a man and say if she were to get pregnant she would take time off, but won't look at a man and say the same thing. So with this sense of power that men have some men intimidate their partners as well as emotionally abuse, and degrade them (Cheal, 2014, pg. 279). Another reason as to why men would abuse their partner, has to to with the man on a individual level. These include things such as Alcohol abuse, this has been seen as a contributing factor to domestic violence (Carlson, 1984. pg. 572). Mainly because of what it can do to a person. Alcohol can cause a person to do uncontrolled behaviour w