In 2006 the Malawian Parliament passed the 'Prevention of Domestic Violence Act', providing a tool for the legal system to address a part of Gender Based Violence. Researchers at the Alan Guttmacher Institute reported in 2006 that 25% of female Malawian adolescents included in the research sample had experienced forced sex. Most of the participants stated that their boyfriends, strangers or a teacher had forced them. Although reliable data on the incidence of Gender Based Violence is scarce, there is an increasing body of knowledge indicating that it is widespread and common. Story Workshop, supported by the Dutch organization Cortaid initiated the Kamanga Zula programme to fight Gender-Based Violence. At the heart of the project is two weekly radio programmes: a serial drama and a panel discussion covering all aspects of Gender Based Violence. A media analysis was carried out and workshops were organized for student journalists, both from the Polytechnic and the Malawi Institute of Journalism. The articles in this publication were written by the participants of those workshops for a media contest, organized as a component of the Kamanga Zula project.

Contrary to the stereotype of the astrong Black woman, a African American women are more plagued by domestic violence than any other racial group in the United States. In fact, African American women experience intimate partner violence at a rate of 35% higher than White women and about two and a half times more than women of other races and ethnicities. This common portrayal can hinder Black women seeking help and support simply because those on the outside donat think help is needed. Yet, as Hillary Potter argues in Battle Cries: Black Women and Intimate Partner Abuse, this stereotype often helps these African American women to resist and to verbally and physically retaliate against their abusers. Thanks to this generalization, Potter observes, Black women are less inclined to label themselves as avictimsa and more inclined to fight back.

Battle Cries is an eye-opening examination of African American womenas experiences with intimate partner abuse, the methods used to contend with abusive mates, and the
immediate and enduring consequences resulting from the maltreatment. Based on intensive interviews with 40 African American women abused by their male partners, Potteras analysis takes into account variations in their experiences based on socioeconomic class, education level, and age, and discusses the common abuses and perceptions they share. Combining her remarkable findings with Black feminist thought and critical race theory, Potter offers a unique and significant window through which we can better understand this understudied though rampant social problem.

This book explains violent and abusive behaviour and places it in a social context. It can help readers of any age and sexual orientation to change their own behaviour and to recognise when they are being controlled. "I can honestly say that without reading this book (9 times no less ) I don't think that I would be here today, relaxed in my own home with my children that I love so much."

Divorce for domestic abuse is it permitted in the Bible? Is it positively condoned? What about remarriage? Do victims of domestic abuse have no option but to endure the abuse or face condemnation by God and fellow Christians for disobeying the Bible? Is it true, as some assert, that temporary separation may be permissible but the parties must work towards reconciliation of the marriage? This book explains the scriptural dilemmas of abuse victims in regards to separation and divorce. The author examines the scriptures and scholarly research, showing how the Bible sets victims of abuse free from bondage and false guilt. Some conclusions of "Not Under Bondage" are: The Bible distinguishes between 'treacherous divorce' and 'disciplinary divorce . Disciplinary divorce is permitted by the Bible this applies in cases of abuse, adultery or desertion, where a seriously mistreated spouse divorces a seriously offending spouse. Treacherous divorce is condemned by the Bible it occurs when a spouse obtains divorce for reasons other than abuse, adultery or desertion. NOTE: the author has slightly modified her view of what church discipline should look like in cases of domestic abuse; to see her updated view, visit cryingoutforjustice.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/church-discipline-and-church-permission-for-divorce-how-my-mind-has-changed/

This book focuses on the importance of assessing risk in domestic violence cases to prevent and reduce its escalation into homicide (so called uxoricide). Spousal killers in a substantial number of cases exhibit a history of prior spousal violence: in addition to this, witnessing violence has debilitating effects on children. For this reason domestic violence is also becoming a hot political issue on the European agenda. Integrating the US and Canadian experiences with the European ones increases the book's value and broadens perspectives. Assessing the risk and adopting appropriate measures can help reduce the risk of escalation of violence. It aims at gathering contributions from experts in the field of domestic violence and victimisation to present state of the art research in the risk assessment of domestic violence cases.

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aThis collection provides the most insightful and influential analyses from the last two decades showing how violence against women and children is all too-well integrated into global politics and economics.a
--Sandra Harding, editor of "The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader"

"This is an extraordinary interdisciplinary volume. It is comprehensive both in terms of the subjects that it includes as well as the type of articles, essays and the range of contributors. "Gender Violence" makes a very significant contribution to the literature on violence against women."
--Beth Richie, author of "Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Battered, Black Women"

From the murder of schoolgirls in a rural Amish community to the widespread rape of women in the Sudan to sexual predators on the Internet, this volume explores the persistent, pervasive phenomenon of gendered violence in the United States and around the world.

