DOMESTIC ABUSE

Is Society Responsible For Domestic Abuse?

Is Society Responsible For Domestic Abuse?

Introduction

The subject of domestic abuse has been considered and researched extensively over the years resulting in a mass of conflicting data and much misunderstanding and confusion. For the purpose of this review, Domestic abuse is defined as: any behaviour designed to frighten or manipulate the victim with the aim of exerting control over their freedom of choice. This can be physical, mental or emotional and is the most widely accepted definition used when working with this issue.

This topic is important in my work as a counsellor/lecturer working or teaching others about working with victims of domestic abuse as there are potentially huge problems that can be caused by putting the onus on the woman to change, as opposed to helping her to recognise that 'normality' within this society has in some ways indoctrinated her into accepting bad behaviour.

Traditionally counselling theory has tended to put the onus of change onto the client, looking at psychological processes within the organism and eliciting personal responsibility to change. However the recent success of the 'Freedom programme' and findings of the professionals working within this area, have laid the 'blame' firmly in the lap of governmental systems of patriarchal control and how this plays out reflectively within individual families.

For the purpose of this research, a wide range of literature was reviewed including different cultural perspectives, to consider whether society and culture are actually the causation. Papers were also included that examined the mental health aspects involved and how they impacted not only within the dynamic of this phenomenon but also for consideration of the ethical viability of such studies.

A power and control wheel was developed emphasising the range of abuse tactics used by men against women to exert. Taking this into account there is a very good argument for considering domestic abuse within the framework of male violence against women so as not to lose focus on the underlying power indifferences that make this issue compelling enough for society and governments to recognise the seriousness of this phenomenon.

Most of the literature on this particular topic was accessed through different internet sources and online libraries.

Duluth Model of Power and Control

The current focus is on group-based, same-sex groups for men. There are two theoretical perspectives that, although seemingly in conflict, are usually combined in practice to form what is called the standard model BIP. The original BIPs emerged from the women's movement of the 1970s and suggested that men's violence against women was socially supported as a means of maintaining male dominance of women. The function of a batterer program drawn from this tradition is to help men change their minds about male dominance through a process of psycho-education and community activism. The Domestic Abuse Intervention Program in Minnesota is the most widely known of the psycho-educational approaches, and a sizable proportion of BIPs identify their program as a Duluth model. The Duluth “power and control wheel” is ubiquitous in BIPs, regardless of theoretical ...