Kevin Cochran
Dr. Johnson
Sociology
12/6/07
Gerstein, L. “In India, Poverty and Lack of Education are Associated with Men’s
Physical and Sexual Abuse of their Wives.” International Family Planning Perspectives 26, no. 1 (March 2000): 44-45. http://links.jstor.org
Gersteing, L has written the article “In India, Poverty and Lack of Education are Associated with Men’s Physical and Sexual Abuse of their Wives” to show the different reasons for the very common problem of spousal abuse in India. This article has constructed studies in five different districts of Uttar Pradesh in India to test how education level, wealth, number of children, and even men’s reproductive health and experience affect the chances of spouse abuse. This is one of the least developed cities in all of India. These studies which were conducted then go on to show that these factors do have a large impact on men becoming abusers. The article conducted an interview with an extensive series of questions for 6,695 men that ranged from the age of 15 to 65. I feel this is a strong factual article and is very important to understanding spousal abuse and the factors that contribute to it.
These 6,695 men from various age groups were asked such questions such as if they have ever sexually abused their spouse, the frequency, the extent, and if the abuse repetitive. They were then asked if this had ever led to physical abuse as well. They were then asked if they have ever had signs of an STD and about their premarital sex experience. Finally the men were asked about their caste, age, number of children, poverty level, and rural or urban residence and other things of this matter. After the studies were completed the numbers showed that 30 percent of the men had reported physically abusing their wives. The degree of abuse and type of abuse fluctuated greatly though throughout the different districts. These men also had reported that they had physically abused their spouse on multiple occasions and within the last year these numbers varies between 63 and 91 percent across the districts. In conclusion to the studies they reported that the number of men who abuse their wives in Uttar Pradesh ranges from 18 to 45 percent of all the men. The studies then show through percentages that men, with low education, more than one child, and are poverty stricken were much more likely than other men to abuse their spouses. In a separate analysis the article shows that the relation between men’s reproductive health and spouse abuse are very strong. Men who have ever suffered from an STD, engaged in premarital or extramarital sex, and whose wives had had an unplanned pregnancy were also more likely than other men to be spousal abusers.
In this article there are both strengths and weaknesses, but over all I feel it was a persuasive and factual well written article. Some points in the article that could be made better were on where the studies took place. The article tells which of the five districts were tested, but when giving the percentages it does not specify which district had what numbers, it just gives ranges. It could then also go on to tell what these districts are like, such which ones suffer more from poverty or have lower levels of education. There was not much else wrong with the article though. It shows percentages and almost every possible situation for the type of study being done. At the end of the article there is even a chart to make the numbers more clear. The article shows the range of percentages for each type of abuse and correlates them to the factors which affect it. At the end of the study there is brief paragraph stating how poverty and education level are the main risk factors for spousal abuse, and then gives ways that India is trying to solve this problem by making education and jobs more readily available to the inhabitants of these areas and communities.
This article presents a lot of factual information and quality testing done. Not only were the interviews done full of a variety of questions that should be taken into account to study this topic, but they interviewed a very wide variety of men and in a large age range. The article good be stronger if it put its percentages to the specific district instead of just giving ranges. The information in this article in all though is informative and interesting. This shows how spousal abuse takes place in almost every society and is a problem in other places other than the United States.
Kevin Cochran
Dr. Johnson
Sociology
12/6/07
Gold, Deborah T; Gwyther, Lisa Q. “The Prevention of Elder Abuse: An Educational
Model.” Family Relations 38, no.1 (Jan 1989): 8-14. http://links.jstor.org
In this article written by Deborah T. Gold and Lisa Q. Gwyther named “The Prevention of Elder Abuse: An Educational Model,” we see an interesting look at spousal abuse. This article focuses on one community of people who are often overlooked and not related to the issue of spousal abuse, when in fact it is a big problem. This article goes through different reasons for why spousal abuse occurs among older couples and the elderly. The writers show that despite what most people think spousal abuse is a problem among these people and needs to be realized and more things need to be done to help those involved in it. This article is very interesting and is a good article to grab the attention from the public for this problem. Although it poses a good argument and a lot of information I do not feel this is a strong article and does not back up a lot of its claims.
Gold and Gwyther wrote this to the widespread and frequently seen form of spousal abuse between adult couples and elderly spouses. The common act of spousal abuse between elderly spouses is not widely known to the public and little is being done to help with the problem. The reason this problem has not been addressed is because people do not feel the elderly community is has as many problems or are as stressed as the younger couples and communities, therefore people believe or choose not to believe that spousal abuse does not occur in these communities. Gold and Gwyther show us that this is a common misconception and in fact older adults and the elderly experience just as much conflict and stress as others. Some of the factors which cause this are due to growing old, retirement, widowhood, and trying to adapt to chronic illness. The article points out that some if not all of these reasons are more reasonable to become stressed over than other things. This article takes a look at recent research which has shown that communication and resolving conflicts becomes less of an importance to the family of elders. People tend to visit their elderly family members and communicate less with them in the family such as being put in nursing homes and moving away when they grow up. This therefore makes it harder to resolve conflicts or notice the abuse going on. There is also almost no support groups or clinics in the elderly community to support and help those who are in need because of spousal abuse.
This article brings up a point that I feel needs to be addressed. The issue of spousal abuse is very common according to the article and there is little being done to help those who suffer. The information in this article seems to be very factual and it gives answers to the problems or ways to help reduce this problem. Although there are many good aspects of this literature, I feel it is not a very strong article. It is a good and interesting article, but not a strong one. The writing could use more hard empirical evidence, which it has almost none of. The writers should have done more research and maybe some studies or surveys and put percentages and statistics in the article along with the interesting assumptions they use now. The article says how the elderly are just as stressed as the rest of the world and gives reasons why, but there is no legitimate evidence used or shown to prove this. The main reason they say for the continuance for spousal abuse in the elderly community is lack of communication therefore creating inability to resolve conflicts, but there were know studies done or talked about in the article to show that this was in fact true and factual. The literature is a good read and brings up many good points, but it is missing one major thing an article of this type needs, which is hard evidence. People want to see numbers and statistics. That is what could get the point across stronger and more clearly.
“The Prevention of Elder Abuse: An Educational Model,” although an interesting and eye opening article, it is lacking some major aspects a strong article should have. The authors could add some factual information and references to studies that have been done on this subject to make this article better. If they could show readers some percentages and actual numbers it would be much more enticing and could cause a greater concern for the problem of elderly spousal abuse.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Annotated Bibliography
Articles
Brinkerhoff, Merlin B; Grandin,Elaine; Lupri, Eugen; “Religious Involvement and
Spousal Violence: The Canadian Case.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 21, no. 1 (Mar, 1992): 12-31. http://links.jstor.org.
In this article we see research on how religious denomination and attendance to religious ceremonies such as church influence spousal abuse. The data in this article came from a representation of a national probability example of the married or cohabited population of persons eighteen or older. In Canada spouse abuse is considered a legitimate social and economical problem because it is so extensive and such a harmful and serious thing. Social scientists have normally recognized the interdependence between the religious institutions and the family, but there is almost no research done on the relationship between religion and domestic violence. The studies in this article showed that religious denomination had very little to no significant influence on the abuse of a spouse and the theory of attendance to religious ceremonies and events or “religious patriarchy” was also shown to have no significant effect on abuse as well. One example showed that Christian Conservative men do not commit the act of abusing their partners anymore or less than do people with other denominations. On the other hand, it also showed that women of the Christian Conservative denomination do tend to abuse their partners more so than others. In the article violence among spouses was also tested in a way to see how sociodemographic and interaction factors between spouses affect this. Three different multivariate models were used and it showed that religion and religious participation had little to no relationship to spousal abuse. Different variables, such as interaction among the spouses presumed to be the best indicators to violence among partners. This article represents my topic and this course because it speaks on this deviant matter from a different perspective where there is little opinion and research in the field. Spousal abuse is a commonly known problem and this article addresses my topic on this through studies of how religion and spousal abuse are related.
Demo, David H; Edwards, John N.; Hoffman, Kristi L. “Physical Wife Abuse in a Non-
Western Society: An Integrated Theoretical Approach” Journal of Marriage and the Family 56, no. 1 (Feb, 1994): 131-146. http://links.jstor.org
This article is studying 619 men from Thailand on the physical abuse of the women they are currently with. After all of the studies, the results strongly were affected socioeconomic status, marital conflicts, and how stable their relationships were. Most of the studies studied marital relationships. This article opens up explaining that spousal abuse occurs in every single society, but depending on factors such as conflicts in the marriage and the status of the people in the relationship will determine different levels of abuse. The article also uses comparisons with the United States. In the U.S. spousal abuse occurs in approximately 17% of relationships. Factors that cause spousal abuse are often from stress, alcoholism, number of years married, and the number of children. More children for some families can bring more stress. Another factor that affects abuse would be level of education. A male with higher education is, in most cases, less likely to abuse their wife because they probably have a better job and live a more comfortable lifestyle that spousal abuse doesn’t occur that often. This article strongly applies to my topic because it shows that spousal abuse does occur in ever single country but all for similar reasons such as stress, marital conflicts, and economic status. People are often deviant for similar reasons and depending on the society, the level of deviance may be more or less severe.
Dixon, Joe. “The Nexus of Sex, Spousal Violence, and the State.” Law & Society Review
29, no. 2 (1995): 359-376. http://links.jstor.org
In this article we see how the matters concerning the very serious issue of spousal abuse in the past were very over looked and not taken into consideration. This could have an effect on why it is so common and has been a problem for so long. The main argument in the article is how the women’s movement brought up the concern for violence between genders and spouses and why it took such a major movement to recognize such an obvious problem. We see in the studies shown here that between 1939 and 1969 in the Journal of Marriage and the Family there was nothing containing references on anything related to spousal abuse. Before the women’s movement spousal violence in academic, legal, and social discourses was largely denied. It is clear of the ignorance of the social and legal systems of the silencing of this matter. This is portrayed through a quote in the article: “if no permanent injury has been inflicted, nor malice, cruelty, nor dangerous violence shown by the husband, it is better to draw the curtain, shut out the public gaze, and leave the parties to forgive and forget.” This quotation is a clear representation of the meaning of this article. The article takes a look into the past of spousal abuse in the western world. It portrays how this acceptance or denial of this abuse was originated and why it was this way. Back then men were on top of everything from academics to business and legal positions. Men felt higher and in control, because they were. This is why spousal abuse wise so common, for in many instances the man committed the acts because it made him feel in power, which relates to another article. This article is a good source for my topic because it doesn’t just look at spousal abuse as being deviant right away. This article takes a look at the past and how the abuse of a spouse came to become deviant, and was largely because of the feminist movement.
