Do Violent Acts Equal Abuse? Resolving the Gender Parity/Asymmetry Dilemma

Abstract

This commentary revisits a core dilemma in "Controversies involving Gender and Intimate Partner Violence in the United States" by Langhinrichsen-Rohling (2010), how to reconcile gender parity in the use of force by partners with the gender asymmetry in the dynamics and effects of partner abuse. This dilemma is a byproduct of a domestic violence paradigm that confounds the normative use of violence in families and relationships and the types of partner assault and coercive control targeted by the advocacy movement. I argue that the dimensions of abuse victims present at points of service contradict the basic assumptions of the paradigm and outline an alternative model of coercive control that sets violent acts in their historical, experiential and political context.

Prevalencia De Violencia en El Noviazgo en Una Muestra De Varones Adolescentes Mexicanos

“…Ahora bien, cabe distinguir entre la frecuencia de los actos violentos y el diferente nivel de gravedad o de riesgo a los que se someten hombres y mujeres en dichas relaciones marcadamente conflictivas (Stark, 2010). Es decir, el hecho de que las frecuencias Zamora-Damián, G.;Alvídrez Villegas, S.;Aizpitarte, A. y Rojas-Solís, J. L. ISSN: 2007-1833 de violencia perpetrada sean similares en mujeres y hombres no decrece el riesgo para el sexo femenino de sufrir daños y consecuencias severas.…”

Abusive Men’s Indirect Control of Their Partner During the Process of Separation

“…However, this entrapment and systematic use of violence and control is often considered unique to female victims of intimate partner violence because it is based on women's dependence (e.g. economic) on their partner (Johnson 1995;Stark 2010).…”

Intimate Partner Violence and Gender A/Symmetry: An Integrative Literature Review

“…For some, the predominant was a theoretical research of controversies existent in the literature on gender a/symmetry (Chan, 2011;Enander, 2011;Hamby, 2015;LanghinrichsenRohling, 2010;Stark, 2010;Winstok, 2015). In other cases, the influence of male and female in different models of relationships was analyzed: in heterosexual individuals (Marshall, Jones, & Feinberg, 2011), homosexual couples (Messinger, 2011), married (Chan, 2012), separated (Johnson, Leone, & Xu, 2014) or dating (Hamby & Turner, 2013;Volpe, Hardie, & Cerulli, 2012).…”

“…An analysis revealed six distinct categories of results, as shown in Table 2. 1) Studies show that both men and women can be perpetrators in situations of violence, however levels differ depending on the subtypes of violence (Bates et al, 2014;Chan, 2012;Corbally, 2015;Hamby & Turner, 2013;Johnson et al, 2014;Lövestad & Krantz, 2012;Melander, Noel, & Tyler, 2010;Myhill, 2015;Post, Mezey, Maxwell, & Rhodes, 2011;Tanha et al, 2010), which needs to be taken into account planning interventions (Allen, 2011;Brown, 2012;LanghinrichsenRohling, 2010;Stark, 2010). Also, violence tends to start asymmetrically and becomes symmetrical with time (Leonard et al, 2014).…”

“…Different types of violence require different types of interventions, and no single factor explains all sorts of intimate partner violence (Brown, 2012;Johnson, 2010;Keating, 2015;Langhinrichsen-Rohling, 2010;Stark, 2010;Straus, 2012). Criticizing this thought, Caldwell et al (2012) report that the effects of violence are not equal and that women suffer more, especially in terms of injuries, fear and post-traumatic stress.…”