1. 7
Intimate Partner Violence

2. Chapter Objectives
Explain the battered women’s movement with its accomplishments.
Discuss the health and safety issues that affect survivors of intimate partner violence.
Provide rates of intimate partner violence victimization among groups of American women.
Describe how intimate family violence victimization may impact males differently from female survivors.
Describe dating violence victimization.

3. Introduction Intimate partner violence
Is also called domestic violence, battering, or spouse abuse
Is violence committed by a current or former spouse, opposite-sex cohabiting partner, same-sex cohabiting partner, date, or boyfriend or girlfriend
Takes many forms
Is often a repeated offense

4. Violence Behaviors Physical violence behaviors
May include punching, shoving, slapping, biting, kicking, using a weapon against a partner, throwing items, pulling hair, and restraining the partner.
Sexual violence behaviors
May include forcing a partner to perform sexual acts, telling the partner that she asked for the abuse (in sadomasochism), and rape.

5. Violence Behaviors Emotional and psychological abuses Economic control
Include verbal abuses such as calling of names, criticizing, playing mind games, humiliating the partner, and reinforcing internalized homophobia.
Economic control
Creates financial dependency

6. Battered Women’s Movement
The battered women’s movement
Began as a grassroots movement during the late 1960s (Barner & Carney, 2011)
Has accomplished major victories since its inception
Is still strong today
Increased awareness of violence committed against lesbian and gay partners and males

7. Health and Safety Issues
There are four stages leading to homicide:
Initial attraction, whereby the woman feels that the social isolation she is experiencing is actually mutual affection
When a physical assault occurs, it is met with disbelief
If the intensity or severity of violence increases, her survival depends on successfully leaving the offender
The final phase occurs if the woman cannot get away
See box on page 5

8. Health and Safety Issues
Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) face numerous challenges
Homelessness
Injury and trauma
Quality of life issues

9. Violence Against Women
Women are the most frequent victims of intimate partner violence.
Intimate partner violence is the leading cause of injury and death to American women, causing more harm than vehicular accidents, rapes, and muggings combined.

10. Violence Against Women
Violence against women is underreported.
Only 49% of intimate partner violence against women is reported to the police.
Catalano, S., Smith, E., Snyder, H., & Rand, M. (2009). Female victims of violence . (NCJ ). Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved from

11. Violence Against Men
More than one in four heterosexual men in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
Men are less likely to report the violence and seek services due to:
The stigma of being a male victim
Fear of not being believed
Walters, M. L., Chen, J., & Breiding, M. J. (2013). National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 findings on victimization by sexual orientation. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

12. Cycle of Violence Theory
Theorist Lenore Walker is most often cited for application of the transmission of violence theory to family abuse.
She described three separate phases of an abuse cycle represented in a pattern that is repeated time and again in a battering relationship:
Phase I, tension building
Phase II, acute battering
Phase III, honeymoon phase
Walker, L. (1979). The battered woman . New York, NY: Springer.

13. Feminist Sociopolitical Theory
The feminist model has been the dominant explanation for family violence for years.
This perspective considers intimate partner violence as endemic to cultures influenced by a patriarchal social structure.

14. Feminist Sociopolitical Theory
Patriarchy
Refers to a social system that recognizes the complete dominance of men over women
Custom and religion typically strengthened by law define the social standing of women as subservient to men
Is recognized as the most common and enduring social system
At the core of the theory is the idea that intimate partner violence is used to maintain control over women, by force, when needed.

15. Individual-Based Theories
Ascribe family violence to psychological problems, such as personality disorders, the offender’s childhood experiences, or biological disposition.
Recent studies have refuted a presumption of a personality disorder of the parent, because less than 10% of abusive parents were found to be emotionally maladjusted.

16. Individual-Based Theories
Multiple factor theories
Seek to determine the causes of the abuse and neglect of children
Psychodynamic approach to therapy
Targets the underlying psychological cause of the violence

17. Individual-Based Theories
Cognitive–behavioral approach
When the offender is taught new patterns of nonviolent thinking and behavior
If the perpetrator has difficulty in establishing healthy relationships, attempts are made to facilitate secure attachments between offenders and loved ones

18. Individual-Based Theories
Social–Psychological Model
Joined together major elements of feminist theory with the psychological approach
Merges three general approaches to crime causation:
Social learning
Unequal power relations
Personal choice theory
Uses a broad application of social learning theory to explain that people who abuse have learned to do so through direct instruction, modeling, and reinforcement

19. Individual-Based Theories
Social–Psychological Model, cont.
Unequal power relations (real or perceived) contribute to the likelihood that abusive behaviors will be tolerated
Recognition that family abuse is a personal choice: an abuser acts out with violence instead of using alternative methods of conflict resolution
Social isolation creates an environment in which battering in same-sex couples can occur

20. Sexual Offenses Physical effects of domestic partner rape may include:
Injuries to the vaginal and anal areas, lacerations, soreness, bruising, torn muscles, fatigue, and vomiting
Broken bones, black eyes, bloody noses, and knife wounds that occur during the sexual violence
Miscarriages, stillbirths, bladder infections, infertility, and the potential contraction of sexually transmitted diseases

21. Sexual Offenses Marital Rape
Rape in a marriage is a prevalent form of sexual violence
Defined as any unwanted intercourse or penetration (vaginal, anal, or oral) obtained by force, threat of force, or when the wife is unable to consent
Not considered a crime until the 1970s
Became a crime in all 50 states in 1993

22. Sexual Offenses Date Rape
Includes unwanted sexual intercourse, oral sex, anal sex, or other sexual contact through the use of force or threat of force by casual or intimate dating partners
Social term used to explain the fact that rape occurs within dating relationships
The legal term is simply rape
Forced sexual intercourse is a common experience among young adult women

23. Dating Violence Victims
Violence that occurs in a dating or courtship relationship
Younger individuals are particularly at risk for this form of abuse
Includes sexual assault, rape, physical assault and battery, and verbal and emotional abuse
Dating couples are even more likely to be violent than married couples