Ferris, Lorraine E. “Canadian Family Physicians’ and General Practitioners’ Perceptions
of Their Effectiveness in Identifying and Treating Wife Abuse.” Medical Care 32, no. 12 (Dec, 1994): 1163-1172. http://links.jstor.org
This article is slightly different than the others. This one is not a study of actual couples and spouses or a study on abuse cases, but rather it is a study done in Canada on Family Physicians and general practitioners regarding how effective they are in identifying and treating their women patients. There was a national sample on 963 family physicians and general practitioners who were surveyed on their detection, attitude, treatment, and necessary extensive medical education needs in the field. On average they estimate that about 15 percent of their female patients were victims of abuse and about half of them believe they actually failed to identify about 30 percent of their patients’ cases or even more. The studies also found that the sex and age differences of the practitioners did not relate to identification of the problems, but there was a difference in treatment advice and options. Finally the average reason for being unable to detect these cases of spousal abuse was because of the patients. Most female patients experiencing spousal abuse were unresponsive, lacked initiative, and had infrequent visits. Most of the physicians and practitioners wanted more medical education on the subject of wife abuse. This article pertains to my topic because it takes another look at deviance not from first hand experience, but why it continues to go on and why so many are repeated abusers. This article can relate to deviance by looking at the patients. People may think the patients are deviant for not speaking out and trying to stop this, but why is this deviant? It is their problem. Because it is their problem shouldn’t they deal with it?
Gartner, Rosemary; Macmillian, Ross, “When She Brings Home the Bacon: Labor-Force
Participation and the Risk of Spousal Violence against Women.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 61, no. 4 (Nov, 1999):947-958. http://links.jstor.org
This article focuses on how strong of an affect employment can have in a spousal abusive relationship. The author analyzes different social classes and compares the difference. The lower classes and women without employment often can trigger their husband to grow angry at them because the husband thinks their useless. A husband who is in the labor force with a low paying job who has to pay for his whole family with no help from his wife will be stressed which can cause him to be even more angry and take it out on the wife. Women with either no jobs or low paying jobs make their husbands feel more in control of them and they feel they have the upper hand which can lead to physical abuse. On the other hand, women with high paying jobs may make the husband feel emasculated and that they are trying to grow more independent and take their role which can anger him. A job can identify a person’s identity. A person with a lower paying job will receive less respect than a person with a higher paying job. Therefore, if a wife has a low paying job the husband may treat her worse. This article works really well with my topic because I think it is important to realize that a person’s job does identify them. For men, working can make them feel more powerful and construct masculinity. Power can lead to violence which can lead to demeaning women.
Gelles, Richard J. “Family Violence.” Annual Review of Sociology 11 (1985): 347-367.
http://links.jstor.org
This article is a review of different researches done on family violence including spouse abuse, but mainly wife abuse like most articles. In the past family violence was seen as very rare and was seen as occurring predominantly in households of mentally ill offenders. Family violence though has quickly caught the attention of scientific researches and the general public. This review examines family violence becoming a social and sociological problem as a “discovery.” This article points out that spousal abuse, mainly wife abuse, got little to no public and scientific attention until the around the 1970’s. Even the earliest cases though were not even written by sociologists. Spousal abuse was approached and written from a psychiatric point of view, or as we have learned it from the demonic perspective. People believed that to abuse your wife or spouse something must not be functioning correctly with you. This article points out many matters related to deviance and shows how in the past spousal and family violence and abuse was not seen as a crime, but as a mental problem of the individual and their deviant act of abuse was beyond their control. This article relates well to the course of deviance and my topic because it shows how spousal abuse has been studied through different perspectives. In the past it was looked at through the demonic perspective, but now is being seen through the classical. People are being punished for deviant acts such as spousal abuse.
Gerstein, L. “In India, Poverty and Lack of Education are Associated with Men’s
Physical and Sexual Abuse of their Wives.” International Family Planning Perspectives 26, no. 1 (March 2000): 44-45. http://links.jstor.org
In India spousal abuse both sexual and physical is common among partners. This article speaks on the relation between spouse abuse, poverty and the lack of education many in India have. One strong point the article makes is the influence of poverty and its lifestyle which leads to the abuse of a spouse by the men of India. Men who live in poverty and are in a family of more then one child are more likely to abuse their wives than those of more wealthy regions and lifestyles and are also more likely to have repeated offenses of this. The reason for having repeated offenses is because in the poor lifestyle the women are less likely to report the crimes because they are looked down upon anyway and are not given as much attention as those who are from wealthy communities. Because the women wont report it the men feel they can keep getting away with it and feel that they are still in charge of the woman. Another major factor that plays into spousal abuse is the lack of education. One reason given for men with little education to abuse their partners is because they are unaware of the repercussions and do not realize what they are doing is wrong. In other cases some men did not go through schooling, also a result of poverty, and were not taught some of the morals that other men who were able to go through the full education process and learn the life lessons that others do. This article made for a good source on my topic of spousal abuse, because it shows how different social classes and social status’s can effect how people act and why some people may commit acts of deviance or acts that others would consider to be deviant.
Gold, Deborah T; Gwyther, Lisa Q. “The Prevention of Elder Abuse: An Educational
Model.” Family Relations 38, no.1 (Jan 1989): 8-14. http://links.jstor.org
This article portrays the very common form of spousal abuse between elders. The frequent act of spousal abuse between elders is not widely known to the public or addressed. This has not been addressed because people do not feel the elderly community is as stressed as the rest of the world, therefore spousal abuse does not occur among them. This article points out that this is very untrue. Older adults and the elderly experience much conflict and stress due to factors such as growing old, retirement, widowhood, and trying to adapt to chronic illness. These are very serious problems which have led many elderly or older couples to fight and grow into abusive relationships. This article takes a look at recent research which has shown that communication and resolving conflicts becomes less of an importance to the family of elders. People tend to visit and communicate less with the elders in the family such as being put in nursing homes, therefore making it harder to resolve conflicts or notice the abuse going on. This article is good for my topic because it shows how although detection and intervention services do exist for the elderly spousal abuse there are very few prevention programs in communities which is why this problem is staying consistent. This article shows that deviance is viewed differently in communities and how different social standings are treated differently. The problem of spousal abuse among elders is still a problem largely because of the lack of attention it gets.
Gunn, Tiffany; Huaung, Chein Ju; “AN Examination of Domestic Violence in an African
American Community in North Carolina: Causes and Consequences.” Jounral of Black Studies 31, no. 6 (July 2001): 790-811. http://links.jstor.org
This article opens with a chilling statement to really catch your attention, “every fifteen seconds a woman is battered.” The article then goes on to discuss the issue of spousal abuse and violence against women in the United States. Domestic violence is one of the most underreported crimes and underestimated ones in the United States. Spousal abuse is found throughout all ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic classes. A study done by NVAA (National Violence against Women Prevention Center) showed that 1.8 million to 4 million women in the United States are abused by their spouses each year. The article also addresses that women are at a much greater risk to be abused than are men. Unlike some of the studies done in the other sources this one actually addresses two very interesting topics, such as race and types of abuse. One study on the issue of spousal abuse and the influence of race showed that women from all races and ethnicities are at equal risk to be abused by a spouse, but only about half of all incidents are actually ever reported. Spousal abuse was also addressed by the different types of it that can occur. Most people hear spousal abuse and assume is it is physical violence, when it can actually be defined as “any physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse occurring between domestic partners.” This article is unique and makes very strong points for my topic, due to its unique content. This article addresses how there is not only one form of spouse abuse and how many women are affected by it.
Hart, Stephen D.; Kropp, R. Randall. “The Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA)
Guise: Reliability and Validity in Adult Male Offenders.” Law and Human Behavior 24, no. 1 (Feb, 2000): 101-118. http://links.jstor.org
This article is testing the validity and reliability of SARA (Spousal Assault Risk Assessment) with six different situations of adult male offenders; actual number tested by SARA was 2681. With respect to the presence of individual risk factors and to over all perceived risk the ratings were distributed in a way that showed to be very heterogeneous. Through the structural analysis of this showed average levels of internal consistency throughout and homogeneity. Spousal abuse is a major concern of health in the public due to its impact of harm on victims, both physically and mentally, its prevalence, and its cost on the economy. The development of criminal justice policies that encourage the arrest and conviction of these criminal perpetrators was one response to this growing problem. Because of this the number of reported spousal abuse incidents has increased greatly. In Canada, for example, the number of spousal abuse instances reported has increased greatly and now is accounted for the majority of the all violent crimes reported to the police. It actually accounts for eighty percent of reported violent crimes in Canada. SARA was created to test reasons for this problem and the risk. SARA discriminated noticeably between perpetrators with and without a history of spouse abuse and between recidivistic and those who are not in another. Finally, SARA portrayed discriminate and convergent validity with deference to different measures similar to risk for general and violent criminal behavior.
Kalmuss, Debra S.; Straus, Murray A; “Wife’s Marital Dependency and Wife Abuse.”
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 44, no 2 (May, 1982): 277-286. http://links.jstor.org
This journal takes a look at the relationship between wives dependency on marriage and wife abuse and why the women stay in the relationships. The data in this is from a nationally representative sample of 2,143 men and women adults who were studied. Researchers of family violence have recognized such a relationship before, but none was experimentally demonstrated. The two independent variables that were used in the study were the wives economic and perceived marital dependency. The dependant variables evaluated the existence of acts of physical aggression toward wives that carry a high risk or severe abuse and injury and those that experience minor violence and were at less of a risk. Both of the dependency variables were directly in relation to spousal abuse. The articles shows that the data concluded that women with perceived dependency were at less of a risk and minor violence, but wives dependent because of objective or economic reasons were the exact opposite. Most believe it is psychological dependency that keeps women in severely abusive relationships, but this article shows us that it is actually economic dependency that keeps these women who experience spousal abuse in the relationships. This article is good for my topic because it looks at spousal abuse from the point of view of why the person stays in the relationship instead of why it is occurring. This relates to deviance because it shows how many times it is the victim who is also at fault for the deviant acts continuously occurring. People are staying in abusive relationships for their own economic well being not because of psychological problems.
Kantor, Glenda Kaufman; Straus, Murray A. “The ‘Drunken Bum’ Theory of Wife
Beating.” Social Problems 34, No. 3 (Jun., 1987): pp 213-230 http://links.jstor.org
Beating of wives is most of the time, as we all know, caused by drunkenness at socioeconomic status and after testing over 5000 families on the issue these seem to really be the two causes that have very strong results. The strongest cause of wife beating, however, is the cultural approval of violence by men against women. This article, as much as it addresses and discusses spousal abuse due to being drunk, the author seems to think that alcohol is most definitely is not nearly the most sufficient cause. So this article is in a way trying to make less of this ‘drunk bum’ theory and show other causes that are more significant when it comes to this kind of abuse. It is just that alcoholism has been built into the minds of Americans in our culture over the years and we just assume that is why people do it. It is not the case at all though. This article addresses three main questions that will be able to find the major causes. This article will discuss if men who drink more have higher rates to abuse their wives then men who don’t drink as much, how far into drinking does the violence occur, and what is the class that alcoholism and wife beating are closest related. This article will show a lot about my topic and I will learn a lot from it because I will be learning something new, considering I always assumed the being drunk causes more violence.
