1. Intimate Violence and Sexual Abuse
Chapter 12

2. CHAPTER OUTLINE Intimate Violence and Family Violence
Models of Family Violence
Women and Men as Victims and Perpetrators
Marital and Intimate Partner Rape
Dating Violence and Date Rape
Why some Women Stay in Violent Relationships
The Costs of Intimate Violence
Children as Victims
Siblings, Parents, and the Elderly
Responding to Intimate and Family Violence
Child Sexual Abuse

3. INTIMATE VIOLENCE AND FAMILY VIOLENCE
An act with the intention or perceived intention of causing physical pain or injury to another person
Intimate Partner Violence (Intimate Partner Abuse)
All violence among intimate partners

4. TYPES OF INTIMATE VIOLENCE
Common Couple Violence
Usually erupts during an argument and does not result in serious injury
Intimate Terror
One partner tries to dominate and control the other
Violent Resistance
“self defense” violence; usually perpetrated by women
Mutual Violent Control
Both partners are trying to violently control each other

5. COMMON COUPLE VIOLENCE
Common couple violence represents gender symmetry
Similarity in survey research estimates of male-on-female and female-on-male intimate violence

6. PREVALENCE OF INTIMATE VIOLENCE
It is impossible to know exact statistics on the prevalence of intimate violence.
These crimes are largely underreported by some victims and others are in better positions to hide the abuse.
From the statistics we do have, intimate partner violence among heterosexual couples ranges between 17% to 39% in a given year.

7. MODELS OF FAMILY VIOLENCE
Individualistic Explanations
Abuser’s violence is related to a personality disorder, mental/emotional illness, or substance abuse.
Allows the abuser to attribute the violence to things out of their control.
Ecological Model
Used to explore child abuse
Suggests that cultural approval of physical punishment for children combined with a lack of community support for families can lead increase the risk of violence

8. MODELS OF FAMILY VIOLENCE
Feminist Model
Stresses gender inequality and the role of male dominance over women, even when that includes violence
Social Stress and Social Learning Model
The social stress aspect posits that structural stress (income, illness) and cultural norms (‘spare the rod, spoil the child’) contribute to family violence.
Resource Model
A person acquires power by collecting personal, social, and economic resources.

9. MODELS OF FAMILY VIOLENCE
Exchange – Social Control Model
Exchange theory suggests that we weigh costs and rewards in our interactions.
Gender – Power – Stress – Intimacy
Gender – violence by males tends to be more common and more extreme
Power – provides a central motive in partner violence
Stress – may raise the likelihood of violence, but is not the cause
Intimacy – we see love and family as private; those aspects can legitimate violence

10. WOMEN AND MEN AS VICTIMS AND PERPETRATORS
Battering
includes slapping, punching, knocking down, choking, kicking, hitting with objects, threatening with weapons, stabbing, and shooting
Women are just as likely to batter men as men are to batter women.
However, women’s violence tends to be situational and does not cause great injury while men’s tends to be more extreme and violent.

11. FEMALE VICTIMS AND MALE PERPETRATORS
Women of all races, ages, and socioeconomic statuses experience intimate violence.
These rates are highest among low income women, younger women, and Native American and African American women.
Male perpetrators often use violence as a way to control their partners or to compensate for a perceived inadequacy.
Contrary to popular belief, only a very small number of men who were raised by violent parents actually become violent themselves (about 1%).

12. MALE VICTIMS AND FEMALE PERPETRATORS
The rates of males who have been victimized by their wives or girlfriends are poorly understood.
The males who are most likely to report serious injury caused by their partner are gay males.
Female-on-male violence tends to be common (situational) violence or self-defense violence.

13. SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND RACE
Household income has the greatest influence on intimate partner violence across racial and ethnic lines.
Race
African Americans appear to have the highest rates of victimization followed by Hispanics and then Caucasians.

14. MARITAL AND INTIMATE PARTNER RAPE
Unwanted sexual penetration, perpetrated by force, threat of harm, or when the victim is intoxicated
Can be perpetrated by males or females and it may involve oral, anal, or vaginal penetration
There are an estimated 3.2 intimate partner rapes per 1,000 women.
It wasn’t until 1993 that marital rape became illegal in all 50 states.
However, wives are offered full protection from their husbands in less that half of the states.

15. VIOLENCE IN GAY AND LESBIAN RELATIONSHIPS
The rate of abuse in gay and lesbian relationships has been found to be comparable to heterosexual relationships.
It can be very difficult for a battered partner in a same-sex relationship due to the lack of support services who are nonexistent or uninformed about these multifaceted issues.

