Domestic Violence

• DV within same-sex and LGBT+ couples

  • 44% of lesbian women and 61% of bisexual women have experienced rape and violence by a partner. Compared to 35% of straight women.
  • 26% of gay men and 37% of bisexual men have experienced rape and violence by a partner. Compared to 29% of straight men.
  • 54% of trans + non-binary people have experience violence by a partner.
• Domestic Violence

  It is defined as 'any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse.

  This includes; psychological, physical, sexual, financial and emotional.
• Disturbed individuals

  Sociologists have challenged the view that DV is the work of a few disturbed individuals because:

  • DV is far too widespread to be simply the work of a few individuals
  • DV doesn't occur randomly but follows particular social patterns and these patterns have social causes. The most striking of these patterns is mainly violence by men against women.
• British Crime Survey 2007

  Found that DV accounts for almost a sixth of all violent crime. This has been shown to be most commonly men's violence against women.
• Kathryn Coleman

  Found women more likely than men to have experience 'intimate violence' across all 4 types - abuse-partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault and stalking.
• Mirrelees-Black

  Found that 99% of DV on women was by men. She surveyed 16,000 people and estimated there were around 6.6 million domestic assaults a year and 1 in 4 women had been assaulted by a partner.
• Dobash and Dobash

  They interviewed victims and found incidents were set off from women challenging men (Asking why they were home late for a meal). Husbands tend to be in charge and women are often dependent.
• CSEW

  Most victims are women. The CSEW 2020 estimates that 7.3% of women had experienced domestic abuse in the previous year compared to 3.6% of men.
• Official Statistics: Under representation

  • Victims may be unwilling to report the crime to the police. On average women suffer 35 assaults before making a report. Victims may be scared of repercussions or may not see it as a serious offence.
• Official Statistics: Under representation

  Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute these cases. They are not willing to become involved in the family. The family is a private sphere, the state should have limited access. Police assume the women is free to leave (they ignore that male violence is often coupled with male economic power)
• Dark figure

  Statistics of domestic violence don't show the 'dark figure' of crime. In 2020, conviction rates stood at 7% of incidents reported to the police.
• Contemporary Application

  During Covid-19, there were 60% more monthly contacts to the national domestic abuse helpline than the start of 2020.
• Millet and Firestone

  They believe that men are violent towards women to maintain patriarchy. They found that all societies have been founded on patriarchy. Men are the enemy: they are the oppressors and exploiters of women.
• Radical feminism explanations

  They see the family and marriage as the key institution in patriarchal society and the main source of women's oppression. Men dominate women through DV. DV preserves the power that all men have over women. Male dominance of state institutions helps to explain the reluctance of the police and the courts to deal with cases of DV.
• Radical feminism Evaluation

  • They also fail to explain female violence, including child abuse and violence against male partners. 18% of men have experienced DV
  • Elliot rejects this view and argues that all men benefit from violence against women. Not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to DV.
• Material Explanation

  This focuses on the economic or material factors such as inequalities in income and housing to explain why some are at more risk than others. Wilkinson sees DV as the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality.
• Material Explanation

  Some families have fewer resources. Those on low incomes or living in overcrowded accommodation are ore likely to experience higher levels of stress. This reduces the chance of maintaining stable, caring relationships and increases the risk of conflict and violence. Those with less power, status and wealth are more at greater risk.
• Marxist feminists explanations

  They see inequality as causing DV. Ansley says that women are 'takers of shit'. She argues DV is the product of capitalism: male workers are exploited at work and they take their frustrations out on women.
• Marxist feminists evaluation

  It is economically deterministic - it takes the blame away from the individual and not all working class men carry out domestic violence.
• Material Explanation

  They don't explain why women are more likely to suffer DV than men - Marxist feminists seek to explain this.