Women as active agents: Female perpetrators of sexual harassment and domestic abuse.

Abstract

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Suggestions to improve outcomes for male victims of domestic abuse: a review of the literature

“…For example, the Duluth Model, rooted primarily in ideological and political frameworks rather than in evidence based practice, suggests that male batterers use DA as a means of demonstrating power and control over their female partners (Corvo et al 2009). It should come as little surprise that a model that assumes such narrow motivations for DA would fail to capture an accurate picture of the experience of male victims, many of whom often suffer abuse from female partners (Bohall et al 2016;Douglass et al 2020). That such a model is mainstream in both the legal system and support services not only leaves many workers without effective guidelines on how to respond to or support male victims of DA, but also contributes to the view that male victims of DA are elusive in comparison to female victims (Bohall et al 2016;Douglas and Hines 2011;Lysova et al 2020a).…”

“…Although the feminist and women's shelter movements were instrumental in bringing attention to and developing services for domestic violence victims, the sole focus on female victims resulted in a politicizing of the word violence (Barner and Carney 2011;Walker et al 2020). One such example is the idea that domestic violence is an act of patriarchal power meant to exercise control over female victims (Barner and Carney 2011;Douglass et al 2020;Dutton 2012). As a result, men who experience DA, even those who experience physical violence, may prefer not to associate their experiences with the term domestic violence (Bates 2019;Tsang 2015;Walker et al 2020).…”

Partner Killing

“…Considering Darwin's sexual selection theory, Douglass et al (2020) suggest, "The essence of Darwin's theory of sexual selection pits males and females in competition, with each other (intersexual competition) and with themselves (intrasexual competition), in a way that is believed to have far-reaching consequences in how each sex has evolved." Also, Baumeister et al (2001), Ellis and Symons (1990), Jonason and Fisher (2009), and Mitchell et al (2018) indicate men have evolved a stronger libido, various sexual partners, and desires for short-term mating.…”

“…Also, Baumeister et al (2001), Ellis and Symons (1990), Jonason and Fisher (2009), and Mitchell et al (2018) indicate men have evolved a stronger libido, various sexual partners, and desires for short-term mating. Douglass et al (2020) acknowledge that these evolved attitudes lead to emotions such as jealousy, need for power, and control among female partners. Evolutionary explanations have also suggested intimidate partner violence as a defense mechanism when avoiding paternal uncertainty (Daly et al 1982).…”

“…Evolutionary explanations have also suggested intimidate partner violence as a defense mechanism when avoiding paternal uncertainty (Daly et al 1982). Furthermore, explanations for females acting out aggressively are linked to scarcity of resources (Campbell 2015;Campbell et al 1998), response to infidelity (de Weerth and Kalma 1993), competition for survival, and protection of offspring (Douglass et al 2020).…”