The authors seek to contribute to a fuller understanding of men's violence against women in intimate relationships by comparing men's and women's accounts of the violence, injuries, and controlling behavior used by men against women partners. Although men and women inhabit a shared physical and social space within the home, their lived experiences and perceptions of such relationships often differ. Despite this, many studies do not consider what effect such gender differences might have on accounts of violence against women and, instead, assume that men's and women's accounts are basically unproblematic. The authors ask whether this is so. Based on findings from an in-depth interview study of 122 men who had perpetrated violence against a woman partner and 144 women who had been the victims of such violence, the results show that women and men provide significantly different accounts of men's violence, controlling behavior, and injuries. These results make problematic the assumption that men's accounts of their own violent behavior can be used uncritically and without reference to women's accounts of men's violence.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bachman, R. , & Saltzman, L. E. (1995). Violence against women: Estimates from the redesigned survey (Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, NCJ-154348). Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Justice.
2.
Baumgartner, M. P. (1993). Violent networks: The origins and management of domestic conflict. In R. B. Felson & J. T. Tedeschi (Eds.), Aggression and violence: Social interactionist perspectives (pp. 209-231). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
3.
Berk, R. A. , Berk, S. F., Loseke, D. R., & Rauma, D. (1983). Mutual combat and other family myths. In D. F. Finkelhor, R. J. Gelles, G. T. Hotaling, & M. A. Straus (Eds.), The dark side of families (pp. 197-212). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
4.
Bernard, J. (1972). The future of marriage. New York: Bantam.
5.
Beutel, A. M. , & Marini, M. M. (1995). Gender and values. American Sociological Review, 60, 436-441.
6.
Burgois, P. (1995). In search of respect: Selling crack in el barrio. New York: Cambridge University Press.
7.
Brown, G. W. (1992). Social support: An investigator-based approach. In H. O. F. Veiel & U. Baumann (Eds.), The meaning and measurement of social support. London: Hemisphere.
8.
Browne, A. (1987). When battered women kill. New York: Free Press.
9.
Browning, J. , & Dutton, D. (1986). Assessment of wife assault with the CTS: Using couple data to quantify the differential reporting effect. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 375-379.
10.
Cavanagh, K. , & Cree, V. K. (1996). Interviewing violent men: Challenge or comprise. In K. Cavanagh & V. E. Cree (Eds.), Working with men: Feminism and social work (pp. 87-112). London: Routledge.
11.
Counts, D. A. , Brown, J. K., & Campbell, J. C. (Eds.). (1992). Sanctions and sanctuary: Cultural perspectives on the beating of wives. Boulder, CO: Westview.
12.
Daly, M. , & Wilson, M. (1988). Homicide. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine.
13.
Descola, P. (1996). The spears of twilight: Life and death in the Amazon jungle (J. Lloyd, Trans.). New York: HarperCollins.
14.
Dobash, R. E. , & Dobash, R. P. (1979). Violence against wives. New York: Free Press.
15.
Dobash, R. E. , & Dobash, R. P. (1981). Community response to violence against wives: Charivary, abstract justice, and patriarchy. Social Problems, 28, 563-581.
16.
Dobash, R. E. , & Dobash, R. P. (1983). The context specific approach. In D. Finkelhor, R. J. Gelles, G. T. Hotaling, & M. A. Straus (Eds.), The dark side of families (pp. 261-276). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
17.
Dobash, R. E. , & Dobash, R. P. (1984). The nature and antecedents of violent events. British Journal of Criminology, 24, 260-288.
18.
Dobash, R. E. , & Dobash, R. P. (1992). Women, violence, and social change. New York: Routledge.
19.
Dobash, R. E. , Dobash, R. P., & Cavanagh, K. (1985). The contact between battered women and soical and medical agencies. In J. Pahl (Ed.), Private violence and public policy (pp. 142-165). London: Routledge.
20.
Dobash, R. P. , Dobash, R. E., Cavanagh, K., & Lewis, R. (1995). Evaluating criminal justice programmes for violent men. In R. E. Dobash, R. P. Dobash, & L. Noaks (Eds.), Gender and crime (pp. 358-389). Cardiff, UK: University of Wales Press.
21.
Dobash, R. P. , Dobash, R. E., Cavanagh, K., & Lewis, R. (1996). Research evaluation of programmes for violent men. Edinburgh, Scotland: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
22.
Dobash, R. P. , Dobash, R. E., Wilson, M., & Daly, M. (1992). The myth of sexual symmetry in marital violence. Social Problems, 39, 71-91.
23.
Dutton, D. G. , & Hemphill, K. J. (1992). Patterns of socially desirable responding among perpetrators and victims of wife assault. Violence and Victims, 7, 29-40.
24.
Dutton, D. G. , & Starzomski, A. J. (1997). Personality predictors of the Minnesota Power and Control Wheel. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 70-82.
25.
Edleson, J. , & Brygger, M. P. (1986). Gender differences in reporting of battering incidents. Family Relations, 35, 377-382.
26.
Finkelhor, D. , & Yllö, K. (1985). License to rape: Sexual abuse of wives. New York: Free Press.
27.
Gaguin, D. A. (1977 / 1978). Spouse abuse: Data from the National Crime Survey. Victimology, 2, 636-643.
28.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
29.
Gordon, L. (1988). Heroes of their own lives: The politics and history of family violence, Boston, 1880-1960. New York: Viking.
30.
Hamberger, L. K. , Lohr, J., Bonge, D., & Tolin, D. F. (1997). An empirical classification of motivations for domestic violence. Violence Against Women, 3, 401-423.
31.
