This article, focused on violence against women, is a response to hegemonic feminists of the Second Wave in the USA (1970–85). Initially, this violence was explained by the biological difference between men and women, a difference ultimately used as a basis for the origin of the patriarchal system. And the use of violence against women came to be associated with the social and sexual control of women by men in patriarchal societies. As a result, hegemonic feminists of the Second Wave assert the following about domestic violence: 1) it is associated with biological differences between men and women, a difference which is fundamental to patriarchal systems; 2) it is unilateral, that is, only men commit acts of violence against women, and it affects all women irrespective of age, social class, education, or national origin; and 3) it is an expression of power that men hold over women in patriarchal societies. Here I will focus specifically on the cases of rape and domestic violence to show how these general theories have been applied in practice.
AmirM (1971) Patterns in Forcible Rape. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
2.
AndersonPB (1998) Women’s motives for sexual initiation and aggression. In: AndersonPBStruckman-JohnsonC (eds) Sexually Aggressive Women. New York: Guilford Publications, pp. 79–94.
3.
ArendtH (1969) Speculations on violence. New York Review of Books12(4): 24–51.
4.
BogradM (1988) Feminist perspectives on wife abuse: an introduction. In: YlloKBogradM (eds) Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE, pp. 11–28.
5.
BrownmillerS (1975) Against our Will. New York: Bantam Books.
6.
Combahee River Collective (1982) The Combahee River Collective Statement. In: HullGTBell ScottPSmithB, All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us are Brave: Black Women’s Studies. New York: Feminist Press at City University of New York, pp. 13–22.
7.
ConnellNWilsonC (eds) (1974) Rape: The First Sourcebook for Women. New York: Plume.
8.
CooteAGillT (1975) Rape: The Controversy. London: National Council for Civil Liberties.
9.
DavisAY (1985) Violence Against Women and the Ongoing Challenge to Racism. Latham, NY: Kitchen Table Editions.
10.
DobashRPDobashRE (1979) Violence Against Wives: A Case Against the Patriarchy. New York: Free Press.
11.
EcholsA (1989) Daring to be Bad: Radical Feminism in America 1967– 1975. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
12.
FreeG de la (1980) Variables affecting guilty pleas and convictions in rape cases: toward a social theory of Rape. Social Forces58(3): 833–50.
13.
FinkelhorD (1983) Common features of family abuse. In: FinkelhorDGellesRJHotalingGTStrausMA (eds)The Dark Side of Families: Current Family Violence Research. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE, pp. 17–29.
14.
FinkelhorD (1988) Stopping Family Violence. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
15.
GellesRJ (1987/1974) The Violent Home. London: SAGE.
16.
GonzalesARSchofieldRBSchmittGR (2006) Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Rape Victimization: Findings from the National Violence against Women Survey. Rockville, MD: National Institute of Justice.
17.
GriffinS (1971) The politics of rape. Ramparts Magazine.
18.
HamiltonR (1978) The Liberation of Women. London: George Allen & Unwin.
19.
HorosCV (1974) Rape. New Canaan: Tobey Publishing.
20.
HullGTBell ScottPSmithB (1982) All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us are Brave: Black Women’s Studies. New York: Feminist Press at City University of New York.
21.
LordeA (1995) Age, race, class and sex: women redefining difference [1980]. In Guy-SheftallB (ed.) Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought. New York: New Press, pp. 284–91.
22.
MartinD (1976) Battered Wives. San Francisco: Volcano Press, Inc.
23.
MartinD (1978) Scope of the problem: presentation of Del Martin, author. In: United States Commission on Civil Rights, Battered Women: Issues of Public Policy. Washington, DC: US Commission on Civil Rights, pp. 3–20.
24.
MillettK (1971/1969) Sexual Politics. New York: Avon.
25.
MitchellJ (1971)Woman’s Estate. New York: Pantheon Books.
26.
MoragaCAnzaldúaG (eds) (1983) This Bridge Called My Back. Writings by Radical Women of Color. New York: Kitchen Table, Women of Color Press.
27.
PizzeyE (1979) A refuge for battered women: a conversation with Erin Pizzeyconducted by Sarah Haffner. Victimology4(1): 100–12.
28.
RichA (1986) Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose (1979– 1985). New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
29.
RichieBE (2002) Understanding the Links between Violence Against Women and Women’s Participation in Illegal Activity. Final Report. Rockville, MD: National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
30.
SandovalC (2000) Methodology of the Oppressed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
31.
SaundersDG (1988) Wife abuse, husband abuse or mutual combat? In YlloKBogradM (eds) Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE, pp. 90–113.
32.
SchechterS (1982) Women and Male Violence: The Visions and Struggles of the Battered Women’s Movement. Cambridge: Southenpress.
33.
SchwendingerJRSchwendingerH (1978) Studying rape: integrating research and social change. In: SmartCSmartB (eds) Women, Sexuality and Social Control. London: Routledge, pp. 104–11.
34.
SchwendingerJRSchwendingerH (1983) Rape and Inequality. Beverly Hill, CA: SAGE.
35.
SmartCSmartB (1978) Accounting for rape: reality and myth in press reporting. In: SmartCSmartB (eds) Women, Sexuality and Social Control. London: Routledge, pp. 87–104.
36.
SteinmetzSK (1978) The battered husband syndrome. Victimology 2(3/4): 499–509.
37.
SteinmetzSKStrausMA (1974) General introduction: social myth and social system in the study of intra-family violence. In SteinmetzSKStrausMA (eds) Violence in the Family. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., pp. 3–24.
38.
StrausMA (1978) Wife beating: how common and why?Victimology 2(3/4): 443–58.
39.
StrausM (1979) Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence: the conflict tactics (CT) scales. Journal of Marriage and Family41(1): 75–88.
40.
StrausM (1990) The national family violence surveys. In Straus MA and Gelles RJ, Physical Violence in American Families: Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, pp. 3–14.
41.
ThompsonB (2002) Multiracial feminism: recasting the chronology of second wave feminism. Feminist Studies28(2): 337–60.
42.
TjadenPThoennesN (2006) Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Rape Victimization: Findings from the National Violence against Women Survey. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
43.
WalkerLE (1977) Who are the Battered Women?Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies2(1): 52–7.
44.
WalkerLE (1979) The Battered Woman. New York: Harper & Row.
45.
Women’s Crisis Center (1973) Freedom from Rape. Ann Arbor. Michigan.
46.
YlloK (1988) Political and methodological debates in wife abuse research. In: YlloKBogradM (eds) Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE, pp. 28–50.
47.
YlloKAStrausMA (1990) Patriarchy and violence against wives: the impact of structural and normative factors. In: StrausMAGellesRJ, Physical Violence in American Families. New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction Publishers, pp. 383–99.
