'Will help so many learn to recognize what an abusive relationship is' - Mel B 'I read it all in one sitting, it is brilliant! This book is so relatable and Maddy's funny and engaging approach starts serious conversations' - Teresa Parker, Women's Aid Are you forever finding yourself in the stranglehold of controlling companions? Well, fear not, because once you've finished reading this book, you'll be able to wave ta-ta to unhappy and unhealthy relationships for good. Consider me the Psycho Sprucer, Bad Boy Buster, the Hot Mess Assessor - ready to leave your love life sparkling. How to Leave Your Psychopath is a candid account of the complex, subtle nature of coercive control and abusive relationships from comedian Maddy Anholt, who - until her eyes were opened - had spent her entire dating life trapped in them. Relatable and accessible, the book covers all the common techniques these toxic twerps use to exert control, including gaslighting, breadcrumbing and negging. This book is the ultimate handbook to help you see and respond to red flags, recognize controlling traits, and learn to give any prospective date a score on Maddy's unique 'Psychometer', from super-empath to psychopath. Vitally, by interweaving psychological insight and autobiographical anecdotes, Maddy shows you the road to self-discovery, leading you on the path to safer dating and a healthier, more joyful life. Funny, judgement-free and full of brilliant first-hand advice, this empowering guide will help anyone ditch their controlling partner to find freedom and happiness.

This thoroughly revised second edition is an examination of domestic violence from social, legal, and historical perspectives. Domestic Violence: A Reference Handbook provides straightforward and objective coverage that considers all aspects of the issue through a careful combination of facts, statistics, case studies, and victims' stories. This volume in ABC-CLIO's Contemporary World Issues series examines the causes and historical roots of domestic violence, providing the facts and analyses to foster a better understanding. The work analyzes the complex dynamics of domestic violence from three perspectives-legal, social, and psychological. This reference is an important source of information for those touched by domestic violence and for those seeking to understand it. A chronology that stretches from 753 BCE, when Romulus, the founder of Rome, formalized the first "law of marriage" to January 2006, when President George W. Bush signed the third reauthorization of the 1994 Violence against Women Act Illustrations include the power and control wheel (a model in the form of a wheel that explains the dynamics of domestic violence), the ecological theory of battering, and the characteristics of the victim as illustrated by the World Health Organization

Family aggression - whether in form of physical violence or verbal abuse - has touched most of us in our lifetime. Most of us have witnessed it, experienced it, or used it at one point or another. In order for us to eliminate aggressive and abusive behaviors from relationships, we must be willing to confront our own experiences with these behaviors. Family Violence in the United States examines all types of family aggression. The book is designed to provoke readers into questioning assumptions, evaluating information, formulating hypotheses, and designing solutions to problems of family violence in the United States. Using an ecological framework, authors Denise A. Hines and Kathleen Malley-Morrison provide a thought-provoking and informative discussion not only of the most well-recognized forms of maltreatment in families, but also of less understood and more controversial issues such as husband abuse, parent abuse, and gay//lesbian abuse.Key Features: - Includes full chapters on husband abuse and abuse in gay//lesbian relationships - topics scarcely covered in other texts - Discusses "hidden forms" of family violence including wife rape, sibling abuse, parent abuse, and abuse of people with disabilities - Uses real case studies to illustrate the concepts discussed and to provoke readers to think critically about issues in family violence - Provides thought-provoking questions throughout the text to prompt readers to evaluate their own and others' notions of abuse and maltreatment - Incorporates "Special Issues" sections to highlight new, and sometimes controversial, aspects of family violence - Includes summary sections at the end of each chapter to serve as a useful study aid for students - Concludes with a discussion of how we, as a society, are currently responding to the problem of family violence in the United States. Rich in scholarly references and case materials, Family Violence in the United States is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on family violence in the fields of Family Studies, Sociology, Social Work, Women's Studies, Criminal Justice, Psychology, Counselling, and Nursing.

This comprehensive book is a critical introduction to the theoretical and practical issues involved in working with children and families. It sheds light on different perspectives, forms of practice, and dimensions of policy, with a focus on the practical issues of concern to professionals working with children in a range of settings.