In the fully revised second edition of this path-breaking anthology, the editors bring together emerging scholarship from feminist, post-modern, and queer theory with classic articles and central authors in the fields of gender, sexuality and violence. This edition features a new comprehensive introduction, revised section introductions, and eighteen new selections, including original articles on sex trafficking, masculinity and terrorism, and community responses to gender violence. Other topics represented in this volume include sexual harassment and violence in schools and workplaces, child abuse, intimate partner violence, and pornography.

Innovative theoretical and empirical articles written by scholars fromfields such as law, history, and the social sciences appear alongside solution-focused pieces developed by activists, academics, and poets committed to creating a non-violent world.

"This book offers powerful insights into the experiences of South Asian battered women in the U.S."-Natalie Sokoloff, professor of sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York "If you can read just one book to understand domestic violence in this country, read Body Evidence. Dasgupta brings brilliant voices together to explicate the meanings of sexuality, class, ethnicity, gender, and legal status in the struggle to end violence against women in intimate relationships."-Dr. Ellen Pence, director of Praxis International "The strength of this volume lies in its diversity of views. This book brings a new set of articles into the discourse on violence against women."-Margaret Abraham, author of Speaking the Unspeakable: Marital Violence among South Asian Immigrants in the United States When South Asians immigrated to the United States in the 1970s, they were passionately driven to achieve economic stability and socialize the next generation to retain the traditions of their home culture. The immigrant community went to great lengths to project an impeccable public image by denying the existence of social problems such as domestic violence, sexual assault, mental illness, racism, and intergenerational conflict. It was not until recently that activist groups have worked to bring these issues out into the open. In Body Evidence, more than twenty scholars and public health professionals uncover the unique challenges faced by victims of domestic violence in South Asian American communities. Topics include cultural obsession with women's chastity and virginity; the continued silence surrounding family-based child sexual abuse and intimate violence among women who identify themselves as lesbian, bisexual, or transgender; the consequences of refusing marriage proposals or failing to meet dowry demands; and, ultimately, the ways in which the U.S. courts often confuse and exacerbate the plights of these women. Shamita Das Dasgupta is an adjunct assistant professor of clinical law at New York University's School of Law and cofounder of Manavi, Inc.

There was no one she could turn to for help and support. Domestic violence being such a taboo subject for many Asians in Britain, and family honour was at stake for anyone who went outside the family for help. Kiranjit in desperation, ended killing the man who had tortured her for so long, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. This book is her story, and how a group of women got together to petition against the sentence, and ultimately succeeded in helping her.

Domestic violence is control by one partner over another in a dating, marital or live-in relationship. The means of control include physical, sexual, emotional and economic abuse, threats and isolation. Survivors face many obstacles in trying to end the abuse in their lives. These obstacles include psychological and economic entrapment, physical isolation and lack of social support, challenges to religious and cultural values, fear of social judgement, threats and intimidation over custody or separation, immigration status or disabilities and lack of viable alternatives. Despite the vastness and power of these challenges most are able to overcome them because of increased public, legal and health care awareness and improved community resources that enable survivors to rebuild their lives. Domestic violence occurs in every culture, country and age group. It affects people from all socio-economic, educational and religious backgrounds and takes place in same sex as well as heterosexual relationships. Women with fewer resources or greater perceived vulnerability -- girls and those experiencing physical or psychiatric disabilities or living below the poverty line -- are at even greater risk for domestic violence and lifetime abuse. Children are also affected by domestic violence, even if they do not witness it directly. The book examines crucial issues in the field.

Domestic violence in Asian-American communities remains a rarely discussed, yet pervasive problem. With eight chapters each dedicated to a different Asian-American community, the essays in this volume follow the same general format. Contributors present an overview of the culture, including topics such as migration history, demographics, religious heritage, and views on gender and mental health; they discuss existing research on the prevalence of domestic violence; they present information on typical patterns of help-seeking behavior and coping styles; and, finally, they discuss treatment and policy implications. This unique project will provide an indispensable tool for scholars and researchers in social work and family studies who want to better understand the complexities of serving this growing and diverse population.

