[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
attitudes toward violence and experience with violence make such threats more likely and
more credible from a man than from a woman. Put simply, the exercise of violence is
more likely to be a part of boys and men s experience than girls and women s in sports,
fantasy play, and real-life conflict.
Second, individual misogyny and gender traditionalism are clearly implicated in
intimate terrorism. Although critics of feminist theory often claim that there is no rela-
tionship between attitudes towards women and domestic violence ( Felson 2002, p. 106),
the research that has addressed this question in fact clearly supports the position that
individual men s attitudes toward women affect the likelihood that they will be involved
in intimate terrorism. One example is Holtzworth-Munroe s work that shows that both
of her two groups of intimate terrorists are more hostile toward women than are either
C
Ch-12.indd 533 7/8/2008 12:35:56 PM
h
-
1
2
.
i
n
d
d
5
3
3
7
/
8
/
2
8
1
2
:
3
5
:
5
6
P
M
534 Part IV " Families in Society
non-violent men or men involved in situational couple violence (e.g., Holtzworth-
Munroe et al. 2000). More generally, Sugarman and Frankel (1996) conducted a thor-
ough review of the research on this question, using a statistical technique that allowed
them to combine the findings of all of the studies that had been published up to that time.
While Holtzworth-Munroe demonstrated an effect of hostility toward women, Sugarman
and Frankel focused on the effects of men s attitudes toward the role of women in social
life, and found that traditional men were more likely to be involved in attacks on their
partners than were non-traditional men. The details of the Sugarman and Frankel review
provide further support for the important role of attitudes toward women in intimate
terrorism. They found that men s attitudes toward women were much more strongly re-
lated to violence in studies using samples that were dominated by intimate terrorism than
in studies that were dominated by situational couple violence. Of course, this is exactly
what a feminist theory of domestic violence would predict. It is intimate terrorism that
involves the attempt to control one s partner, an undertaking supported by traditional or
hostile attitudes toward women.
Third, at the level of social interaction rather than individual attitudes, our cultures
of masculinity and femininity ensure that whatever the level of violence, its meaning
will differ greatly depending upon the gender of the perpetrator (Straus 1999). When a
woman slaps her husband in the heat of an argument, it is unlikely to be interpreted by
him as a serious attempt to do him physical harm. In fact, it is likely to be seen as a quaint
form of feminine communication. Women s violence is taken less seriously, is less likely
to produce fear, and is therefore less likely either to be intended as a control tactic or to
be successful as one (Swan and Snow 2002).
Fourth, general social norms regarding intimate heterosexual partnerships, al-
though certainly in the midst of considerable historical change, are heavily gendered
and rooted in a patriarchal heterosexual model that validates men s power ( Dobash and
Dobash 1979, 1992; Yllö and Bograd 1988). These norms affect the internal function-
ing of all relationships, regardless of the individual attitudes of the partners, because
couples social networks are often involved in shaping the internal workings of personal
relationships ( Klein and Milardo 2000). When those networks support a male-dominant
style of marriage or a view of marriage as a commitment for better or worse, they can
contribute to the entrapment of women in abusive relationships.
Finally, the gendering of the broader social context within which the relationship is
embedded affects the resources the partners can draw upon to shape the relationship and
to cope with or escape from the violence. For example, the gender gap in wages can cre-
ate an economic dependency that enhances men s control over women and contributes
to women s entrapment in abusive relationships. The societal assignment of caregiving
responsibilities primarily to women further contributes to this economic dependency,
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]