This book offers a social movement perspective on family violence, framing the discovery of abuse toward women and men as a natural development flowing out of social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It combines clinical and statistical methods to yield a sophisticated understanding of the dynamics underlying spousal violence. It examines both men's violence and the violence of their female partners, both psychological as well as physical. The problem of women's violence is one that has remained largely ignored compared to the mountain of research on men's violence toward women. The authors present the first in-depth examination of how, when, and why women instigate violence and why violent couples require a systems-level intervention program rather than simply trying to counter male violence. There is a strong consideration of factors that can work to reduce or eliminate the problem.

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is the most expansive federal legislation addressing intimate violence in the United States to date. Meyer-Emerick uses three theories to examine the legislation: Foucault's theories on how people develop their ideas about their sexuality; Habermas's theories on the legitimacy of the state; and MacKinnon's theories of a gender hierarchy preserved through sexual violence. Through consideration of interviews with policymakers, professionals, and focus groups with citizens, her analysis suggests that state intervention is limited. Additional avenues for combating violence against women is therefore necessary.

These theories were also used to develop questions that were asked of policymakers and local professionals in interviews and with focus groups of survivors, perpetrators, and citizens. The interviews revealed perceptual differences between the thinking of the policymakers and the local professionals. These dissimilarities highlight the practitioners' lack of knowledge about the intent of VAWA, which may impede service delivery to clients. The focus group responses indicated that not only do women have a higher distrust than men but that survivors and perpetrators have opinions that diverge from both local citizens and other participants. This demonstrates a need for change in the system that is supposed to be protecting women from violence. Meyer-Emerick concludes with recommendations for further interventions. Policymakers and local providers of social services will find the work of particular value as will scholars and researchers dealing with domestic violence.

First published in 1998, this study investigates the effectiveness of services for helping women who are survivors of domestic violence. Looking at a sample from Western and Central Oregon, it examines the utilization and perceived effectiveness of resources for survivors and, in doing so, it systematically assesses the efficacy of community and professional services. This book will be of particular interest to social work students and practitioners, but will also be helpful to those studying healthcare and law.

This is an exciting and innovative book which provides a thorough introduction to contemporary social theory by examining the way in which the widespread existence of violence against women is explored. A wide range of theories from liberalism to evolutionary psychology are considered culminating in the development of a distinctive feminist realist position. The theories discussed are tested against a large-scale survey, the findings of which challenge many conventional wisdoms as to the patterning of violence in contemporary society.

This book considers whether coercive control (particularly non-physical forms of family violence) should be prohibited by the criminal law. Based on the premise that traditional understandings of family violence are severely limited, it considers whether the core of family violence is power-based controlling or coercive behavior: attempts by men to psychologically dominate their partners. Such behavior can cause significant psychological, physical and economic harms to victims and is increasingly recognized as a form of human rights abuse. The book considers the new offences that have been introduced in England and Wales (controlling or coercive behavior), Ireland (controlling behavior) and Scotland (domestic abuse). It invites consideration of three key questions: Do conventional criminal laws adequately regulate non-physical abuse? Is the criminal law an appropriate mechanism for responding to the coercive control of family members? And if a new and distinctive offence is warranted, what is the optimal form of that offence? This ground-breaking work is essential reading for researchers and practitioners interested in coercive control and the proper role of the criminal law as a mechanism for regulating family violence.

Speak now or forever rest in peace . . . 'A pacy debut that ensnares' ADELE PARKS - THE PERFECT FIANCE. When Victoria's best friend Gwen announces she is marrying the rich and handsome Michael, celebrations are strained. Victoria doesn't trust Michael - he's hiding something. And he reminds her of someone she needs to forget. THE DREAM WEDDING PLAN. Too loved up to see Michael's dark side, Gwen drags Victoria into a whirlwind of dress shopping, engagement drinks and elaborate maid-of-honour duties. Meanwhile, a mysterious visitor is leaving unwanted gifts in Victoria's home, and Michael is becoming aggressive: no one gets between me and Gwen. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? The clock is ticking until the big day. Will Victoria expose Michael's secret, and save her best friend from a marriage made in hell? Or will her past catch up with her first? *THE UNMISSABLE DEBUT THRILLER FOR FANS OF T.M. LOGAN, TAMMY COHEN AND CAROLINE KEPNES* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE OWNED VOICES NOVEL AWARD 2022* - What readers are saying about The Engagement . . . 'Awesome twists' 'A perfect wee read for these dark and cosy nights' 'The story had me page turning like mad, and the end . . . Well let's just say I was pretty shocked!'