Kurz, Demie. “Corporal Punishment and Adult Use of Violence: A Critique of
‘Discipline and Deviance.’” Social Problems 38, no. 2 (May, 1991): pp 133-161. http://links.jstor.org
This article points out that physical punishment of children often leads to spousal abuse. This is true in many cases because sometimes when children are getting into trouble or abused by their father, the mothers tend to defend the children which can anger her husband more. Because of this spousal abuse will usually occur when child abuse does. Child abuse can also lead to assault and murder as well. This article also focuses mainly on if you were abused or assaulted as a child you develop more anger as you grow older and have a higher chance of either child abuse or spousal abuse. There is a very close tie between those abused as a child and the amount of crime or punishment they commit as an adult. Children who experience good childhoods don’t grow up hating themselves or anybody. Others who do experience abuse, however, are more likely to grow up with lots of anger that they want to take out on someone or something. This article strongly supports the idea that violence leads to violence. This article is not researching child abuse or researching spouse abuse. It is focusing most on the connection between the two and how one usually leads to the other, as researchers realize the more they study these types of research. This article can work for my topic because it doesn’t just talk about spousal abuse; it brings other kinds of abuse into it which are leading causes to why abuse between husbands and wives occur.
Malone, Jean; O’Leary, K. Daniel; Tyree, Andrea. “Generalization and Containment:
Different Effects of Past Aggression for Wives and Husbands.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 51, no. 3 (Aug, 1989) 687-697. http://links.jstor.org
This article unlike the others speaks more on how men and women are affected and experience spousal abuse rather than just women. In the beginning of this article we are told that a study of the etiology of physical aggression toward spouses was done one 328 community spouses. These couples were assessed six weeks prior to marriage and then six months into the marriage and again 18 months into the marriage. The study showed that men showed more involvement in violent activity outside of the home, but not in actual spousal abuse. This article points out a fact that is not well known and would come as a shock to most people, which is that men and women have reported experiencing almost identical amounts of physical aggression in their families and against their spouses. The main difference between the male violence on a female spouse and a female abusing the male is shown in two different analyses that physical abuse is much more predictable for the women than men. The article states that if a woman is the aggressor she is more likely to show this aggression and act upon it from one relationship type to another than the male. This article was one of the most important sources for my topic because it speaks on a very unique topic. The article points out that there is very little literature that speaks on gender differences and the role of women in spousal abuse. As seen by the other articles most literature is written on why men beat their wives and commit acts of violence against women. This article shows that spousal abuse in the home is very similar between men and women. This shows that deviance is seen in many ways. Most people see the male as the aggressor being very wrong, and often over look when the female is the abuser. Most men will not report these crimes because of embarrassment. This relates to the movie “Tough Guise” very clearly.
Zimring, Franklin E. “Legal Perspectives on Family Violence” California Law Review
75, no. 1 (January 1987): 521-539 http://links.jstor.org
This article really shows that people have no idea what goes on with families behind closed doors. This article shows that there are so many married couples around the world that experience spousal abuse and do not get divorces. Women hesitate to take action against their husbands because they have a fear of what their life will be like without them. Therefore, traditional law enforcement will usually only take formal action if the wife plans on separating. Legal action is most possible if the family plans on separating. That shows that it is serious if the family is falling apart because of it. When couples do not split, it shows that they don’t take the abuse seriously and view it as an unimportant issue. This article also gets into legal issues dealing with it and that legal solutions are not available for conflicts that are endangered by better family behavior because if their behavior is good, they would resolve it within the family itself or in problem-solving structures. Spousal abuse, explained in this article, is rarely enforced legally. This is because there is such a large gap between doctrine and policy. This article goes well with deviance and how narrow-minded the courts can be. That is why this article recommends dealing with it within your family first, or talking to someone before you being it to the legal courts because it may not even be resolved.
Books
Dutton, Donald G. Rethinking Domestic Violence. Vancouver, UBC Press, 2006.
This book takes a look at spousal abuse and violence in a much different way. It actually seems to try and prove other theories wrong rather than address the issue. One area Dutton stresses is the wrong way to go about studying and preventing spousal abuse was that of which the feminists went about it making out to be that the men who do this are all wrong. This is just Dutton’s point of view though. He does though agree with the fact the spousal abuse is an ongoing and ever changing problem. Dutton believes that most of the perpetrators of spousal abuse in fact suffer from personality disorders or some other psychological disability. The book although it does not out right state this, is a strong defense against feminism and the feminist movement is why disorders such as personality disorder, attachment disorder, identity disturbance and shame have been over looked by the court systems and the public when these cases are reported. Dutton claims that “women are just as violent as men,” but with no empirical evidence. This article relates to deviance because Dutton looks at the deviant act of spousal abuse from the demonic perspective and sees it a mental problem and is out of the deviant’s control. The article is also good for my topic because it is a rebuttal per say to all of the other sources found on this topic. It goes against the normal association with men being the ones in the wrong with spousal abuse and attacks the women.
Dutton, Donald G. The Abusive Personality: Violence and Control in Intimate
Relationships. New York, Guilford Press, 1998.
In this book we again see a strong argument made my Dutton. Here Dutton exclaims that in order to understand spousal abuse and violence we need not to focus on external factors because there are very many limitations in this area. Donald Dutton says that to understand spousal abuse you must focus on the personality structure of the abusive male. This book is to portray how spousal abuse in men is mainly impulsive and usually they are cyclical batterers. Many of the abusive men display trauma symptoms and can relate to trauma that has taken place at the origin of the family. The book shows recent methods and studies of explaining reasons for spousal abuse and then moves on to show an internal family cyclical process which has its origins in the early family environment. This book relates to the pathological perspective on deviance because it is saying that spousal abuse and violence in men is in their genes and is with them and their families throughout their lives. Dutton goes on to tell us how this cyclical abusiveness can be triggered by loneliness. Borderline personality disorders and personality unawareness are related to the inability to tolerate loneliness. Once again in this book like the other by Dutton we see that mental and psychological factors are the cause of abusive men. This book is important to the topic because it is the only one whose main focus is disorders and family history being the source of spousal abuse.
Dutton, Donald G; Golant, Susan K.; The Batterer: A Psychological Profile. New York,
Basic Books, 1995.
In this book Dutton this time along with Golant do tests on men to find out why they can be abusive towards women. They did drawings on studies of more than 700 abusive men; Dutton here portrays an intense and startling portrait of the man who assaults his intimate partner, such as admitted abusers like Joel Steinberg and O.J. Simpson. With serious case histories that shed light on the dark secrets of spousal abuse, "The Batterer" provides many over looked studies to show how men can harm the women they love and how we can begin to put an end to violence behind closed doors. In this book Dutton and Golant give steps to put an end to being an abusive male and getting out of an abusive relationship. Although this article is similar to the others this is the one where the actual testing was done to gain the empirical evidence which is used so often throughout the books. This book also demonstrates that intimate spousal abuse by men is more than just a learned pattern of behavior as many have come to recognize it. Spousal abuse in men is the product of a particular personality configuration. This book was very useful for my topic. It allowed me to understand where Dutton is coming from in his other books which I have used. The information in this book was some of the most useful and interesting to read and to learn about. Dutton’s studies make you wonder if the pathological perspective is the correct way of viewing this deviance.
Hines, Denise A. Family Violence in the United States: Defining, Understanding, and
Combating Abuse. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, 2005.
This article shows us house whether in form of physical violence or verbal abuse. Spousal abuse has touched people who were married in their lifetimes. It discusses how almost everyone has witnessed it, experienced it, or used it at one point or another. In order for people to eliminate aggressive and abusive behaviors from their relationships, they must be willing to confront their own experiences with these behaviors. One of the major problems with spousal abuse is that people do not confront it head on and try to avoid it or hope it goes away. This book is different from the others because it takes a look at all of the different kinds of abuse which can take place in relationships. The book is clearly designed to entice the reader to recognize, prevent, and fight back against all forms of abuse not just physical. When people hear spousal abuse they immediately assume it is violent and physical and the male doing it, but in actuality that is not even the most common form of abuse and men are not always the abusers. This book shows us how common and overlooked mental and emotional abuse is too and that men are very frequently abused as well. These problems are overlooked and less frequently studied, because many people do not even realize they are victims of it and do not report it. Also there is no punishment for mental abuse unless it is very severe or causes harm. This can relate best I feel to the classical perspective on deviance in the sense of reward and punishment. People can get away with certain abuses because they know there is no punishment and many people will not find out. Most men will not admit they are being abused whether it is physically or mentally, because of shame.
NA. International Perspectives on Family Violence. Lexington, Mass., Lexington Books,
1983.
This book focuses on learning about spousal abuse by not only looking at it in our societies and cultures, but to really understand this abuse it must be looked at in other cultures as well. Although this books main focus is child abuse, spousal abuse is also a large portion of this book and is very informative. This takes at look at other cultures such as England and Scotland and talks about how spousal abuse affects the lives of men and women over there. When compared to the United States spousal abuse across seas is not seen as of serious of a crime as it is here. Over there it is also very common and is frowned upon, but the public does not seem to take it as seriously as the United States. The book also takes a look at Mexico and speaks on marital power. In this culture and society education is a key attainment to avoid spousal abuse mostly for women. If a woman is educated she will have more say in decisions and more influence on the husband. This is due to the fact that the husbands’ dominance is not universal nor is it insurmountable. This is very well related to the societies of the United States and other countries a well. This book was useful to my topic and the deviance course because it takes a look at other societies and looks at how they view deviance and go about avoiding it.
NA. Violence in Homes and Communities: Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment.
Thousand Oaks, Cali., Sage Publications, 1999.
In this book, which is one of a series of books, we see different reasons for the causes of spousal abuse. In one example from the book we see how child abuse can be very traumatic for children and in many cases will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Being a victim of child abuse is one issue that this book addresses for people who become spouse abusers. Many people who were victims when they were young grow up to become aggressors themselves. These people are not at fault, according to the information in the book. Another reason for spousal abuse is those who were exposed to it at a young age with their own parents. These children might think it is normal and not a crime. When they grow old they may realize it is wrong, but in their heads they are still adapted to it so they in turn will become abusers as well. Lastly this book talks about the media. This explains how violence is such a major part of television now and children begin watching it and learning it at very young ages. This article portrays how exposure to violence at a young age can affect how you go about your decision making in the future as an adult. This relates to one of the perspectives, because although they know it is wrong they do it anyway. This book was a necessity to my topic because it shows how being exposed to things at a young age can affect your outcome and how the media effects people as well.
