NCJ Number
153356
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: special issue (Summer 1994) Pages: 183-194
Date Published
1994
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Common themes in the study of intimate violence are reviewed that concern sociopolitical and gender-based theories of violence, the role of a patriarchal society in violence, personality changes associated with violence, gender and couple differences, and variations in male offenders.
Abstract
The critical review discusses gender-based models that attempt to explain intimate violence, political and legal ramifications of relationship aggression, feminist research, and the battered women's movement. Consideration is also given to social and psychological factors in intimate violence, ideas of power and control in the perpetration of male violence against women, patriarchal structures that demarcate violent patterns and behaviors for both men and women, and sociocultural models of relationship aggression. The author examines the role of personality traits and disorders in explaining violence, violence in lesbian relationships, gender and couple differences in violent victimization, and men as both offenders and victims. Complexities of criminal justice policies designed to respond to violence are described, and the need for a multidimensional approach to explain relationship aggression and violence is stressed. 44 references and 3 notes