This is the first book to critically examine Hollywood films that focus on male partner violence against women. These films include Gaslight, Sleeping with the Enemy, What's Love Got to Do with It, Dolores Claiborne, Enough, and Safe Haven. Shaped by the contexts of postfeminism, domestic abuse post-awareness, and familiar genre conventions, these films engage in ideological "gaslighting" that reaffirms our preconceived ideas about men as abusers, women as victims, and the racial and class politics of domestic violence. While the films purport to condemn abuse and empower abused women, this study proposes that they tacitly reinforce the very attitudes that we believe we no longer tolerate. Shoos argues that films like these limit not only popular understanding but also social and institutional interventions.

Ordinary citizens face a frustrating and increasingly complex maze of human service agencies when they seek help for everyday problems, even though one stop information and referral centers have been established to facilitate information seeking in many communities. This book explores the relationship between the information needs of battered women and the information response provided through social networks in six communities of varying size.

The book is based on an award-winning study, in which 543 women described their knowledge of the problem of woman abuse and what kinds of information resources would be helpful to an abused woman. In the second phase of the study, 179 interviews were conducted with service providers identified by these women as likely sources of help. A comparison of the interviews demonstrates that the response of information delivery systems does not adequately meet the needs and expectations of those women who would seek such services. The final chapters of the volume focus on the implications of this study for the design of social service systems.

Men who act abusively have their own story to tell, a journey that often begins in childhood, ripens in their teenage years, and takes them down paths they were hoping to never travel. Men Who Batter recounts the journey from the point of view of the men themselves. The men's accounts of their lives are told within a broader framework of the agency where they have attended groups, and the regional coordinated community response to domestic violence, which includes the criminal justice workers (e.g., probation, parole, judges), and those who staff shelters and work in advocacy. Based on interview data with this wide array of professionals, we are able to examine how one community, in one western state, responds to men who batter. Interwoven with this rich and colorful portrayal of the journey of abusive men, we bring twenty years of fieldwork with survivors and those who walk alongside them as they seek safety, healing and wholeness for themselves and their children. Women who have been victimized by the men they love often hold out hope that, if only their abusers could be held accountable and receive intervention, the violence will stop and their own lives will improve dramatically as a result. While the main purpose of Men Who Batter is to highlight the stories of men, told from their personal point of view, it is countered by reality checks from their own case files and those professionals who have worked with them. And finally, interspersed within its pages is another theme: finding religious faith or spiritual activity in unlikely places.

This book explores the morality of love and sex, and how distortions of these sometimes develop into abuse. Hayes argues that there are strong similarities between different kinds of abusive relationships, and that these similarities arise out of the common narratives surrounding romantic love and the logic of intimate relationships.

Domestic Violence Laws in the United States and India is a comparative study of the domestic violence laws in India and the United States, seeking to illuminate the critical issues of intimate partner violence through the lenses of these two societies.

What does it mean for men to join with women as allies in preventing sexual assault and domestic violence? Based on life history interviews with men and women anti-violence activists aged 22 to 70, Some Men explores the strains and tensions of men's work as feminist allies. When feminist women began to mobilize against rape and domestic violence, setting up shelters and rape crisis centers, a few men asked what they could do to help. They were directed "upstream," and told to "talk to the men" with the goal of preventing future acts of violence. This is a book about men who took this charge seriously, committing themselves to working with boys and men to stop violence, and to change the definition of what it means to be a man. The book examines the experiences of three generational cohorts: a movement cohort of men who engaged with anti-violence work in the 1970s and early 1980s, during the height of the feminist anti-violence mobilizations; a bridge cohort who engaged with anti-violence work from the mid-1980s into the 1990s, as feminism receded as a mass movement and activists built sustainable organizations; a professional cohort who engaged from the mid-1990s to the present, as anti-violence work has become embedded in community and campus organizations, non-profits, and the state. Across these different time periods, stories from life history interviews illuminate men's varying paths-including men of different ethnic and class backgrounds-into anti-violence work. Some Men explores the promise of men's violence prevention work with boys and men in schools, college sports, fraternities, and the U.S. military. It illuminates the strains and tensions of such work-including the reproduction of male privilege in feminist spheres-and explores how men and women navigate these tensions.