Unpublished Manuscript
Burgess-Proctor, Amanda. "An Intersectional Analysis of Domestic Violence: Race,
Class, and Gender in the Lives of Battered Women." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Royal York, Toronto 2007-12-06
Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
This manuscript seeks to advance understanding of domestic violence by placing the experiences of battered women within the context of interacting systems of oppression such as race, class, and gender by using an intersectional theoretical framework informed by multiracial feminism. This manuscript goes deeper than many of the other sources and takes a look at the battered women’s lives and interactions on a day to day basis. This source looks at how different factors of women’s lives can lead to being abused by their male spouse, such as their race, class, and gender. All of these aspects can play into being abused because they all deal with forms of oppression. The relationship between class and spousal abuse was the highest for risk. This is because people are looked down upon in lower classes and because of that are unhappy and in some cases uneducated as well. These people do not receive the same attention and care that more wealthy people do and therefore their problem is over looked. The relationship between race and spousal abuse was not as strong in fact it showed that there was almost no difference in spousal abuse cases and the race. This manuscript although unpublished had added great value to my topic. This manuscript showed how race, class, and gender are related to spousal abuse.
Periodicals
Alper, Zuleyha; Bayram, Nuran; Bilgel, Nazan; Ergin, Nilufer; Selimoglu, Kerem.
“Domestic Violence:A Tragedy Behind the Doors.” Women and Health. Old Westbury, 2005, Vol. 42, Iss. 2; pg. 35
The purpose of this periodical is apparent that it is trying to explore the occurrence, type, frequency and causes of domestic spousal violence among women in a socio-economically developed urban setting. This periodical studied this by using a cross-sectional study which was performed in 2003. All married women, aged 18 years and over, who were visiting any of the 50 primary health care units for different purposes were asked to participate in the study. Of 1427 asked, 1010 gave permission and completed face-to-face interviews. Multiple communication analysis and logistic failure were used for statistical analyses. The results of this periodical came up with a clear relationship between domestic spousal abuse and was associated with the education level of the women. Women who were illiterate reported up to two and a half times more experience with abuse than those who were more educated or went to a university. This also showed that there was no relationship between spousal abuse and the age or occupation the woman held. This article was very important to my topic because it not only showed relationships between spousal abuse and age, occupation, and education, but it showed the different types of abuse and the most common. The most common type of spousal abuse is physical, then psychological. This articles main point which it stressed was that the education of girls could become a major factor in preventing spousal abuse of all types.
Fraser, Meredith. “A Feminist Theo Ethical Analysis of White Pentecostal Australian
Women and Marital Abuse.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Atlanta, Fall 2003, Vol. 19, Iss. 2; pg. 145.
This periodical takes a look at spousal abuse in the white Pentecostal Australian community of women. Spousal abuse rates in this community are very high and are very hard to prevent. This community is different from that of most. In this community the Pentecostal male leaders tell their women to remain silent and this is what they must do. The men in this community know they can abuse their spouses and get away with it because the women will not tell. The violence in this community is internalized and legitimatized because of the Pentecostal religion. This shows how deviance is viewed differently by who you ask or what society you are in. In most societies and communities the abusing of your spouse would be seen as wrong and illegal, but not in this one. In this even the women accept it and keep quiet. Also some religions differ. According to this periodical the white Pentecostal Australian religious leaders silence the women and so does the religious doctrine. This periodical is one of the strongest sources of this project do to its relativity to the course of deviance. This is a great portrayal of how deviance is viewed differently by each person and in some places what is deviant to us may not be considered wrong at all to them. The writer of this periodical was a feminist who strongly wants to put and end to this, but it is harder than she realizes. If the women who are being abused won’t speak out against it how can anyone help?
Gage, Anastasia J.; Hutchinson, Paul L. “Power, Control, and Intimate Partner Sexual
Violence in Haiti.” Archives of Sexual Behavior. New York, Feb 2-6, Vol. 35, Iss. 1; pg. 11
This periodical did a study which sought to determine how power and control in intimate relationships influenced women's exposure to sexual violence and other forms of spousal abuse. They used multilevel modeling to conclude the risk of partner sexual violence in the past 12 months. For the study they used about 2240 women aged fifteen years of age to forty nine years who were currently married or cohabiting with a spouse. The data which was used were drawn from the 2000 Haiti Demographic and Health Survey. Strong positive effects on intimate spousal sexual abuse was found for husband's jealousy and perpetration of controlling behavior and women's support of traditional norms concerning a husband's rights to beat his wife. Female dominance in decision making about purchases for daily household needs was also positively linked with intimate spousal sexual abuse but its effects were mediated by relationship quality. The effect of wife's education on intimate partner violence was not clearly related to spousal sexual abuse. The study also showed that high community female management rates were independently associated with higher risks of spousal sexual abuse. The findings emphasize the importance of adopting a multidimensional approach to the measurement of the affects that power has in sexual relationships and the need for programs to work at several levels to address gender-based norms and the structural factors that put women at increased risk of sexual abuse. This article pertains to my topic because it stresses a specific type of spousal abuse which is sexual abuse. This periodical goes through methods of identifying why this occurs and how to prevent it.
Katerndahl, David. A; Obregon, Maria Luisa. “An Exploration of the Spiritual and
Psychosocial Variables Associated with Husband-to-Wife Abuse and Its Effect on Women in Abusive Relationships.” International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine. Amityville, 2007. Vol. 37, Iss. 2; pg. 113, 16 pgs
In this periodical we see an interesting view on spousal abuse and a look at different variables which can affect such behavior. The purpose of this periodical was to determine which aspects of religious belief incompatibility were related to spousal abuse. Another aspect covered was determining whether religious coping was separately associated with efficient status among victims of spousal abuse. Lastly the periodical showed whether degree of abuse connected with degrees of religious belief incompatibility or functional status among abused wives. They went about studying these theories by asking couples to complete a controlled interview concerning marital satisfaction, argument frequency, alcohol use, witnessing violence as a child, spirituality, functional status, and domestic violence. The periodical came up with interesting results to this. In four areas of spiritual belief such as, sense of being judged, closeness to God, congregational benefits, and forgiveness, religious belief incompatibility drastically predicted abuse. Perceived congregational help and religious coping were associated with improved social support. Finally, abuse severity and duration connected with useful status but not with degree of religious belief incompatibility. The conclusions reached in this periodical were the addition of religious belief incompatibility may account for more variation in spousal abuse than non-spiritual predictors alone. Although the presence of abuse was associated with poorer functional status in women, religious coping was only linked to improved social support. This periodical was very useful do to the thorough testing that was done and charts that were placed. This was crucial to my topic because it covered the religious variable for spousal abuse very clearly.
Safier, Rachel. “Hearing Women’s Voices.” The Jerusalem Report. Jul 24, 2006. p. 33
In this article we see how women are facing the problem of spousal abuse in other communities and societies other than that of the United States. The Jewish community is facing the same spousal abuse problems that communities in our region are. In this article they claim that according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, women ages sixteen to twenty four experience the highest intimate rate of domestic violence. The studies show that thirteen percent of teenage girls who have been in a relationship reported that they have been physically hurt or hit and twenty six percent of these women reported that they have experienced repeated verbal abuse. Those leading the attack against domestic violence advocacy and education in the Jewish community claim that their figures are comparable to those reported in the general community. This article speaks on how these communities and these women need to be heard. In this article we see a boy who was told that upper middle class people would not do something like this and people who went to Ivy League schools are too smart to ever harm their spouses or kill them. The boy in this article spoke that he fit in this category and his father killed his mother just before his birthday came. This article shows that the other articles although may be right about class effecting spousal abuse, it does still occur in better more wealthy classes and communities as well. The article also pertains to my topic by showing that spousal abuse is a problem in all communities not just the Christian one that most of us know.
Other
Egan, Nancy. “The Police Response to Spouse Abuse.”
http://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/research/spouse.html
This website showed the different measures that police departments are taking to crack down on spousal abuse. In this website we see examples of how different police departments are doing so. In some cases of a spousal abuse report certain precincts have a mandatory arrest policy. This caused a major change in spousal abuse in these areas. This website reports that this mandatory or pro-arrest system that went into effect had more of an effect on decreasing repeat offenses and stopping offenders all together than advice from physicians and even separation all together. If this had such a major effect I do not see why this shouldn’t be the policy every where. Hopefully more women will read this website article and see how effective calling the police can be on an abusive relationship. Some people want to work things out or go to counseling, but apparently this is what works best, so why not do it. Counseling and therapy may work for some and even divorce, but it only works for a while. Because of how well this mandatory arrest policy for even misdemeanor offenses concerning spousal abuse worked, police agencies across the country have begun to adapt the policy as well. This website is a great source for the topic of spousal abuse because it shows a great form of prevention and termination of abusive relationships. This has been the most effective way to stop spousal abuse so far. Although it is drastic it works. This plays into the classical perspective of reward and punishment. If abusers see how harshly they will be punished for their deviant acts, maybe they will think twice about committing them.
“Hope for Abused Women in Dubai” AlJazeera English. 10 November 2007.
http://www.mefeedia.com/feeds/24084/
This video shows a woman named Sharla who was born a US citizen, but then moved to Dubai many years ago with her new husband. She loved the small town culture when she first moved there, but the city of Dubai has grown drastically and is one of the most well known cities in the world today. This new big time city brought big problems such as domestic violence and spouse abuse which Sharla became a victim of. She had no one to turn to and no where to go for help. Eventually she decided to take action and opened up a shelter for battered and abused women. This is the only shelter of its kind in the entire Gulf region. She opened this villa for women and children who could not find help anywhere else. She is only able to take severe cases because they all have to live of donations, but it gives shelter to those who need it most. One woman’s husband was locked in a room with no phone and we get beaten and raped when her husband pleased and would allow her no contact. Sharla is in multiple trials for operating a shelter without a license to do so by Dubai and for sheltering illegal citizens. This video clip is a very important source because it gives actual visual examples of what these victims of spousal abuse have to deal with and in some areas what they have to do just to get help. Hearing someone speak of first hand experience is much more interesting and moving than reading some ones opinion on a piece of paper.
Sleeping with the Enemy. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Video. Los Angeles,
California, Fox Video, Inc, 1991.