16. DATING VIOLENCE AND DATE RAPE
Physical violence in adolescent relationships has been estimated at 13% and verbal violence was estimated at 26%.
Even “tweens” (11-14 years old) have experienced or know someone who experienced abuse from a boyfriend or a girlfriend.
In studies of college students (18-25 years old) violence was found in a third to one half of all relationships.
Only about half of those victimized by dating violence ever tell someone else and often stay in the relationship.

17. DATE RAPE AND COERCIVE SEX
Date Rape (Acquaintance Rape)
Sexual intercourse with a dating partner that occurs against his or her will with force or the threat of force
In many instances, alcohol or drugs are involved.
Date rape is not a planned action.
A man may begin the date expecting sex and when he does not receive any, he feels he is only taking what is his. He may see the sex and consensual, but the woman will often describe it as rape.

18. WHEN AND WHY SOME WOMEN STAY IN VIOLENT RELATIONSHIPS
Economic Dependence
A woman may not perceive that she could survive financially with the man.
Religious Pressure
She may feel that she should keep her family together at all costs and submit to her husband.
Children’s Need for a Father
She may believe that an abusive father is better than no father at all.
Fear of Being Alone
Her husband may have severed her ties to all other people; he may really be all she has.

19. WHEN AND WHY SOME WOMEN STAY IN VIOLENT RELATIONSHIPS
Belief in the American Dream
She may have accepted the myth of the perfect woman and the ideal home and believes that is how it should be.
Guilt, Pity, and Shame
She feels that all relationship problems are her fault and fears she will be judged is the left him.
Duty and Responsibility
“’til death do us part”
Fear for her Life
She fears that she will be killed if she tries to leave.

20. WHEN AND WHY SOME WOMEN STAY IN VIOLENT RELATIONSHIPS
Love
Love may give hope that he will change.
Cultural Reasons
She may not speak English or fear that her husband will take the children back to their country or origin.
Nowhere Else to Go
Shelter space is limited; family and friends may be unable or unwilling to take in a woman and her children.
Learned Helplessness
She then “learns” to become helpless and feels that she has no control over the circumstances of her life.

21. THE COSTS OF INTIMATE VIOLENCE
Financial costs such as medical bills, services for assault and stalking, and lost wages for missed work.
Nonfinancial costs include adverse mental and physical health, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and lost advancement in the workforce.

22. CHILDREN AS VICTIMS Battered Child Syndrome
The pattern of injuries commonly observed in physically abused children.
Child Maltreatment
In 2007, roughly 25% of Children’s Protective Service’s investigations found abuse or neglect, totaling 800,000 children.
Girls suffer higher rates of maltreatment as do minority children. Most victims are under 1 year of age.
Biological parents are the most common abusers and younger parents tend to abuse more often.

23. Every 35 seconds, a child suffers from abuse or neglect.
2,479 children each day are abused or neglected.
Each day, four children are killed by abuse or neglect.

24. SIBLINGS, PARENTS, AND THE ELDERLY
Sibling Violence
The most common form of family violence.
Annually, two thirds of teenagers commit an act of violence against a sibling.
Parent Violence
More boys than girls act violently and mothers more often than fathers are the recipients of the violence.
Elder Abuse
An estimated 2 million people over 50 are abused annually by their children or grandchildren.
Can be physical, psychological, verbal, sexual, or financial.

25. RESPONDING TO INTIMATE AND FAMILY VIOLENCE
Intervention
Protecting victims
Rehabilitating offenders
Assisting families
Prevention
Eliminating social stress and strengthening families
The Law
Mandatory Arrest
No-drop Prosecution

26. WORKING WITH OFFENDERS
Most common response is jail combined with a mandated group intervention program.
Shown to lower repeat offenses
Duluth Model
emphasizes helping batterers develop critical thinking skills around such themes as nonviolence, respect, partnership, and negotiation

27. CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE Child Sexual Abuse
Any sexual interaction (including fondling, erotic kissing, or oral sex as well as genital penetration) between an adult or older adolescent and a prepubertal child
Extrafamilial Sexual Abuse
Intrafamilial Sexual Abuse

28. INTRAFAMILIAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Incest
Generally defined as sexual intercourse between people too closely related to marry legally
Long Lasting Effects
May result in women’s early sexual onset and engagement in risky sexual behaviors
May affect victim’s ability to form long-lasting intimate relationships in adulthood
Traumatic Sexualization
A sexually abused child’s sexuality develops inappropriately and the child becomes interpersonally dysfunctional