The more we learn about family violence, the more it becomes apparent that it is a complex and multifaceted issue. Family violence is more than woman abuse. It is also more than child abuse, sibling abuse, parent abuse, or elder abuse. It is all of these violations and more. Nevertheless, family violence is gendered; most abused victims are female and most perpetrators are male. Family violence is not merely personal. It is also a consequence of social inequality, and in that sense is socially constructed. Based on research projects conducted over ten years, Understanding Abuse profiles the work done by researchers of issues related to woman abuse and family violence. The contributors demonstrate the strength of community-based, action-oriented collaborations by carefully identifying the multiplicity of causes, clearly articulating the issues raised by abused women, and seeking to identify realistic solutions. Not only does this work provide invaluable information for policy makers on successful versus unsuccessful programs to prevent violence, it also provides academic and community researchers with detailed data on the intricacies of academic-community action research partnerships.

Although domestic violence is not new, it has only recently been recognized as a problem meriting public attention. Great strides have been made in some areas such as protection orders and shelter provision but the problem as a whole has proven extremely resistant to countermeasures. In Domestic Violence and the Politics of Privacy, Kristin A. Kelly argues that understanding this resistance requires a recognition of the tension within liberalism between preserving the privacy of the family and protecting vulnerable individuals. Practical, real-world information gained from frontline workers underpins the author's suggestions for how to address this tension. In emphasizing the roles of democratic institutions and community participation in determining the shape of future policy about domestic violence, Kelly replaces the traditional opposition of the public and private spheres with a triangular relationship. The state, the family, and the community comprise the three corners.Kelly builds upon interviews with more than forty individuals working directly on the problem of domestic violence. Her model is further formed by a critical analysis of the theoretical and legal frameworks used to understand and regulate the relationship between public and private."

Women's rights advocates in the United States have long argued that violence against women denies women equality and citizenship, but it took a movement of feminist activists and lawyers, beginning in the late 1960s, to set about realizing this vision and transforming domestic violence from a private problem into a public harm. This important book examines the pathbreaking legal process that has brought the pervasiveness and severity of domestic violence to public attention and has led the United States Congress, the Supreme Court, and the United Nations to address the problem. Elizabeth Schneider has played a pioneering role in this process. From an insider's perspective she explores how claims of rights for battered women have emerged from feminist activism, and she assesses the possibilities and limitations of feminist legal advocacy to improve battered women's lives and transform law and culture. The book chronicles the struggle to incorporate feminist arguments into law, particularly in cases of battered women who kill their assailants and battered women who are mothers. With a broad perspective on feminist lawmaking as a vehicle of social change, Schneider examines subjects as wide-ranging as criminal prosecution of batterers, the civil rights remedy of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, the O. J. Simpson trials, and a class on battered women and the law that she taught at Harvard Law School. Feminist lawmaking on woman abuse, Schneider argues, should reaffirm the historic vision of violence and gender equality that originally animated activist and legal work.

"This is the first book I am aware of that focuses primarily on the issue of domestic violence in Mexico and Central America. . . . It is a courageous undertaking for the author to write on this topic, and she carries it off with grace, humility, and honesty. . . . This book has far more potential to be of interest to a general readership than most academic books." --Lynn Stephen, Professor of Anthropology, University of Oregon Marriage among the Maya of Central America is a model of complementarity between a man and a woman. This union demands mutual respect and mutual service. Yet some husbands beat their wives. In this pioneering book, Laura McClusky examines the lives of several Mopan Maya women in Belize. Using engaging ethnographic narratives and a highly accessible analysis of the lives that have unfolded before her, McClusky explores Mayan women's strategies for enduring, escaping, and avoiding abuse. Factors such as gender, age inequalities, marriage patterns, family structure, educational opportunities, and economic development all play a role in either preventing or contributing to domestic violence in the village. McClusky argues that using narrative ethnography, instead of cold statistics or dehumanized theoretical models, helps to keep the focus on people, "rehumanizing" our understanding of violence. This highly accessible book brings to the social sciences new ways of thinking about, representing, and studying abuse, marriage, death, gender roles, and violence.

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.

Skillfully interweaving Bernice's own eloquent words about her harrowing abuse with descriptions of other women's similar experiences and a rich synthesis of statistical findings, Jody Raphael demonstrates convincingly that domestic violence and dependence on public assistance are intricately linked. In a work that is sure to stir controversy, she challenges traditional views and stereotypes (conservative and liberal) about welfare recipients, arguing that many poor women are neither lazy nor paralyzed by a "culture of poverty," but instead are trapped by their batterers.
Bernice's ordeals at the hands of her abusive partner -- brutal beatings, violent rapes, threats on her life, stalking, blocked access to birth control, and sabotage of efforts to find a job -- resonate throughout the work. The experiences she relates provide crucial insights into the welfare system and illuminate its failures, successes, and potential in helping women like her.
This disquieting yet inspiring book puts a human face on the heated public policy debate over welfare reform. Above all, it is Bernice's life story and, through her voice, the story of countless other battered women who are isolated in poverty and welfare by the power and control of their abusers.