Hotaling, G. , Straus, M. A., & Lincoln, A. J. (1990). Intrafamily violence and crime and violence outside of the family. In M. A. Straus & R. J. Gelles (Eds.), Physical violence in American families (pp. 431-470). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
32.
Johnson, H. (1996). Dangerous domains: Violence against women in Canada. Scarborough, Ontario: Nelson Canada.
33.
Johnson, H. , & Sacco, V. (1995). Researching violence against women: Statistics Canada's national survey. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 37, 281-304.
34.
Jouriles, E. , & O'Leary, K. (1985). Interpersonal reliability of reports of marital violence. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 3, 419-421.
35.
Komarovsky, M. (1962). Blue-collar marriage. New York: Vintage.
36.
Kurz, D. (1989). Social science perspectives on wife abuse: Current debates and future directions. Gender & Society, 3, 489-505.
37.
Kurz, D. (1993). Physical assaults by husbands: A major social problem. In R. J. Gelles & D. R. Loseke (Eds.), Current controversies on family violence (pp. 88-103). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
38.
Kurz, D. (1996). Violence, divorce, and woman abuse. Violence Against Women, 2, 63-81.
39.
Lancaster, R. N. (1992). Life is hard: Machismo, danger, and intimacy of power in Nicaragua. Berkeley: University of California Press.
40.
Levinson, D. (1989). Family violence in cross-cultural perspective. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
41.
Lystad, M. H. (1975). Violence at home: A review of literature. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 45, 328-345.
42.
Margolin, G. (1987). The multiple forms of aggressiveness between marital partners: How do we identify them?Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 13, 77-84.
43.
Mirowsky, J. , & Ross, C. E. (1995). Sex differences in distress: Real or artifact?American Sociological Review, 60, 449-468.
44.
Mirrless-Black, C. (1994). Estimating the extent of domestic violence: Findings from the 1992 British Crime Survey (Home Office Research Bulletin No. 37). London: Home Office Research and Statistics Department.
45.
Morse, B. J. (1995). Beyond the Conflict Tactics Scale: Assessing gender differences in partner violence. Violence and Victims, 10, 251-272.
46.
Nazroo, J. (1995). Uncovering gender differences in the use of marital violence: The effect of methodology. Sociology, 29, 475-494.
47.
Pagelow, M. D. (1985). The “battered husband syndrome”: Social problem or much ado about little? In N. Johnson (Ed.), Marital violence (pp. 172-195), London: Routledge.
48.
Pence, E. , & Paymar, M. (1993). Education groups for men who batter. New York: Springer.
49.
Pleck, E. (1987). Domestic tyranny. The making of social policy against family violence from colonial times to the present. New York: Oxford University Press.
50.
Römkens, R. (1997). Prevalence of wife abuse in the Netherlands: Combining quantitative and qualitative methods in survey research. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, 99-125.
51.
Russell, D. (1982). Rape in marriage. New York: Macmillan.
52.
Sacco, V. F. , & Johnson, H. (1990). Patterns of criminal victimization in Canada. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.
53.
Saunders, D. (1986). When battered women use violence: Husband-abuse or self-defense?Violence and Victims, 1, 47-60.
54.
Saunders, D. (1988). Wife abuse, husband abuse, or mutual combat? In K. Yllö & M. Bograd (Eds.), Feminist perspectives on wife abuse (pp. 90-113), Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
55.
Schwartz, M. D. (1987). Gender and injury in marital assault. Sociological Focus, 20, 61-75.
56.
Steinmetz, S. K. (1977/1978). The battered husband syndrome. Victimology, 2, 499-509.
57.
Steinmetz, S. K. , & Lucca, J. S. (1988). Husband battering. In V. B. Van Hasselt, R. L. Morrison, A. S. Bellack, & M. Hersen (Eds.), Handbook of family violence (pp. 233-246). New York: Plenum.
58.
Stets, H. E. , & Straus, M. A. (1990). Gender differences in reporting marital violence and its medical and psychological consequences. In M. A. Straus & R. J. Gelles (Eds.), Physical violence in American families (pp. 151-165). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
59.
Straus, M. A. (1979). Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence: The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 51, 75-88.
60.
Straus, M. A. (1990). The Conflict Tactics Scale and its critics: An evaluation of new data on validity and reliability. In M. A. Straus & R. J. Gelles (Eds.), Physical violence in American families (pp. 49-73). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
61.
Straus, M. A. (1993). Physical assaults by wives: A major social problem. In R. J. Gelles & D. R. Loseke (Eds.), Current controversies on family violence (pp. 67-88). Newbury Park CA: Sage.
62.
Straus, M. A. , & Gelles, R. J. (Eds.). (1990). Physical violence in American families. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
63.
Straus, M. A. , Gelles, R. J., & Steinmetz, S. K. (1980). Behind closed doors: Violence in the American family. New York: Doubleday/Anchor.
64.
Straus, M. A. , Hamby, S. L., Boney-McCoy, S., & Sugarman, D. R. (1996). The revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2): Development and preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283-316.
65.
Szinovacz, M. E. (1983). Using couple data as a methodological tool: The case of marital violence. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 45, 633-644.
66.
Toch, H. (1992). Violent men. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
67.
Tolman, R. M. (1989). The development of a measure of psychological maltreatment of women by their male partners. Violence and Victims, 4, 159-177.
68.
Wasoff, F. , & Dobash, R. E. (1996). The simulated client: A method for studying professionals working with clients. Aldershot, UK: Avebury.
69.
Wilson, M. , Johnson, H., & Daly, M. (1995). Lethal and non-lethal violence against wives. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 37, 331-362.
70.
Yllö, K. (1993). Through a feminist lens: Gender, power, and violence. In R. J. Gelles & D. R. Loseke (Eds.), Current controversies on family violence (pp. 47-62). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
