Chapter 14

Chapter 14 involves the darker side of family and relationships. The book points out that someone is much more likely to be assaulted by a family member than by a stranger. The first topic discussed in this chapter is that of intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence refers to violence that occurs between two people in a close relationship. One study cited by the book notes that 27% of women and 16% of men reported that they had been victims of IPV at some time in their lives. These numbers are probably higher though, due to under-reporting. There are three types of intimate partner violence. These include physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. Rates of intimate partner violence have been on the decline but females are disproportionately represented as victims over men. The book goes on to discuss the cycle of domestic violence. The first phase is the tension building phase in which “minor” battering incidents occur. The second phase is the acute battering incident in which there is an episode of exploding rage and abuse. Phase three is the calm or the “honeymoon phase” in which the batterer becomes kind and gentle and asks for forgiveness. During this phase, the victim begins to believe that the abuser is after all a good person and the abuse will not occur again. However, the cycle just continues. There are a couple of reasons noted about why women stay with an abusive partner. Some of these include learned helplessness, belief that the abuser will change, economic hardship, shame and guilt and fear. Another concept discussed in the chapter is women who abuse men. In intimate terrorism, the male is the primary perpetrator who is trying to control his partner. However, in situational couple violence, men and women can both be at fault. The next section discussed is that of child maltreatment. Child maltreatment includes various behaviors that put a child at risk or result in serious harm. Different types of harm a child can experience include physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional abuse. The book notes that the most common form of child abuse is neglect. The book also discusses factors involved in why adults abuse children. These reasons include stress, poverty, partner divorce, and abuse. The book also notes sibling abuse, which includes name-calling and ridicule, degradation, intimidation, and destroying personal possessions. The next concept laid out is that of violence among same-sex couples and racial-ethnic groups. Battering occurs at about the same rates as heterosexual couples. A study found that with lesbian couples, there are two related stressors that can be sources of IPV. These are internalized homophobia, and heterosexist discrimination. It has also been found that immigrant women are victims of domestic violence at higher rates than their non-immigrant counterparts. The book goes on to discuss broad theoretical explanations for domestic violence. Some of these include, ecological systems theory, social learning theory, and resource theory. Besides issues involving violence, families also face problems with suicide, substance abuse, eating disorders and depression.

Interesting

A section that presented new material to me was the discussion on sibling abuse. I didn’t know that sibling abuse was something that was studied and I’m glad I have been made aware of it.

Discussion

One interesting theory about domestic violence is that patriarchy condones violence over women. Do you think that this theory is valid? Should we then see a shift towards less violence as gender roles continue to become more egalitarian, or is patriarchy just too dominant in our society?

-Ali Mosser