The volume is the final report of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on Male Violence Against Women. The analysis considered all physical, visual, verbal, or sexual acts that are experienced by a female as a threat, invasion, or assault and that have the effect of hurting or degrading her or taking away her ability to control intimate and other contact with another individual. Individual sections focus on the causes and correlates of male violence against women and the prevalence, effects, prevention, and treatment of domestic assault, sexual harassment, and rape. A major theme of the discussion is the important role of gender in directing acts of violence. Other themes are the common tendency to blame the victim; the ways in which the responses of family members, friends, coworkers, and the criminal justice system have often compounded the damaging consequences of male violence; and the ways in which gender-based norms, roles, and cultural myths sanction battery, sexual assault, and sexual harassment of women. The final chapter offers recommendations for policymakers and for psychologists, in their roles as researchers, educators, clinicians, and advocates. Tables, subject and author indexes, appended list of task force members, and about 800 references