Intimate Partner Abuse
Chapter Seven
DR BABCOCK
Introduction
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Intimate partner violence or domestic violence is violence committed by
current or former spouse, opposite-sex or same sex cohabiting partner, date, or
boyfriend or girlfriend
Intimate partner violence and abuse take many forms and is often repeated
Different Forms of Abuse
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Physical abuse
Sexual abuse
Emotional abuse, and
Economic abuse
Physical Abuse
• Behaviors may include:
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Punching
shoving
slapping
biting
kicking
using a weapon against a
partner
• throwing items
• Pulling hair, and restraining
partner
Sexual Abuse
• Sexual violence may include:
• forcing a partner to perform sexual acts,
• telling partner she asked for the abuse, (in
sadomasochism), and
• Rape
• Sexual violence is
pervasive in advertising…
Emotional & Psychological abuse
• May include:
• verbal abuse, namecalling
• criticizing
• playing mind games
• humiliating the partner
• reinforcing internalized
homophobia
Economic Abuse
• Economic control
creates financial
dependency It may
include:
• keeping the partner
from getting a job,
• getting the partner
fired from a job,
• making the partner ask
for money, and
• taking the money that
he or she has earned
The Battered Women’s Movement
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Major victories accomplished:
Victims identified
Heightened victim awareness
Intervention strategies
Protection and prevention
Batterer’s programs
Increased awareness of violence against lesbian
and gay partners and males
7. Violence in dating relationships
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Health and Safety Issues
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Homelessness
Injury and Trauma
Quality of Life Issues
Hotline and shelters
Violence Against Women
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Women are most frequent victims of intimate partner violence
One woman is victimized by an intimate partner every 1.3 minutes
She comes from every walk of life, age, race, ethnicity, and social
class
Women and Violence
• African American Women
• American Indian and Alaska
Native Women
• Asian Women
• Caucasian Women
• Disabled Women
• Hispanic/Latina Women
The Military and Violence against
Women
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Primarily the civilian spouse of active duty
personnel
About 62% of abusers are on active military
duty
More than 18,000 incidents reported to the
Department of Defense’s family advocacy
program in 2001
Intimate violence handled on two separate
tracks:
• the military justice system
• the family advocacy system
Violence Against Men
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Men are also victimized
Stigma of being a male and the fear of not being believed are the reasons less likely to
report and seek services
One man is victimized every 6 7 minutes by an intimate partner
Full extent of violence toward men not known
Some men do experience significant injury
Male Victims
• Four factors leading to husband abuse
• Ineffective communication between spouses
• Struggle over control and power in the relationship or
perception of lesser power
• Husband abuse is evidenced as a form of social
disorganization
• The decision to injure partner is made with the knowledge
that the apprehension or social censure is slim
Socialization factors that make it difficult for men to
achieve recovery
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Treatment
Minimization
Shame
Masculine identity
Male intimacy
Sexual identity
Power and control dynamics
Externalization
Compulsive behaviors
Theories of Intimate Partner Violence
• Cycle of Violence
Theory
by Lenore Walker, The
Battered Woman
• Phase I: Tension
Building
• Phase II: Acute
Battering
• Phase III: Honeymoon
Feminist Sociopolitical Theory
• Intimate partner violence considered endemic to culture influenced by
patriarchal social structure
• Social system that recognizes the complete dominance of men over
women
• Patriarchy recognized as the most common and enduring social system
Individual-Based Theories
• Ascribe family violence to psychological
problems such as personality disorders, the
batterer’s childhood experiences, or biological
disposition
• Studies in recent years have refuted thesis, less
than 10 percent of abusive parents were found
to be emotionally maladjusted
• Multiple factor theories are sought to
determine the cause of abuse and neglect
Social-Psychological Model
• An integrated theory that brings together three
approaches to crime causation:
• Social learning: learned through direct instruction,
modeling, and reinforcement
• Unequal power relations: abusive behavior will be
tolerated, born through feminist contribution
• Personal choice theory: acts out the violence
instead of using alternative methods of conflict
resolution
Sexual Offenses
• Marital Rape: a prevalent form of sexual abuse –
unwanted intercourse, or penetration obtained by
force, threat of force
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Most states did not consider a crime till 1970’s
In 1993, a crime in all 50 states
One in every seven married
Punishment prescribed is often lighter than for other types
of rape
Date Rape
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Includes unwanted intercourse, oral sex,
anal sex, or other sexual contact through
the use of force or threat of force by
casual or intimating dating partners
Social term used to describe, not a specific
crime called “date rape”
Common experience among young adult
women
One in five women have experience
forced sex in their lifetime
Dating Violence Victims
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Younger individuals are at risk for this form of violence
Violence that occurs in a dating or courtship relationship
Includes sexual assaults, rape, physical assault and battery, and verbal and emotional abuse
Dating couples more likely to be violent than married couples
High rates found among university students
A range of 1 5 to 20 percent of students reported inflicting injury on partner
Factors Contributing to Assaulting
Partners
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Anger management
Antisocial personality
Conflict with partner
Communication
problems
• Criminal history
• Dominance
• Jealousy
• Negative attributions
about the partner
• Neglect history
• Sexual abuse history
• Stressful conditions
• Violence approval
Why Do Intimate Partner Violence
Victims Stay?
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The fact is women do leave their abusers
On average, women leave and return to an abusive partner five times before
permanently leaving the relationship
Reasons for staying are complex
Battered women experience shame, embarrassment, isolation
There are many reasons why a victim may not leave:
• fear, lack of support, difficulties of single parenting, reduced financial circumstances,
lacking a safety plan, isolation, rationalization, etc