“THERE is a silence I find,” Dr. Peta Ann Baker said and paused to build the suspense, “I’m almost tempted to call it a culture of silence.” After only a handful of visits to Guyana prior, she had discovered that there was a pervasive silence surrounding certain social ills in the country.

Dr. Baker is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus. In June 2016, she visited Guyana for a few days to speak at the inaugural Professional Social Work Practitioners and Educators conference held then.

Fast-forward to May 2018, almost two years after Dr. Baker made her remarks. Just recently there has been a fervent public uprising-an awakening-seeking to end this silence. Sadly, this uprising has come on the heels of a number of instances where domestic violence turned deadly.

It doesn’t matter what form-be it verbal, emotional, physical, sexual or a combination of these- the scourge of domestic violence in Guyana has gone past the point of being worrisome. During the past months, there have been grim reports capturing the attention of all of us. Spousal battering and brutal murders have been frequent and the ramifications of these incidents are unimaginable.

I believe that dissecting the issue of domestic violence is multifaceted, as is curbing it. It is more than a frustrated or angry spouse lashing out and it takes more than a march or a symposium to combat.

Understanding all the intricacies of the factors that constitute a problem is critical to dismantling the problem. One of these intricacies that presents itself (quite ironically) is this culture of silence that emanates from the family and the wider community.

Sociological studies describe the family as the primary institution of socialisation. It is the place where new members are taught how to integrate themselves into society and the culture of the family, more often than not, affects how its members will engage with the rest of the society.

Perhaps many are aware that we have been conditioned to accept certain issues as ‘the way things are’ or to remain silent about matters that do not directly involve us, right? Personal experiences permit me to highlight that fear of judgement (“What will people say?”) necessitates this silence. This leads to a cycle of embedding this silence; the younger members are taught to remain silent, to ignore and to move on, and then they pass this on until someone decides the cycle must stop.

Domestic violence illustrates a breakdown in the institution of the family and the frequency of this ill reflects this breakdown further. It is reflective of deviant behaviour and even so much as criminal behaviour. This breakdown of the family is exacerbated by the pervasion of the silence we have been conditioned to adopt.

How can domestic violence be curbed then, if there is a ‘culture of silence’ taught and perpetuated by the family?

At the very same conference, Dr. Baker spoke at, University of Guyana (UG) Faculty of Social Science Senior Lecturer, Barbara Thomas- Holder ascertained that the culture of silence is real.

She shared one incident where she was investigating a matter and while conversing with the affected persons, they were hesitant to speak out. More than being hesitant to speak, they were actually cautioned by other affected persons not to speak out.

What these persons had managed to do was effectively silence themselves in face of someone reaching out and trying to help them. Therefore, the culture of silence may be taught by the family but it is most definitely reinforced by the community and becomes normalised as part of the society’s culture.

This makes it even more critical to peel away this layer of silence that envelops domestic violence and other social ills. You cannot combat a problem if you are only aware of its occurrence when it becomes deadly. There must be scope for nipping issues in the bud and this can only come through awareness.

How many more beatings and murders need to occur before we decide that we ought to speak out, even on behalf of those lost in the cycle of helplessness-if they will not speak for themselves? Better must come.