Domestic violence Flashcards
Domestic Violence
Any incident or series of incidents of physical psychological or sexual abuse by a current or previous partner
Statistics
- 1 incident of DV is reported to the polices every minute
- 2 women a week are killed by a current or former male partner
- For every 3 victims of DV 2 will be women and 1 will be male
Impact of family life on career and prospects
- fear that a women might become pregnant can limit promotion prospects
- Women are seen as unrelaible workers as they have to take time off if a child is unwell
- Women are seen as less committed to their carers after they have children compared men, due to their roles at home
Triple Shift
Refers to the feminist idea that women have to take on not only paid work outside the home but also the majority of domestic labour and emotional support of the family.
Impact of Triple Shift on women
- GREEN: women tend to see their free/lesure time as time when they are away from both paid work and family commitments. Whereas men consider any time away from paid work as free time
- BERNARD: found that men were more satisfied with their marriage than their wives, who expressed feelings of emotional loneliness
- OAKLEY: found that women felt similiar feelings of boredom and depression as those felt by line workers in factories
Issues with statistics on DV
- Some abuse can be difficult to prove: emotional or psychological abuse
- Victims don’t report the abuse to the police: believe they are to be blamed, don’t think they will be believed
- DAR: can be difficult to seperate out incidents as it can be continous or so often the victim can’t accurately recall
- CHEAL: the police are reluctant to get involved in the family because they assume that the family is private–> individuals are free to leave if they wish
Radical explaination for DV
DOBASH AND DOBASH
Domestic violence is evidence of patriarchy and caused by challenges to male authority
- In recent years this can be linked to the crisis of masculinity where men are unsure of their place in society and strike out.
Radical Feminism Eval
- ELLIOT: not all men are violent
- Men can be victims too
- Some groups of women are more likely to be a victim
New Right Explaintation for DV
MURRAY
DV only occurs in dsyfunctional families. These families include those with teen parents, cohabitition and divorce over a stable marriage.
- There are higher rates of DV in lower classes due to moral standard
New Right eval
- DV is not limited to working class
- Too much focus on violence compares to other forms of abuse
Postmodernist explaintition for DV
GIDDENS
DV is caused by the emotional intensity of family life . The nature of family life makes DV quite common as family life is characterised by emotional insensity and personal intimacy.
- Increasing isolation of nuclear family increases intensity and escalates to violence: Lack of people to vent to
PM eval
- Not all families are abusive
- We choose our family structure so can have people to vent to who are not extended family
Marxist Feminists
- ANSLEY: Women are takers of shit, men are fustrated by the oppression they feel at work and take this out on their wives
- WILKINSON & PICKETT: DV is the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality. Having less resources then others can lead to stress and violence out of fustration.
Marxist feminist eval
- Doesn’t explain male victims
- DV is not limited to working class
- Not all men are violent to their partners