In this movie we see spousal abuse portrayed in a very dramatic, but also very realistic way. In this movie a woman named Laura and her husband martin have been happily married for four years, or so everyone thinks. On the outside to the public they seem perfect. They are happy, successful, and good looking. In actuality though it turns out Martin is a crazy obsessive husband and is very abusive as well. Laura lives in fear of her husband and wants desperately to get away from him. This relates too many of the other sources where the woman won’t speak up or is afraid to in fear of what the husband will do. Although this is just a Hollywood movie it portrays a very realistic plot. Laura finally stages her death and runs away to a new town with a new identity to start a new better life. Martin finds out where she is and tries to kill her. This part of the story is very extreme, but also not unrealistic. Some abusers do in fact have mental factors wrong with them and could react to a betrayal in such a drastic way. This source was a very useful and interesting one to watch. The movie really showed a good example of how these cases of spousal abuse can be. They are not always apparent to those around us. Things may seem fine on the outside, but behind doors they are anything but perfect. This is another reason why it can be so hard to prevent or stop these instances from happening.
“Spousal Abuse.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3HvVW-mhsU
This video is very interesting to watch. It was made by a girl for a project and was very well done. The music playing throughout the video is about a girl who is getting abused and tries to hide it. In the lyrics you can hear the words of putting makeup on to cover it up, but I know what’s going on. The chorus exclaims “do you feel like a man when you push her around, do you feel better now she falls to the ground?” While this music is playing there is a slideshow of very graphic pictures of women who have been abused and scenes from movies and videos of men abusing women. The graphic pictures I feel really get the point across of the severity of this deviance and how cruel it truly is. In on clip there is a chart of the stages of an abusive relationship which contains a circular repetitive pattern going from a honeymoon phase, to build up phase, to explosion, to remorse, to pursuit, and then begins all over again. In another clip that passes by there is a girl holding a chilling sign with the statistic that 30 percent of all women killed are murdered by their boyfriend or husband. Another fact shown is that only 1 percent of all rapes are reported to the police. This video also portrays how mental abuse can be just as long term and devastating as physical and that a shocking 4,000,000 women each year are abused by their partners. Facts such as these and ones like that 1 of every 4 women will be abused by a past or current intimate partner flash throughout the video along with graphic pictures. This video is my favorite of all the sources it is interesting to watch and has very moving facts and photos throughout it.
“Types of Abuse.” http://www.hiddenhurt.co.uk/types/faces.htm
This website was very informative and very useful for the topic of spousal abuse. On this page that I located it speaks on the very important topic of types of abuse. Generally when people hear the words spousal abuse they immediately assume it is physical violence, but this is not always the case. There are many forms of abuse some of which are very common as well. Some of these types are physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Many times when one form of abuse is present there is usually another type being acted upon as well. Also another misconception of spousal abuse is that it is a man abusing a woman when it really means any abusive behavior acted on by one spouse to the other regardless of marital status or gender. Abusers can use multiple actions and resources to get their way with the other spouse such as physical and sexual violence, threats, money, emotional and psychological abuse to control their partners. This website also points out that many times spousal abuse is better viewed and understood through the victim rather than the abuser. This website is one of the most important sources here due to the factual information and the frequent disregard for this information when studying the topic. This article points out the different types of abuse and why it is often used. This is just one aspect of this site. Attached there are many links which provide ample information on the topic as well.
Brinkerhoff, Merlin B; Grandin,Elaine; Lupri, Eugen; “Religious Involvement and
Spousal Violence: The Canadian Case.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 21, no. 1 (Mar, 1992): 12-31. http://links.jstor.org.
In this article we see research on how religious denomination and attendance to religious ceremonies such as church influence spousal abuse. The data in this article came from a representation of a national probability example of the married or cohabited population of persons eighteen or older. In Canada spouse abuse is considered a legitimate social and economical problem because it is so extensive and such a harmful and serious thing. Social scientists have normally recognized the interdependence between the religious institutions and the family, but there is almost no research done on the relationship between religion and domestic violence. The studies in this article showed that religious denomination had very little to no significant influence on the abuse of a spouse and the theory of attendance to religious ceremonies and events or “religious patriarchy” was also shown to have no significant effect on abuse as well. One example showed that Christian Conservative men do not commit the act of abusing their partners anymore or less than do people with other denominations. On the other hand, it also showed that women of the Christian Conservative denomination do tend to abuse their partners more so than others. In the article violence among spouses was also tested in a way to see how sociodemographic and interaction factors between spouses affect this. Three different multivariate models were used and it showed that religion and religious participation had little to no relationship to spousal abuse. Different variables, such as interaction among the spouses presumed to be the best indicators to violence among partners. This article represents my topic and this course because it speaks on this deviant matter from a different perspective where there is little opinion and research in the field. Spousal abuse is a commonly known problem and this article addresses my topic on this through studies of how religion and spousal abuse are related.
Demo, David H; Edwards, John N.; Hoffman, Kristi L. “Physical Wife Abuse in a Non-
Western Society: An Integrated Theoretical Approach” Journal of Marriage and the Family 56, no. 1 (Feb, 1994): 131-146. http://links.jstor.org
This article is studying 619 men from Thailand on the physical abuse of the women they are currently with. After all of the studies, the results strongly were affected socioeconomic status, marital conflicts, and how stable their relationships were. Most of the studies studied marital relationships. This article opens up explaining that spousal abuse occurs in every single society, but depending on factors such as conflicts in the marriage and the status of the people in the relationship will determine different levels of abuse. The article also uses comparisons with the United States. In the U.S. spousal abuse occurs in approximately 17% of relationships. Factors that cause spousal abuse are often from stress, alcoholism, number of years married, and the number of children. More children for some families can bring more stress. Another factor that affects abuse would be level of education. A male with higher education is, in most cases, less likely to abuse their wife because they probably have a better job and live a more comfortable lifestyle that spousal abuse doesn’t occur that often. This article strongly applies to my topic because it shows that spousal abuse does occur in ever single country but all for similar reasons such as stress, marital conflicts, and economic status. People are often deviant for similar reasons and depending on the society, the level of deviance may be more or less severe.
Dixon, Joe. “The Nexus of Sex, Spousal Violence, and the State.” Law & Society Review
29, no. 2 (1995): 359-376. http://links.jstor.org
In this article we see how the matters concerning the very serious issue of spousal abuse in the past were very over looked and not taken into consideration. This could have an effect on why it is so common and has been a problem for so long. The main argument in the article is how the women’s movement brought up the concern for violence between genders and spouses and why it took such a major movement to recognize such an obvious problem. We see in the studies shown here that between 1939 and 1969 in the Journal of Marriage and the Family there was nothing containing references on anything related to spousal abuse. Before the women’s movement spousal violence in academic, legal, and social discourses was largely denied. It is clear of the ignorance of the social and legal systems of the silencing of this matter. This is portrayed through a quote in the article: “if no permanent injury has been inflicted, nor malice, cruelty, nor dangerous violence shown by the husband, it is better to draw the curtain, shut out the public gaze, and leave the parties to forgive and forget.” This quotation is a clear representation of the meaning of this article. The article takes a look into the past of spousal abuse in the western world. It portrays how this acceptance or denial of this abuse was originated and why it was this way. Back then men were on top of everything from academics to business and legal positions. Men felt higher and in control, because they were. This is why spousal abuse wise so common, for in many instances the man committed the acts because it made him feel in power, which relates to another article. This article is a good source for my topic because it doesn’t just look at spousal abuse as being deviant right away. This article takes a look at the past and how the abuse of a spouse came to become deviant, and was largely because of the feminist movement.
Ferris, Lorraine E. “Canadian Family Physicians’ and General Practitioners’ Perceptions
of Their Effectiveness in Identifying and Treating Wife Abuse.” Medical Care 32, no. 12 (Dec, 1994): 1163-1172. http://links.jstor.org
This article is slightly different than the others. This one is not a study of actual couples and spouses or a study on abuse cases, but rather it is a study done in Canada on Family Physicians and general practitioners regarding how effective they are in identifying and treating their women patients. There was a national sample on 963 family physicians and general practitioners who were surveyed on their detection, attitude, treatment, and necessary extensive medical education needs in the field. On average they estimate that about 15 percent of their female patients were victims of abuse and about half of them believe they actually failed to identify about 30 percent of their patients’ cases or even more. The studies also found that the sex and age differences of the practitioners did not relate to identification of the problems, but there was a difference in treatment advice and options. Finally the average reason for being unable to detect these cases of spousal abuse was because of the patients. Most female patients experiencing spousal abuse were unresponsive, lacked initiative, and had infrequent visits. Most of the physicians and practitioners wanted more medical education on the subject of wife abuse. This article pertains to my topic because it takes another look at deviance not from first hand experience, but why it continues to go on and why so many are repeated abusers. This article can relate to deviance by looking at the patients. People may think the patients are deviant for not speaking out and trying to stop this, but why is this deviant? It is their problem. Because it is their problem shouldn’t they deal with it?
Gartner, Rosemary; Macmillian, Ross, “When She Brings Home the Bacon: Labor-Force
Participation and the Risk of Spousal Violence against Women.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 61, no. 4 (Nov, 1999):947-958. http://links.jstor.org
This article focuses on how strong of an affect employment can have in a spousal abusive relationship. The author analyzes different social classes and compares the difference. The lower classes and women without employment often can trigger their husband to grow angry at them because the husband thinks their useless. A husband who is in the labor force with a low paying job who has to pay for his whole family with no help from his wife will be stressed which can cause him to be even more angry and take it out on the wife. Women with either no jobs or low paying jobs make their husbands feel more in control of them and they feel they have the upper hand which can lead to physical abuse. On the other hand, women with high paying jobs may make the husband feel emasculated and that they are trying to grow more independent and take their role which can anger him. A job can identify a person’s identity. A person with a lower paying job will receive less respect than a person with a higher paying job. Therefore, if a wife has a low paying job the husband may treat her worse. This article works really well with my topic because I think it is important to realize that a person’s job does identify them. For men, working can make them feel more powerful and construct masculinity. Power can lead to violence which can lead to demeaning women.
Gelles, Richard J. “Family Violence.” Annual Review of Sociology 11 (1985): 347-367.
http://links.jstor.org
This article is a review of different researches done on family violence including spouse abuse, but mainly wife abuse like most articles. In the past family violence was seen as very rare and was seen as occurring predominantly in households of mentally ill offenders. Family violence though has quickly caught the attention of scientific researches and the general public. This review examines family violence becoming a social and sociological problem as a “discovery.” This article points out that spousal abuse, mainly wife abuse, got little to no public and scientific attention until the around the 1970’s. Even the earliest cases though were not even written by sociologists. Spousal abuse was approached and written from a psychiatric point of view, or as we have learned it from the demonic perspective. People believed that to abuse your wife or spouse something must not be functioning correctly with you. This article points out many matters related to deviance and shows how in the past spousal and family violence and abuse was not seen as a crime, but as a mental problem of the individual and their deviant act of abuse was beyond their control. This article relates well to the course of deviance and my topic because it shows how spousal abuse has been studied through different perspectives. In the past it was looked at through the demonic perspective, but now is being seen through the classical. People are being punished for deviant acts such as spousal abuse.
