There has been a tendency within discourses of women’s violence to adopt an either/ or binary approach to women’s use of violence in intimate relationships. Women are either portrayed as blameless victims or culpable agents. To dichotomize women’s violence in this way is reductionist. Using in-depth life-story interviews of three women, this research examined women’s use of violence and aggression within the context of their agency, their victimization, and the choices available to them to illustrate how and why this binary approach limits the understanding of women’s violence in intimate relationships.
Ajzenstadt, M. ( 2009). The relative autonomy of women offenders’ decision making. Theoretical Criminology, 13, 201-225.
2.
Bachman, R., & Carmody, D.C. ( 1994). Fighting fire with fire: The effects of victim resistance in intimate versus stranger perpetrated assaults against females. Journal of Family Violence, 9, 317-331.
3.
Barnett, O.W., Lee, C.Y., & Thelan, R.E. ( 1997). Gender differences in attribution of self-defense and control in interpartner aggression. Violence Against Women , 3, 462-481.
4.
Bjoerkqvist, K. ( 1994). Sex differences in physical, verbal and indirect aggression: A review of recent research. Sex Roles, 30, 177-188.
5.
Bloom, L.R. ( 1998). Under the sign of hope: Feminist methodology and narrative interpretation. New York: State University of New York Press.
6.
Dasgupta, D. ( 1999). Just like men? A critical view of violence by women. In M. F. Shepard & E. L. Pence (Eds.), Coordinating community responses to domestic violence: Lessons from Duluth and beyond (pp. 195-223). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7.
Dasgupta, D. ( 2001, February). Towards an understanding of women’s use of non-lethal violence in intimate heterosexual relationships. Harisburg, PA: National Online Resource Centre on Violence Against Women (vawNET).
8.
Dunn, J.L., & Powell-Williams, M. (2007). "Everybody makes choices": Victim advocates and the social construction of battered women’s victimization and agency. Violence Against Women, 13, 977-1001.
9.
Edleson, J.L. ( 1998). Responsible mothers and invisible men: Child protection in the case of adult domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 13, 294-298.
10.
Frieze, I.H. ( 2005). Female violence against intimate partners: An introduction . Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29, 229-237.
11.
Graham-Kevan, N., & Archer, J. ( 2005). Investigating three explanations of women’s relationship aggression. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29, 270-277.
12.
Hamberger, L.K., & Potente, T. ( 1996). Counseling heterosexual women arrested for domestic violence: Implications for theory and practice. In L. K Hamberger & C. M Renzetti (Eds.), Domestic partner abuse (pp. 53-75). New York: Springer.
13.
Jack, D. ( 1999). Behind the mask: Deconstruction and creativity in women’s aggression. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14.
Johnson, M.P. ( 1995). Patriarchal terrorism and common couple violence: Two forms of violence against women. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 283-294.
15.
Kimmel, M.S. ( 2002). Gender symmetry in domestic violence: A substantive and methodological research review. Violence Against Women, 8, 1336-1367.
16.
Kvale, S. ( 1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
17.
Lamb, S. ( 2001). The secret lives of girls: What good girls really do-sex, play, aggression and their guilt. New York: Free Press.
18.
McHugh, M.C., Livingston, N.A., & Ford, A. ( 2005). A postmodern approach to women’s use of violence: Developing multiple and complex conceptualizations. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29, 323-336.
19.
McIntyre, A. ( 2002). Women researching their lives: Exploring violence and identity in Belfast, the North of Ireland. Qualitative Research , 2, 387-409.
20.
Miller, R. ( 2000). Researching life stories and family histories. London: Sage.
21.
Miller, S., & Meloy, M. ( 2006). Women’s use of force: Voices of women arrested for domestic violence. Violence Against Women, 12, 89-115.
22.
Morse, B.J. ( 1995). Beyond the conflict tactic scale: Assessing gender differences in partner violence. Violence and Victims, 10, 251-272.
23.
Motz, A. ( 2008). The psychology of female violence: Crimes against the body (2nd ed.). Hove, UK: Brunner-Routledge.
24.
Nazroo, J. ( 1995). Uncovering gender differences in the use of marital violence: The effect of methodology. Sociology, 29, 475-494.
25.
Pence, E., & Paymor, M. ( 1993). Education groups for men who batter: The Duluth model . New York: Springer.
26.
Peter, T. ( 2006). Mad, bad, or victim? Making sense of mother-daughter sexual abuse. Feminist Criminology, 1, 283-302.
27.
Plummer, K. ( 2001). Documents of life two: An invitation to a critical humanism . London: Sage.
28.
Richardson, D.S. ( 2005). The myth of female passivity: Thirty years of revelations about female aggression. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29, 238-247.
29.
Riessman, C. ( 1993). Narrative analysis: Qualitative methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
30.
Roberts, B. ( 2002). Biographical research. Buckingham , UK: Open University Press.
31.
Rosenthal, G. ( 1993). Reconstruction of life stories: Principles of selection in generating stories for narrative biographical interviews. In A. Lieblich & R. Josselson (Eds.), The narrative study of lives (pp. 59-92). London : Sage.
32.
Sackett, L.A., & Saunders, D.G. (1999). The impact of different forms of psychological abuse on battered women. Violence and Victims, 14, 1-13.
33.
Saunders, D.G. ( 2002). Are physical assaults by wives and girlfriends a major social problem? A review of the literature. Violence Against Women, 8, 1421-1448.
34.
Simmons, R. ( 2002). Odd girl out: The hidden culture of aggression in girls . Orlando, FL: Harcourt.
35.
Sjoberg, L. ( 2008). Reduced to bad sex: Narratives of violent women from the bible to the war on terror. International Relations, 22(1), 5-23.
36.
Swan, S.C., & Snow, D.L. ( 2006). The development of a theory of women’s use of violence in intimate relationships. Violence Against Women, 12, 1026-1045.
37.
Worcester, N. ( 2002). Women’s use of force: Complexities and challenges of taking the issue seriously. Violence Against Women, 8, 1390-1415.
38.
Yoshihama, M. ( 2002). Battered women’s coping strategies and coping distress: Difference by immigration status. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 429-452.
