Chapter 14

Chapter 14 starts off with the term intimate partner violence. This chapter states it occurs between two people in a close relationship. This refers to current and former spouses, couples who live together, and current or former boyfriends or girlfriends. Intimate partner violence includes three types of behavior: Physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. Physical abuse occurs when a person hurts or tries to hurt a partner using physical force. Sexual abuse is forcing a partner to take part in a sex act when she or he doesn’t consent. Emotional abuse is threatening a partner, or his or her loved ones, or possessions, or harming a partner’s sense of self-worth. Some characteristics of abusive and violent households include gender, age, race and ethnicity, and social class. Marital rape is defined as an abusive act in which a man forces his wife to have unwanted sexual intercourse. Battered-woman syndrome is defined as a condition that describes a woman who has experienced many years of physical abuse and feels incapable of leaving her partner. The different phases of battered wife syndrome are as follows: Phase One: The tension-building phase. Phase Two: The acute battering incident. Phase Three: Calm (The “Honeymoon Phase”). The text lists some of the reasons why women tend to stay with an abusive partner. Some of these reasons include: 1. Negative self-concept and low self-esteem 2. Belief that the abuser will change 3. Economic hardship and homelessness 4. Need for child support 5. Shame or guilt 6. Blaming themselves 7. Fear 8. The home becomes a prison. The book then goes on to focus on Child Maltreatment. Child Maltreatment includes a broad range of behaviors that place a child at serious risk or result in serious harm, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional abuse. It is stated that some of reasons for child maltreatment are substance abuse, stress, poverty, partner abuse, and divorce. It is also stated that children from violent families are often more aggressive than children from nonviolent families. This chapter then goes onto focus on sibling abuse. The most common forms of sibling abuse include: name calling and ridicule, degradation, intimidation, torturing or killing a pet, and destroying personal possessions. The chapter then focuses on elder abuse, stating that most elder abuse is hidden. The question ‘why are families abusive’ has many competing explanations based on medical, political, psychological, and criminological models. The chapter then states that there are other areas that the family struggles with such as depression and suicide. Depression is defined as a mental disorder characterized by pervasive sadness and other negative emotions that interfere with the ability to work, study, sleep, eat, and enjoy experiences that were formerly pleasurable. It is stated that in order to decrease the amount of violence seen in families, we must do a better job of informing people about such problems.

I found the section that talked about battered-woman syndrome to be very interesting. I learned that battered-woman syndrome is a condition that describes a woman who has experienced many years of physical abuse and feels incapable of leaving her partner. The pictures on page 388 that showed Connie Culp, a woman who survived a gunshot from her husband, are just remarkable. She is one strong woman who is able to survive such trauma as she did. It was extremely interesting to read all about the phases as well.

The question that I have for the class is do you think that children who were abused grow up to be abusive parents themselves?