Gerstein, L. “In India, Poverty and Lack of Education are Associated with Men’s
Physical and Sexual Abuse of their Wives.” International Family Planning Perspectives 26, no. 1 (March 2000): 44-45. http://links.jstor.org
In India spousal abuse both sexual and physical is common among partners. This article speaks on the relation between spouse abuse, poverty and the lack of education many in India have. One strong point the article makes is the influence of poverty and its lifestyle which leads to the abuse of a spouse by the men of India. Men who live in poverty and are in a family of more then one child are more likely to abuse their wives than those of more wealthy regions and lifestyles and are also more likely to have repeated offenses of this. The reason for having repeated offenses is because in the poor lifestyle the women are less likely to report the crimes because they are looked down upon anyway and are not given as much attention as those who are from wealthy communities. Because the women wont report it the men feel they can keep getting away with it and feel that they are still in charge of the woman. Another major factor that plays into spousal abuse is the lack of education. One reason given for men with little education to abuse their partners is because they are unaware of the repercussions and do not realize what they are doing is wrong. In other cases some men did not go through schooling, also a result of poverty, and were not taught some of the morals that other men who were able to go through the full education process and learn the life lessons that others do. This article made for a good source on my topic of spousal abuse, because it shows how different social classes and social status’s can effect how people act and why some people may commit acts of deviance or acts that others would consider to be deviant.
Gold, Deborah T; Gwyther, Lisa Q. “The Prevention of Elder Abuse: An Educational
Model.” Family Relations 38, no.1 (Jan 1989): 8-14. http://links.jstor.org
This article portrays the very common form of spousal abuse between elders. The frequent act of spousal abuse between elders is not widely known to the public or addressed. This has not been addressed because people do not feel the elderly community is as stressed as the rest of the world, therefore spousal abuse does not occur among them. This article points out that this is very untrue. Older adults and the elderly experience much conflict and stress due to factors such as growing old, retirement, widowhood, and trying to adapt to chronic illness. These are very serious problems which have led many elderly or older couples to fight and grow into abusive relationships. This article takes a look at recent research which has shown that communication and resolving conflicts becomes less of an importance to the family of elders. People tend to visit and communicate less with the elders in the family such as being put in nursing homes, therefore making it harder to resolve conflicts or notice the abuse going on. This article is good for my topic because it shows how although detection and intervention services do exist for the elderly spousal abuse there are very few prevention programs in communities which is why this problem is staying consistent. This article shows that deviance is viewed differently in communities and how different social standings are treated differently. The problem of spousal abuse among elders is still a problem largely because of the lack of attention it gets.
Gunn, Tiffany; Huaung, Chein Ju; “AN Examination of Domestic Violence in an African
American Community in North Carolina: Causes and Consequences.” Jounral of Black Studies 31, no. 6 (July 2001): 790-811. http://links.jstor.org
This article opens with a chilling statement to really catch your attention, “every fifteen seconds a woman is battered.” The article then goes on to discuss the issue of spousal abuse and violence against women in the United States. Domestic violence is one of the most underreported crimes and underestimated ones in the United States. Spousal abuse is found throughout all ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic classes. A study done by NVAA (National Violence against Women Prevention Center) showed that 1.8 million to 4 million women in the United States are abused by their spouses each year. The article also addresses that women are at a much greater risk to be abused than are men. Unlike some of the studies done in the other sources this one actually addresses two very interesting topics, such as race and types of abuse. One study on the issue of spousal abuse and the influence of race showed that women from all races and ethnicities are at equal risk to be abused by a spouse, but only about half of all incidents are actually ever reported. Spousal abuse was also addressed by the different types of it that can occur. Most people hear spousal abuse and assume is it is physical violence, when it can actually be defined as “any physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse occurring between domestic partners.” This article is unique and makes very strong points for my topic, due to its unique content. This article addresses how there is not only one form of spouse abuse and how many women are affected by it.
Hart, Stephen D.; Kropp, R. Randall. “The Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA)
Guise: Reliability and Validity in Adult Male Offenders.” Law and Human Behavior 24, no. 1 (Feb, 2000): 101-118. http://links.jstor.org
This article is testing the validity and reliability of SARA (Spousal Assault Risk Assessment) with six different situations of adult male offenders; actual number tested by SARA was 2681. With respect to the presence of individual risk factors and to over all perceived risk the ratings were distributed in a way that showed to be very heterogeneous. Through the structural analysis of this showed average levels of internal consistency throughout and homogeneity. Spousal abuse is a major concern of health in the public due to its impact of harm on victims, both physically and mentally, its prevalence, and its cost on the economy. The development of criminal justice policies that encourage the arrest and conviction of these criminal perpetrators was one response to this growing problem. Because of this the number of reported spousal abuse incidents has increased greatly. In Canada, for example, the number of spousal abuse instances reported has increased greatly and now is accounted for the majority of the all violent crimes reported to the police. It actually accounts for eighty percent of reported violent crimes in Canada. SARA was created to test reasons for this problem and the risk. SARA discriminated noticeably between perpetrators with and without a history of spouse abuse and between recidivistic and those who are not in another. Finally, SARA portrayed discriminate and convergent validity with deference to different measures similar to risk for general and violent criminal behavior.
Kalmuss, Debra S.; Straus, Murray A; “Wife’s Marital Dependency and Wife Abuse.”
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 44, no 2 (May, 1982): 277-286. http://links.jstor.org
This journal takes a look at the relationship between wives dependency on marriage and wife abuse and why the women stay in the relationships. The data in this is from a nationally representative sample of 2,143 men and women adults who were studied. Researchers of family violence have recognized such a relationship before, but none was experimentally demonstrated. The two independent variables that were used in the study were the wives economic and perceived marital dependency. The dependant variables evaluated the existence of acts of physical aggression toward wives that carry a high risk or severe abuse and injury and those that experience minor violence and were at less of a risk. Both of the dependency variables were directly in relation to spousal abuse. The articles shows that the data concluded that women with perceived dependency were at less of a risk and minor violence, but wives dependent because of objective or economic reasons were the exact opposite. Most believe it is psychological dependency that keeps women in severely abusive relationships, but this article shows us that it is actually economic dependency that keeps these women who experience spousal abuse in the relationships. This article is good for my topic because it looks at spousal abuse from the point of view of why the person stays in the relationship instead of why it is occurring. This relates to deviance because it shows how many times it is the victim who is also at fault for the deviant acts continuously occurring. People are staying in abusive relationships for their own economic well being not because of psychological problems.
Kantor, Glenda Kaufman; Straus, Murray A. “The ‘Drunken Bum’ Theory of Wife
Beating.” Social Problems 34, No. 3 (Jun., 1987): pp 213-230 http://links.jstor.org
Beating of wives is most of the time, as we all know, caused by drunkenness at socioeconomic status and after testing over 5000 families on the issue these seem to really be the two causes that have very strong results. The strongest cause of wife beating, however, is the cultural approval of violence by men against women. This article, as much as it addresses and discusses spousal abuse due to being drunk, the author seems to think that alcohol is most definitely is not nearly the most sufficient cause. So this article is in a way trying to make less of this ‘drunk bum’ theory and show other causes that are more significant when it comes to this kind of abuse. It is just that alcoholism has been built into the minds of Americans in our culture over the years and we just assume that is why people do it. It is not the case at all though. This article addresses three main questions that will be able to find the major causes. This article will discuss if men who drink more have higher rates to abuse their wives then men who don’t drink as much, how far into drinking does the violence occur, and what is the class that alcoholism and wife beating are closest related. This article will show a lot about my topic and I will learn a lot from it because I will be learning something new, considering I always assumed the being drunk causes more violence.
Kurz, Demie. “Corporal Punishment and Adult Use of Violence: A Critique of
‘Discipline and Deviance.’” Social Problems 38, no. 2 (May, 1991): pp 133-161. http://links.jstor.org
This article points out that physical punishment of children often leads to spousal abuse. This is true in many cases because sometimes when children are getting into trouble or abused by their father, the mothers tend to defend the children which can anger her husband more. Because of this spousal abuse will usually occur when child abuse does. Child abuse can also lead to assault and murder as well. This article also focuses mainly on if you were abused or assaulted as a child you develop more anger as you grow older and have a higher chance of either child abuse or spousal abuse. There is a very close tie between those abused as a child and the amount of crime or punishment they commit as an adult. Children who experience good childhoods don’t grow up hating themselves or anybody. Others who do experience abuse, however, are more likely to grow up with lots of anger that they want to take out on someone or something. This article strongly supports the idea that violence leads to violence. This article is not researching child abuse or researching spouse abuse. It is focusing most on the connection between the two and how one usually leads to the other, as researchers realize the more they study these types of research. This article can work for my topic because it doesn’t just talk about spousal abuse; it brings other kinds of abuse into it which are leading causes to why abuse between husbands and wives occur.
Malone, Jean; O’Leary, K. Daniel; Tyree, Andrea. “Generalization and Containment:
Different Effects of Past Aggression for Wives and Husbands.” Journal of Marriage and the Family 51, no. 3 (Aug, 1989) 687-697. http://links.jstor.org
This article unlike the others speaks more on how men and women are affected and experience spousal abuse rather than just women. In the beginning of this article we are told that a study of the etiology of physical aggression toward spouses was done one 328 community spouses. These couples were assessed six weeks prior to marriage and then six months into the marriage and again 18 months into the marriage. The study showed that men showed more involvement in violent activity outside of the home, but not in actual spousal abuse. This article points out a fact that is not well known and would come as a shock to most people, which is that men and women have reported experiencing almost identical amounts of physical aggression in their families and against their spouses. The main difference between the male violence on a female spouse and a female abusing the male is shown in two different analyses that physical abuse is much more predictable for the women than men. The article states that if a woman is the aggressor she is more likely to show this aggression and act upon it from one relationship type to another than the male. This article was one of the most important sources for my topic because it speaks on a very unique topic. The article points out that there is very little literature that speaks on gender differences and the role of women in spousal abuse. As seen by the other articles most literature is written on why men beat their wives and commit acts of violence against women. This article shows that spousal abuse in the home is very similar between men and women. This shows that deviance is seen in many ways. Most people see the male as the aggressor being very wrong, and often over look when the female is the abuser. Most men will not report these crimes because of embarrassment. This relates to the movie “Tough Guise” very clearly.