This is a refreshing and thought provoking book, presenting the views of female and male counselling clients about their experience of therapy after domestic violence. It brings together the existing literature and client views to present a new perspective on how to approach counselling with individuals who have experienced domestic violence.

Thousands of women are murdered every year by close relatives for allegedly violating an unwritten social code or rebelling against the patriarchal order. The book examines the roots and evolution of honor-based violence, as well as the ongoing struggle to eradicate it worldwide.

This book explores the roles that control, abuse, bullying and family violence can play within the tourism system. While it is generally understood that such behaviours are significant issues in society, the correlation between these types of behaviour and tourism has not been assessed in scholarly circles. The volume sets out to explain each of these behaviours within tourism industries using autoethnography as its method. This book reveals the heightened risk of family violence during family events, sporting events and in the tourism system, and explains that risks continue and can even increase after separating from a perpetrator of family violence. This is an important and under-researched area in the tourism and events literature and will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in these fields, as well as family violence, social work, health and law.

This book presents a variety of socio-legal perspectives on issues of domestic violence and abuse. Focussing on contemporary research and practice developments in policing, law, statutory and voluntary sectors, the contributors to this volume cover a vast spectrum of initiatives and professional expertise concerned variably with protection, prevention and intervention priorities. The challenges of "joined up" thinking across these perspectives are apparent as the varied definitions, underpinning ideologies, terminologies, the profile of the victim/survivor's voice and identified gaps in service provision appearing in this book illustrate. As a reflection on the current economic climate, some of the perspectives presented necessarily compete rather than complement each other, an issue the volume highlights and addresses. Achieving a broader understanding of these issues and insights into a range of activity in this context is vital for both the practitioner and academic alike, whatever their perspective.

Interpersonal violence has been the focus of research within the social sciences for some considerable time. Yet inquiries about the causes of interpersonal violence and the effects on the victims have dominated the field of research and clinical practice. Central to the contributions in this volume is the idea that interpersonal violence is a social action embedded in responses from various actors. These include actions, words and behaviour from friends and family, ordinary citizens, social workers and criminal justice professionals. These responses, as the contributors to this volume all show, make a difference in terms of how violence is understood, resisted and come to terms with in its immediate aftermath and over the longer term. Bringing together an international network of scholars and practitioners from a range of disciplines and fields of practice, this book maps and expands research on interpersonal violence. In doing so, it opens an important new terrain on which social responses to violence can be fully interrogated in terms of their intentions, meanings and outcomes.

As domestic violence continues to be a focus of social and psychological concern, two basic contradictory viewpoints endure: one rooted in male power dynamics, the other maintaining that both genders use and are victimized by violence. Although both sides have their merits, neither has adequately answered the crucial question: What causes conflict to escalate into violence?

"Partner Violence: A New Paradigm for Understanding Conflict Escalation"adds a third, escalation-focused paradigm to the debate, addressing the limitations of the two dominant perspectives in a comprehensive scholarly approach. This concise yet comprehensive volume examines key gender- and non-gender-related violence issues and sets out a compelling behavioral argument that using violence to control others is a rational choice. Its theoretical and empirical foundations support an in-depth study of escalating aggression in violent relationships, both throughout periods of chronic conflict and in single violent episodes. This analysis promotes a broader and deeper understanding of partner violence, suitable to developing more finely targeted, effective, and lasting interventions.

Among the key topics featured are: Gender differences in aggressive tendencies. Dominance, control, and violence. Partner violence as planned behavior. The process leading to partner violence. Partner conflict dynamics throughout relationship periods and within conflicts. Gender differences in escalatory intentions.

"Partner Violence" is an important volume for researchers, graduate students, and clinicians/professionals across various disciplines, including personality and social psychology, criminology, public health, clinical psychology, sociology, and social work. "

The practice of karo kari allows family, especially fathers, brothers and sons, to take the lives of their daughters, sisters and mothers if they are accused of adultery. This volume examines the central position of karo kari in the social, political and juridical structures in Upper Sindh, Pakistan. Drawing connections between local contests over marriage and resources, Nafisa Shah unearths deep historical processes and power relations. In particular, she explores how the state justice system and informal mediations inform each other in state responses to karo kari, and how modern law is implicated in this seemingly ancient cultural practice.