3. LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies and survey that involve the collection of the plight or experiences of male victims of abused was only a recent development from the middle 1970’s through the work of Murray Straus and Richard Gelles. This led to the introduction of the concept of gender symmetry. However, the idea of IPV was predominantly characterized by men being the primary perpetrators and women as the primary victims which led to the gender-paradigm narrative in IPV.
3.1. Gender paradigm narrative of IPV
Various feminist groups brought DV into the general conversation of America in the 1970’s and through many protests into the criminal justice system (Shuler, 2010). As a result of this, the majority of individuals who reported incidents of …show more content…
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
4.1. The feminist theory of domestic abuse
Feminism can be described as a social movement which combines theory and political practice in achieving equality between men and women (Scott & Marshall, 2005). DV has been explained based on the some of the variants of feminist theories such as the radical, Marxist and socialist feminist explanations. Some of their explanations on DV is influenced by their unique assumptions on the status of women in society.
Radical feminists tend believe that the existence of patriarchy is the root cause of women’s oppression and disadvantaged position in society (Beirne & Messerschmidt, 1991 cited in DeKeseredy & MacLeod, 1997; Scott & Marshall, 2005). For them, violence is an expression of male dominance over women. They apply this idea in explaining the abuse of women as they argue that men engage in violent behaviour in their desire to control and dominate women (DeKeseredy & MacLeod, 1997). Extending this explanation to male abuse, radical feminist also believe that female perpetration of abuse is a reaction to prolonged experience of abuse from her male partner. Thus, female perpetration of abuse can be as a result of …show more content…
Family Conflict Theory
This theory was developed, defined and advocated by Richard Gelles and Murray Straus (Lawson, 2012). The core of this theory is based in the assumption that conflict is inherent in all human groups, including the family (Straus, 2005). This is because group members, partners or couples, while sharing many interests, also have different interests. Within this context, conflict between family members, which may also imply intimate partners, is universal and inevitable and violence is seen as one of the means of resolve this predictable conflict (Lawson, 2012).
This model explains the mutual nature of spousal abuse; no gender is excluded in the perpetuation and victimization of spousal abuse. According to the model both the man and woman contribute to the violence in the intimate relationship (Paymar, 1994). According to Davis (2001), the family conflict model of violence is as a result of the stresses created in dysfunctional families as it seeks to exclude gender-oriented explanations of IPV. It attributes the occurrence of violent behavior as a behavioral phenomenon. This implies that as couples fail to adequately address their interpersonal disputes and disagreements, anger and bitterness would build up over time which would eventually lead to an outburst or heavy physical and verbal
Studies and survey that involve the collection of the plight or experiences of male victims of abused was only a recent development from the middle 1970’s through the work of Murray Straus and Richard Gelles. This led to the introduction of the concept of gender symmetry. However, the idea of IPV was predominantly characterized by men being the primary perpetrators and women as the primary victims which led to the gender-paradigm narrative in IPV.
3.1. Gender paradigm narrative of IPV
Various feminist groups brought DV into the general conversation of America in the 1970’s and through many protests into the criminal justice system (Shuler, 2010). As a result of this, the majority of individuals who reported incidents of …show more content…
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
4.1. The feminist theory of domestic abuse
Feminism can be described as a social movement which combines theory and political practice in achieving equality between men and women (Scott & Marshall, 2005). DV has been explained based on the some of the variants of feminist theories such as the radical, Marxist and socialist feminist explanations. Some of their explanations on DV is influenced by their unique assumptions on the status of women in society.
Radical feminists tend believe that the existence of patriarchy is the root cause of women’s oppression and disadvantaged position in society (Beirne & Messerschmidt, 1991 cited in DeKeseredy & MacLeod, 1997; Scott & Marshall, 2005). For them, violence is an expression of male dominance over women. They apply this idea in explaining the abuse of women as they argue that men engage in violent behaviour in their desire to control and dominate women (DeKeseredy & MacLeod, 1997). Extending this explanation to male abuse, radical feminist also believe that female perpetration of abuse is a reaction to prolonged experience of abuse from her male partner. Thus, female perpetration of abuse can be as a result of …show more content…
Family Conflict Theory
This theory was developed, defined and advocated by Richard Gelles and Murray Straus (Lawson, 2012). The core of this theory is based in the assumption that conflict is inherent in all human groups, including the family (Straus, 2005). This is because group members, partners or couples, while sharing many interests, also have different interests. Within this context, conflict between family members, which may also imply intimate partners, is universal and inevitable and violence is seen as one of the means of resolve this predictable conflict (Lawson, 2012).
This model explains the mutual nature of spousal abuse; no gender is excluded in the perpetuation and victimization of spousal abuse. According to the model both the man and woman contribute to the violence in the intimate relationship (Paymar, 1994). According to Davis (2001), the family conflict model of violence is as a result of the stresses created in dysfunctional families as it seeks to exclude gender-oriented explanations of IPV. It attributes the occurrence of violent behavior as a behavioral phenomenon. This implies that as couples fail to adequately address their interpersonal disputes and disagreements, anger and bitterness would build up over time which would eventually lead to an outburst or heavy physical and verbal