Zimring, Franklin E. “Legal Perspectives on Family Violence” California Law Review
75, no. 1 (January 1987): 521-539 http://links.jstor.org
This article really shows that people have no idea what goes on with families behind closed doors. This article shows that there are so many married couples around the world that experience spousal abuse and do not get divorces. Women hesitate to take action against their husbands because they have a fear of what their life will be like without them. Therefore, traditional law enforcement will usually only take formal action if the wife plans on separating. Legal action is most possible if the family plans on separating. That shows that it is serious if the family is falling apart because of it. When couples do not split, it shows that they don’t take the abuse seriously and view it as an unimportant issue. This article also gets into legal issues dealing with it and that legal solutions are not available for conflicts that are endangered by better family behavior because if their behavior is good, they would resolve it within the family itself or in problem-solving structures. Spousal abuse, explained in this article, is rarely enforced legally. This is because there is such a large gap between doctrine and policy. This article goes well with deviance and how narrow-minded the courts can be. That is why this article recommends dealing with it within your family first, or talking to someone before you being it to the legal courts because it may not even be resolved.
Books
Dutton, Donald G. Rethinking Domestic Violence. Vancouver, UBC Press, 2006.
This book takes a look at spousal abuse and violence in a much different way. It actually seems to try and prove other theories wrong rather than address the issue. One area Dutton stresses is the wrong way to go about studying and preventing spousal abuse was that of which the feminists went about it making out to be that the men who do this are all wrong. This is just Dutton’s point of view though. He does though agree with the fact the spousal abuse is an ongoing and ever changing problem. Dutton believes that most of the perpetrators of spousal abuse in fact suffer from personality disorders or some other psychological disability. The book although it does not out right state this, is a strong defense against feminism and the feminist movement is why disorders such as personality disorder, attachment disorder, identity disturbance and shame have been over looked by the court systems and the public when these cases are reported. Dutton claims that “women are just as violent as men,” but with no empirical evidence. This article relates to deviance because Dutton looks at the deviant act of spousal abuse from the demonic perspective and sees it a mental problem and is out of the deviant’s control. The article is also good for my topic because it is a rebuttal per say to all of the other sources found on this topic. It goes against the normal association with men being the ones in the wrong with spousal abuse and attacks the women.
Dutton, Donald G. The Abusive Personality: Violence and Control in Intimate
Relationships. New York, Guilford Press, 1998.
In this book we again see a strong argument made my Dutton. Here Dutton exclaims that in order to understand spousal abuse and violence we need not to focus on external factors because there are very many limitations in this area. Donald Dutton says that to understand spousal abuse you must focus on the personality structure of the abusive male. This book is to portray how spousal abuse in men is mainly impulsive and usually they are cyclical batterers. Many of the abusive men display trauma symptoms and can relate to trauma that has taken place at the origin of the family. The book shows recent methods and studies of explaining reasons for spousal abuse and then moves on to show an internal family cyclical process which has its origins in the early family environment. This book relates to the pathological perspective on deviance because it is saying that spousal abuse and violence in men is in their genes and is with them and their families throughout their lives. Dutton goes on to tell us how this cyclical abusiveness can be triggered by loneliness. Borderline personality disorders and personality unawareness are related to the inability to tolerate loneliness. Once again in this book like the other by Dutton we see that mental and psychological factors are the cause of abusive men. This book is important to the topic because it is the only one whose main focus is disorders and family history being the source of spousal abuse.
Dutton, Donald G; Golant, Susan K.; The Batterer: A Psychological Profile. New York,
Basic Books, 1995.
In this book Dutton this time along with Golant do tests on men to find out why they can be abusive towards women. They did drawings on studies of more than 700 abusive men; Dutton here portrays an intense and startling portrait of the man who assaults his intimate partner, such as admitted abusers like Joel Steinberg and O.J. Simpson. With serious case histories that shed light on the dark secrets of spousal abuse, "The Batterer" provides many over looked studies to show how men can harm the women they love and how we can begin to put an end to violence behind closed doors. In this book Dutton and Golant give steps to put an end to being an abusive male and getting out of an abusive relationship. Although this article is similar to the others this is the one where the actual testing was done to gain the empirical evidence which is used so often throughout the books. This book also demonstrates that intimate spousal abuse by men is more than just a learned pattern of behavior as many have come to recognize it. Spousal abuse in men is the product of a particular personality configuration. This book was very useful for my topic. It allowed me to understand where Dutton is coming from in his other books which I have used. The information in this book was some of the most useful and interesting to read and to learn about. Dutton’s studies make you wonder if the pathological perspective is the correct way of viewing this deviance.
Hines, Denise A. Family Violence in the United States: Defining, Understanding, and
Combating Abuse. Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications, 2005.
This article shows us house whether in form of physical violence or verbal abuse. Spousal abuse has touched people who were married in their lifetimes. It discusses how almost everyone has witnessed it, experienced it, or used it at one point or another. In order for people to eliminate aggressive and abusive behaviors from their relationships, they must be willing to confront their own experiences with these behaviors. One of the major problems with spousal abuse is that people do not confront it head on and try to avoid it or hope it goes away. This book is different from the others because it takes a look at all of the different kinds of abuse which can take place in relationships. The book is clearly designed to entice the reader to recognize, prevent, and fight back against all forms of abuse not just physical. When people hear spousal abuse they immediately assume it is violent and physical and the male doing it, but in actuality that is not even the most common form of abuse and men are not always the abusers. This book shows us how common and overlooked mental and emotional abuse is too and that men are very frequently abused as well. These problems are overlooked and less frequently studied, because many people do not even realize they are victims of it and do not report it. Also there is no punishment for mental abuse unless it is very severe or causes harm. This can relate best I feel to the classical perspective on deviance in the sense of reward and punishment. People can get away with certain abuses because they know there is no punishment and many people will not find out. Most men will not admit they are being abused whether it is physically or mentally, because of shame.
NA. International Perspectives on Family Violence. Lexington, Mass., Lexington Books,
1983.
This book focuses on learning about spousal abuse by not only looking at it in our societies and cultures, but to really understand this abuse it must be looked at in other cultures as well. Although this books main focus is child abuse, spousal abuse is also a large portion of this book and is very informative. This takes at look at other cultures such as England and Scotland and talks about how spousal abuse affects the lives of men and women over there. When compared to the United States spousal abuse across seas is not seen as of serious of a crime as it is here. Over there it is also very common and is frowned upon, but the public does not seem to take it as seriously as the United States. The book also takes a look at Mexico and speaks on marital power. In this culture and society education is a key attainment to avoid spousal abuse mostly for women. If a woman is educated she will have more say in decisions and more influence on the husband. This is due to the fact that the husbands’ dominance is not universal nor is it insurmountable. This is very well related to the societies of the United States and other countries a well. This book was useful to my topic and the deviance course because it takes a look at other societies and looks at how they view deviance and go about avoiding it.
NA. Violence in Homes and Communities: Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment.
Thousand Oaks, Cali., Sage Publications, 1999.
In this book, which is one of a series of books, we see different reasons for the causes of spousal abuse. In one example from the book we see how child abuse can be very traumatic for children and in many cases will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Being a victim of child abuse is one issue that this book addresses for people who become spouse abusers. Many people who were victims when they were young grow up to become aggressors themselves. These people are not at fault, according to the information in the book. Another reason for spousal abuse is those who were exposed to it at a young age with their own parents. These children might think it is normal and not a crime. When they grow old they may realize it is wrong, but in their heads they are still adapted to it so they in turn will become abusers as well. Lastly this book talks about the media. This explains how violence is such a major part of television now and children begin watching it and learning it at very young ages. This article portrays how exposure to violence at a young age can affect how you go about your decision making in the future as an adult. This relates to one of the perspectives, because although they know it is wrong they do it anyway. This book was a necessity to my topic because it shows how being exposed to things at a young age can affect your outcome and how the media effects people as well.
Unpublished Manuscript
Burgess-Proctor, Amanda. "An Intersectional Analysis of Domestic Violence: Race,
Class, and Gender in the Lives of Battered Women." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Royal York, Toronto 2007-12-06
Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
This manuscript seeks to advance understanding of domestic violence by placing the experiences of battered women within the context of interacting systems of oppression such as race, class, and gender by using an intersectional theoretical framework informed by multiracial feminism. This manuscript goes deeper than many of the other sources and takes a look at the battered women’s lives and interactions on a day to day basis. This source looks at how different factors of women’s lives can lead to being abused by their male spouse, such as their race, class, and gender. All of these aspects can play into being abused because they all deal with forms of oppression. The relationship between class and spousal abuse was the highest for risk. This is because people are looked down upon in lower classes and because of that are unhappy and in some cases uneducated as well. These people do not receive the same attention and care that more wealthy people do and therefore their problem is over looked. The relationship between race and spousal abuse was not as strong in fact it showed that there was almost no difference in spousal abuse cases and the race. This manuscript although unpublished had added great value to my topic. This manuscript showed how race, class, and gender are related to spousal abuse.
Periodicals
Alper, Zuleyha; Bayram, Nuran; Bilgel, Nazan; Ergin, Nilufer; Selimoglu, Kerem.
“Domestic Violence:A Tragedy Behind the Doors.” Women and Health. Old Westbury, 2005, Vol. 42, Iss. 2; pg. 35
The purpose of this periodical is apparent that it is trying to explore the occurrence, type, frequency and causes of domestic spousal violence among women in a socio-economically developed urban setting. This periodical studied this by using a cross-sectional study which was performed in 2003. All married women, aged 18 years and over, who were visiting any of the 50 primary health care units for different purposes were asked to participate in the study. Of 1427 asked, 1010 gave permission and completed face-to-face interviews. Multiple communication analysis and logistic failure were used for statistical analyses. The results of this periodical came up with a clear relationship between domestic spousal abuse and was associated with the education level of the women. Women who were illiterate reported up to two and a half times more experience with abuse than those who were more educated or went to a university. This also showed that there was no relationship between spousal abuse and the age or occupation the woman held. This article was very important to my topic because it not only showed relationships between spousal abuse and age, occupation, and education, but it showed the different types of abuse and the most common. The most common type of spousal abuse is physical, then psychological. This articles main point which it stressed was that the education of girls could become a major factor in preventing spousal abuse of all types.
Fraser, Meredith. “A Feminist Theo Ethical Analysis of White Pentecostal Australian
Women and Marital Abuse.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. Atlanta, Fall 2003, Vol. 19, Iss. 2; pg. 145.