A comprehensive, compassionate look at domestic violence--including historical, psychological, social, familial, and legal issues--this well-organized, accessible book offers the most current information available on prevention and recovery, along with practical steps for escaping a violent domestic situation.

Over the past 20 years, much work has focused on domestic violence, yet little attention has been paid to the causes, manifestations, and resolutions to marital violence among ethnic minorities, especially recent immigrants. Margaret Abraham's Speaking the Unspeakable is the first book to focus on South Asian women's experiences of domestic violence, defined by the author as physical, sexual, verbal, mental, or economic coercion, power, or control perpetrated on a woman by her spouse or extended kin. Abraham explains how immigration issues, cultural assumptions, and unfamiliarity with the American social, legal, and economic systems, coupled with stereotyping, make these women especially vulnerable to domestic violence. Through the actual stories of South Asian women, we learn of their weaknesses and strengths and their encounters of domestic violence within the larger cultural, social, economic, and political context. We see both the individual strategies of resistance against their abusers as well as the pivotal role South Asian women's help organizations play in helping these women escape abusive relationships. Abraham also describes the central role played by South Asian activism as it emerged in the 1980s in the United States, and addresses the practices both within and outside of the South Asian community that stereotype, discriminate, and oppress South Asians in their everyday lives.

This collection gives important insight into the new issues and questions that have become central to understandings of women, violence and resistance. It focuses on the connections between research and the development of strategies for change by providing excellent examples of policy-relevant feminist research, rooted in both academe and activism. The emphasis throughout is on the link between research and strategies for action at the local, national and international level.

The book gathers together the many exciting ideas, discussions and developments arising from the work of the researchers and activists who are part of the British Sociological Association Violence Against Women Study Group. The contributing authors share a commitment to research that centres on the material reality of women's lives and assists the generation of strategies for action. It complements the earlier volume, Women, Violence and Male Power, extending the latter's coverage in important ways by addressing differences as well as commonalities between women, and the complexities of feminist analysis and activism in a changing context.

Women, Violence and Strategies for Action is of direct relevance to practitioners working in the professions of probation, social work and law, as well as students and researchers in the fields of women's studies, sociology, social policy, social work, criminology and socio-legal studies. It will also be of interest to women's organizations, including local inter-agency forums.

This report aims to raise awareness of the nature and prevalence of domestic violence, to break down some of the stereotypes that exist about it, and to discuss the role of health care professionals in identifying and dealing with the problem

"Women at Risk brilliantly recasts the debate about violence against women and makes a major contribution to feminist thinking about women's health. Practitioners and theorists who want to understand women's health issues from a stunning new perspective must read this book." --Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D., President, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Washington, DC "Women at Risk is a unique and important blend of research, practice, and advocacy. This volume makes a significant contribution to the health care profession's understanding of violence against women. This is a long-awaited book by two major scholars and practitioners in the field of violence against women." --Richard J. Gelles, Ph.D., Director, Family Violence Research Program, University of Rhode Island "Women at Risk is a thought-provoking investigation of the violence that may bring women to emergency departments with injuries or suicide attempts. It challenges assumptions that patriarchy causes violence against women and that women are passive victims. And it dares to acknowledge violence by women. It goes beyond a plea for awareness of violence and outlines steps that hospital staff can follow to identify, care for, and advocate for battered women. Evan Stark and Anne Flitcraft strongly affirm the status of wife assault as a public health issue." --N. Zoe Hilton, Ph.D., Mental Health Center of Penetanguishene, Ontario Filled with groundbreaking research, Women at Risk challenges current explanations of domestic violence and argues that reframing health in terms of coercion and violence is key to the prevention of some of women's most vexing problems. Presenting major findings of studies conducted over 15 years, authors Evan Stark and Anne Flitcraft maintain that the medical, psychiatric, and behavioral problems exhibited by battered women stem from a so-called "dual trauma," in which the coercive strategies used by their partners converge with discriminatory institutional practices. This timely volume explores the theoretical perspectives as well as health consequences of woman abuse and considers clinical interventions to reduce the incidence of homicide, child abuse, substance abuse, and female suicide attempts associated with battering. In addition, the authors progressively promote the notion of "shelter" not as a facility or service, but as a political space to be opened within families, communities, and the economy--a space where toleration for male coercion ends. Medical professionals, mental health practitioners, social workers, and researchers, as well as advanced students in health, psychology, or the social sciences, will find this compelling volume a thorough resource.