What is 'intimate violence'? How do different theorists attempt to explain it?

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The Family: British and International Perspectives

Level 5

Component 2

What is ‘intimate violence’? How do different theorists attempt to explain it?

        Intimate violence also known as domestic violence is not a new social phenomena it I actually a problem which has been evident in society for many decades. Throughout history, and across divisions of class, race and culture it has always been a feature of family life. A century ago it was legal fro a man to beat his wife, and even 25 years ago ‘wife battering’ was still very much a private issue, it was hidden and largely ignored. (www.womensaid.co.uk).

 Domestic violence happens in all types of relationship whether it is a heterosexual relationship or a homosexual relationship or any other form of partnership, and both men and women can be perpetrators of domestic violence. The main perpetrators of domestic violence are men who use violence against their female partner, with 1 in 4 women suffering from domestic violence in their lifetime, and also 2 women a week are killed by a current or former partner (www.womensaid.co.uk). According to the British Crime Survey (1996, home office) Almost half (44%) of all incidents reported by women to the British Crime Survey were domestic violence incidents, thus suggesting the problem affects a wide range of women and this is what I will focus on for the rest of the essay the violence women are exposed to from men.  This is not just an issue in Britain but is evident in many countries for example: the largest recent survey of violence against women involved a telephone survey of over 11,000 women in Canada. One in three reported violence from their partners (reference a website for statistics). It is evident that women from all over the world are experiencing domestic violence but why do women experience such abuse from their partner?

        The issue domestic violence has a range of definitions, the sociologists Kelly defines sexual violence as  ‘Any physical, visual or sexual act that is experienced by a woman or girl, at the time or later, as a threat, invasion or assault, that has the effect of hurting her or degrading her and/or takes away her ability to control intimate contact’ (1988:41). This is probably the most widely used definition amongst sociologists as it includes a wide range of behaviour including fear or force, threats, physical use together with emotional abuse, it includes rape, sexual assault, woman beating and sexual harassment.  

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        Maynard and Winn (Cited in Richardson and Robinson,1993: 175-6) define domestic as much more in-depth than professional and legal definitions from institutions like the police. They believe that the threats women receive from men are just as harmful as being abused as the women are constantly in fear.  This definition suggests that no physical harms needs to occur for a woman to experience domestic violence, that mental abuse and fear are too very harmful and are an aspect of domestic violence. Dobash and Dobash (1980:15) argue that” domestic violence between husbands and wives conceptualises such violence as the extension ...

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