The author provides a first-person account, based on diaries and reminiscences, of a woman living in an abusive relationship. Using parallel texts, she juxtaposes the experience of spousal abuse against information derived from research literature and raises questions concerning objectivity in scholarship.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychiatric Association (1987). The desk reference to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
2.
American Psychological Association (1996). Report of the American Psychological Association presidential task force on violence and the family. Retrieved April 14, 2001, from http://www.workersliberty.org/wlmags/w155/postmod.htm
3.
Bachelard, G. (1969). The poetics of space (M. Jolas, Trans.). Boston: Beacon.
4.
Boyle, D.J. , & Vivian, D. (1996). Generalized versus spouse-specific anger/hostility and men’s violence against intimates. Violence and Victims, 11, 293-317.
5.
Brinegar, J. (1992). Breaking free from domestic violence. Minneapolis: CompCare Publishers.
6.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (1994, November). Selected findings: Violence between intimates. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
7.
Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (1997). Family Violence in Canada. Retrieved July 9, 2002, from http://www.altaliberals.ab.ca/justice1.html
8.
Cascardi, M. , Langhinrichsen, J. & Vivian, D. (1992). Marital aggression, impact, injury, and health correlates for husbands and wives. Archives of Internal Medicine, 152, 1178-1184.
9.
Campbell, J. C. , Pliska, M. J., Taylor, W., & Sheridan, D. (1994). Battered women’s experiences in the emergency department. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 20(4), 280-288.
10.
De Keseredy, W. S. , & MacLeod, L. (1997). Woman abuse: A sociological story. Toronto, Canada: Harcourt Brace.
11.
Fedorowycz, O. (1999). Homicide in Canada—1998. Juristat, 19(10). Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada.
12.
Ferraro, K. , & Johnson, J. (1985). The new underground railroad. Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 6, 377-386.
13.
Finn, J. (1985). The stress and coping behavior of battered women. Social Casework: The Journal of Contemporary Social Work, 66, 341-349.
14.
Fitzgerald, R. (1999). Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada.
15.
Frye, M. (1983). The politics of reality: Essays in feminist theory. New York: Crossing Press.
16.
Gadamer, H. G. (1989). Truth and method. New York: Continuum.
17.
Ganley, A. , & Schechter, S. (1996). Domestic violence: A national curriculum for family preservation practitioners. J. Carter (Ed.). Available: Family Violence Prevention Fund, 383 Rhode Island St., Suite 304, San Francisco, CA 94103-5133.
18.
Gelles, R. (1987). Family violence. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
19.
Golding, J. (1999). Intimate partner violence as a risk factor for mental disorders: A meta-analysis. Journal of Family Violence, 14, 99-132.
20.
Gondolf, E. (1988). The effect of batterer counseling on shelter outcome. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 3, 275-289.
21.
Gondolf, E. W. , & Fisher, E. R. (1996). The survivor theory. In N. Lemon (Ed.), Domestic violence law: A comprehensive overview of cases and sources. San Francisco: Austin & Winfield.
22.
Hamberger, K. L. , & Hastings, J. E. (1986). Personality correlates of men who abuse their partners: A cross-validation study. Journal of Family Violence, 1(4), 323-341.
23.
Hamberger, K. L. , & Hastings, J. E. (1988). Characteristics of male spouse abusers consistent with personality disorders. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 39, 763-770.
24.
Heidegger, M. (1971). The age of the world-picture. In M. Heidegger (Ed.), The question concerning technology. New York: Harper & Row.
25.
Holtzworth-Munroe, A. (1992). Social skill deficits in martially violent men: Interpreting the data using a social information processing model. Clinical Psychology Review, 12, 605-617.
26.
Holtzworth-Munroe, A. , Smutzler, N., Bates, L., & Sandin, E. (1997). Husband violence: Basic facts and clinical interpretations. In K. Halford & H. Markham (Eds.), Clinical handbook of marriage and couples interventions (pp. 129-156). Chichester, UK: John Wiley.
27.
Hotaling, G. T. , & Sugarman, D. B. (1986). An analysis of risk markers in husband to wife violence: The current state of knowledge. Violence and Victims, 1, 101-124.
28.
Hotaling, G. T , & Sugarman, D. B. (1990). A risk marker analysis of assaulted wives. Journal of Family Violence, 5(1), 1-13.
29.
Johnson, J. (1981). Program enterprise and official cooptation in the battered women’s shelter movement. American Behavioral Scientist, 24(6), 827-842.
30.
Kakar, S. (1998). Domestic abuse: Public policy/criminal justice/approaches towards child, spousal and elderly abuse. San Francisco: Austin & Winfield.
31.
Klein, E. (1971). A comprehensive etymology dictionary of the English language. New York: Elsevier.
32.
LaBell, L. S. (1979). Wife abuse: A sociological study of battered women and their mates. Victimology: An International Journal, 4(2), 257-267.
33.
Lewis, C. S. (1950). The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. Oxford: Windrush.
34.
McNair, D. M. , Lorr, M., & Doppleman, L. F. (1981). Profile of mood states manual. San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.
35.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1979). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). New York: Routledge.
36.
Metcalfe, A. , & Game, A. (2002). The mystery of everyday life. Annadale, Australia: Federation.
37.
Oates, R. K. , & Peacock, A. (1985). Intellectual development of battered children. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Development Disabilities, 10, 27-29.
38.
Oberg, L. (1997). Province releases 1997 women’s shelter statistics [Government of Alberta news release]. Retrieved July 9, 2002, from http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/199808/6619.html
39.
Stark, E. , Flitcraft, A., Zuckerman, D., et al. (1990). Wife abuse in the medical setting: An introduction for health personnel. Washington, DC: Office of Domestic Violence.
40.
Statistics Canada . (1995). Women in Canada: A statistical report (3rd ed.). Ottawa: Housing, Family and Social Statistics Division, Statistics Canada.
41.
Straus, M. A. , Gelles, R. J., Steinmetz, S.K. (1980). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family. New York: Anchor/Doubleday.
42.
Tolman, R. M. , & Bennett, L. W. (1990). A review of quantitative research on men who batter. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 5(1), 87-118.
43.
U.S. Department of Justice . (1998a, November). Prevalence, incidence, and consequences of violence against women: Findings from the national violence against women survey. Washington, DC: Department of Justice.
44.
U.S. Department of Justice . (1998b, March). Violence by intimates: Analysis of data on crimes by current or former spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends. Washington, DC: Department of Justice.
45.
van Manen, M. , & Levering, B. (1996). Childhood’s secrets: Intimacy, privacy, and the self reconsidered. New York: Teachers College Press.
46.
Walker, L. (1979). The battered woman. New York: Harper & Row.
47.
Wilson, M. I. , & Daly, M. (1993). Spousal homicide risk and estrangement. Violence and Victims, 8(1), 3-16.
48.
Winnicott, D. (1997). Deprivation and delinquency. London: Routledge.
