Violence, generally, is defined as unlawful behaviour involving physical force intended to injure, damage, or kill, Our society, however, evinces some such behavioural patterns as are interred deeply in the social consciousness and perpetrate, mentally and emotionally, lasting damage upon the victims, but still are not recognised as criminal acts . One example of such non-physical violence the tactics of subtle manipulation of gender roles by our male - dominated society , The socially formed traits of masculinity and femininity set different standards of appropriateness of behaviour for men and women . While women are expected to be docile, decent and deferential, aggressiveness and violence are considered to define manhood . Thus, these standards describe an assertive woman as an anomaly and normalize violence in men . This socially sanctioned or structural violence turns the otherwise natural and equal relation between the two sexes into a power equation where man enjoys the authority to subjugate woman . Through our `21` st centnry civil society talks muuch about women empowerment and women rights, the structural violence against women persists menacingly . This tupe of violence may not lead to injury, disability, or death, but often causes various kinds of psychological and social problems . Therefore, to define violence in terms of injury or death alone, amounts to overlook its subtler and deeper impact . The expression docile, decent and deferential contains an example of `the literary device'