This periodical takes a look at spousal abuse in the white Pentecostal Australian community of women. Spousal abuse rates in this community are very high and are very hard to prevent. This community is different from that of most. In this community the Pentecostal male leaders tell their women to remain silent and this is what they must do. The men in this community know they can abuse their spouses and get away with it because the women will not tell. The violence in this community is internalized and legitimatized because of the Pentecostal religion. This shows how deviance is viewed differently by who you ask or what society you are in. In most societies and communities the abusing of your spouse would be seen as wrong and illegal, but not in this one. In this even the women accept it and keep quiet. Also some religions differ. According to this periodical the white Pentecostal Australian religious leaders silence the women and so does the religious doctrine. This periodical is one of the strongest sources of this project do to its relativity to the course of deviance. This is a great portrayal of how deviance is viewed differently by each person and in some places what is deviant to us may not be considered wrong at all to them. The writer of this periodical was a feminist who strongly wants to put and end to this, but it is harder than she realizes. If the women who are being abused won’t speak out against it how can anyone help?
Gage, Anastasia J.; Hutchinson, Paul L. “Power, Control, and Intimate Partner Sexual
Violence in Haiti.” Archives of Sexual Behavior. New York, Feb 2-6, Vol. 35, Iss. 1; pg. 11
This periodical did a study which sought to determine how power and control in intimate relationships influenced women's exposure to sexual violence and other forms of spousal abuse. They used multilevel modeling to conclude the risk of partner sexual violence in the past 12 months. For the study they used about 2240 women aged fifteen years of age to forty nine years who were currently married or cohabiting with a spouse. The data which was used were drawn from the 2000 Haiti Demographic and Health Survey. Strong positive effects on intimate spousal sexual abuse was found for husband's jealousy and perpetration of controlling behavior and women's support of traditional norms concerning a husband's rights to beat his wife. Female dominance in decision making about purchases for daily household needs was also positively linked with intimate spousal sexual abuse but its effects were mediated by relationship quality. The effect of wife's education on intimate partner violence was not clearly related to spousal sexual abuse. The study also showed that high community female management rates were independently associated with higher risks of spousal sexual abuse. The findings emphasize the importance of adopting a multidimensional approach to the measurement of the affects that power has in sexual relationships and the need for programs to work at several levels to address gender-based norms and the structural factors that put women at increased risk of sexual abuse. This article pertains to my topic because it stresses a specific type of spousal abuse which is sexual abuse. This periodical goes through methods of identifying why this occurs and how to prevent it.
Katerndahl, David. A; Obregon, Maria Luisa. “An Exploration of the Spiritual and
Psychosocial Variables Associated with Husband-to-Wife Abuse and Its Effect on Women in Abusive Relationships.” International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine. Amityville, 2007. Vol. 37, Iss. 2; pg. 113, 16 pgs
In this periodical we see an interesting view on spousal abuse and a look at different variables which can affect such behavior. The purpose of this periodical was to determine which aspects of religious belief incompatibility were related to spousal abuse. Another aspect covered was determining whether religious coping was separately associated with efficient status among victims of spousal abuse. Lastly the periodical showed whether degree of abuse connected with degrees of religious belief incompatibility or functional status among abused wives. They went about studying these theories by asking couples to complete a controlled interview concerning marital satisfaction, argument frequency, alcohol use, witnessing violence as a child, spirituality, functional status, and domestic violence. The periodical came up with interesting results to this. In four areas of spiritual belief such as, sense of being judged, closeness to God, congregational benefits, and forgiveness, religious belief incompatibility drastically predicted abuse. Perceived congregational help and religious coping were associated with improved social support. Finally, abuse severity and duration connected with useful status but not with degree of religious belief incompatibility. The conclusions reached in this periodical were the addition of religious belief incompatibility may account for more variation in spousal abuse than non-spiritual predictors alone. Although the presence of abuse was associated with poorer functional status in women, religious coping was only linked to improved social support. This periodical was very useful do to the thorough testing that was done and charts that were placed. This was crucial to my topic because it covered the religious variable for spousal abuse very clearly.
Safier, Rachel. “Hearing Women’s Voices.” The Jerusalem Report. Jul 24, 2006. p. 33
In this article we see how women are facing the problem of spousal abuse in other communities and societies other than that of the United States. The Jewish community is facing the same spousal abuse problems that communities in our region are. In this article they claim that according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, women ages sixteen to twenty four experience the highest intimate rate of domestic violence. The studies show that thirteen percent of teenage girls who have been in a relationship reported that they have been physically hurt or hit and twenty six percent of these women reported that they have experienced repeated verbal abuse. Those leading the attack against domestic violence advocacy and education in the Jewish community claim that their figures are comparable to those reported in the general community. This article speaks on how these communities and these women need to be heard. In this article we see a boy who was told that upper middle class people would not do something like this and people who went to Ivy League schools are too smart to ever harm their spouses or kill them. The boy in this article spoke that he fit in this category and his father killed his mother just before his birthday came. This article shows that the other articles although may be right about class effecting spousal abuse, it does still occur in better more wealthy classes and communities as well. The article also pertains to my topic by showing that spousal abuse is a problem in all communities not just the Christian one that most of us know.
Other
Egan, Nancy. “The Police Response to Spouse Abuse.”
http://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/research/spouse.html
This website showed the different measures that police departments are taking to crack down on spousal abuse. In this website we see examples of how different police departments are doing so. In some cases of a spousal abuse report certain precincts have a mandatory arrest policy. This caused a major change in spousal abuse in these areas. This website reports that this mandatory or pro-arrest system that went into effect had more of an effect on decreasing repeat offenses and stopping offenders all together than advice from physicians and even separation all together. If this had such a major effect I do not see why this shouldn’t be the policy every where. Hopefully more women will read this website article and see how effective calling the police can be on an abusive relationship. Some people want to work things out or go to counseling, but apparently this is what works best, so why not do it. Counseling and therapy may work for some and even divorce, but it only works for a while. Because of how well this mandatory arrest policy for even misdemeanor offenses concerning spousal abuse worked, police agencies across the country have begun to adapt the policy as well. This website is a great source for the topic of spousal abuse because it shows a great form of prevention and termination of abusive relationships. This has been the most effective way to stop spousal abuse so far. Although it is drastic it works. This plays into the classical perspective of reward and punishment. If abusers see how harshly they will be punished for their deviant acts, maybe they will think twice about committing them.
“Hope for Abused Women in Dubai” AlJazeera English. 10 November 2007.
http://www.mefeedia.com/feeds/24084/
This video shows a woman named Sharla who was born a US citizen, but then moved to Dubai many years ago with her new husband. She loved the small town culture when she first moved there, but the city of Dubai has grown drastically and is one of the most well known cities in the world today. This new big time city brought big problems such as domestic violence and spouse abuse which Sharla became a victim of. She had no one to turn to and no where to go for help. Eventually she decided to take action and opened up a shelter for battered and abused women. This is the only shelter of its kind in the entire Gulf region. She opened this villa for women and children who could not find help anywhere else. She is only able to take severe cases because they all have to live of donations, but it gives shelter to those who need it most. One woman’s husband was locked in a room with no phone and we get beaten and raped when her husband pleased and would allow her no contact. Sharla is in multiple trials for operating a shelter without a license to do so by Dubai and for sheltering illegal citizens. This video clip is a very important source because it gives actual visual examples of what these victims of spousal abuse have to deal with and in some areas what they have to do just to get help. Hearing someone speak of first hand experience is much more interesting and moving than reading some ones opinion on a piece of paper.
Sleeping with the Enemy. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Video. Los Angeles,
California, Fox Video, Inc, 1991.
In this movie we see spousal abuse portrayed in a very dramatic, but also very realistic way. In this movie a woman named Laura and her husband martin have been happily married for four years, or so everyone thinks. On the outside to the public they seem perfect. They are happy, successful, and good looking. In actuality though it turns out Martin is a crazy obsessive husband and is very abusive as well. Laura lives in fear of her husband and wants desperately to get away from him. This relates too many of the other sources where the woman won’t speak up or is afraid to in fear of what the husband will do. Although this is just a Hollywood movie it portrays a very realistic plot. Laura finally stages her death and runs away to a new town with a new identity to start a new better life. Martin finds out where she is and tries to kill her. This part of the story is very extreme, but also not unrealistic. Some abusers do in fact have mental factors wrong with them and could react to a betrayal in such a drastic way. This source was a very useful and interesting one to watch. The movie really showed a good example of how these cases of spousal abuse can be. They are not always apparent to those around us. Things may seem fine on the outside, but behind doors they are anything but perfect. This is another reason why it can be so hard to prevent or stop these instances from happening.
“Spousal Abuse.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3HvVW-mhsU
This video is very interesting to watch. It was made by a girl for a project and was very well done. The music playing throughout the video is about a girl who is getting abused and tries to hide it. In the lyrics you can hear the words of putting makeup on to cover it up, but I know what’s going on. The chorus exclaims “do you feel like a man when you push her around, do you feel better now she falls to the ground?” While this music is playing there is a slideshow of very graphic pictures of women who have been abused and scenes from movies and videos of men abusing women. The graphic pictures I feel really get the point across of the severity of this deviance and how cruel it truly is. In on clip there is a chart of the stages of an abusive relationship which contains a circular repetitive pattern going from a honeymoon phase, to build up phase, to explosion, to remorse, to pursuit, and then begins all over again. In another clip that passes by there is a girl holding a chilling sign with the statistic that 30 percent of all women killed are murdered by their boyfriend or husband. Another fact shown is that only 1 percent of all rapes are reported to the police. This video also portrays how mental abuse can be just as long term and devastating as physical and that a shocking 4,000,000 women each year are abused by their partners. Facts such as these and ones like that 1 of every 4 women will be abused by a past or current intimate partner flash throughout the video along with graphic pictures. This video is my favorite of all the sources it is interesting to watch and has very moving facts and photos throughout it.
“Types of Abuse.” http://www.hiddenhurt.co.uk/types/faces.htm
This website was very informative and very useful for the topic of spousal abuse. On this page that I located it speaks on the very important topic of types of abuse. Generally when people hear the words spousal abuse they immediately assume it is physical violence, but this is not always the case. There are many forms of abuse some of which are very common as well. Some of these types are physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Many times when one form of abuse is present there is usually another type being acted upon as well. Also another misconception of spousal abuse is that it is a man abusing a woman when it really means any abusive behavior acted on by one spouse to the other regardless of marital status or gender. Abusers can use multiple actions and resources to get their way with the other spouse such as physical and sexual violence, threats, money, emotional and psychological abuse to control their partners. This website also points out that many times spousal abuse is better viewed and understood through the victim rather than the abuser. This website is one of the most important sources here due to the factual information and the frequent disregard for this information when studying the topic. This article points out the different types of abuse and why it is often used. This is just one aspect of this site. Attached there are many links which provide ample information on the topic as well.
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