NCJ Number
138090
Journal
Journal of American College Health Volume: 40 Issue: 4 Dated: (January 1992) Pages: 149-155
Date Published
1992
Length
7 pages
Annotation
After profiling the continuum of violence against women, this article identifies links that underlie elements on the continuum, reviews the literature on the psychological and physical consequences of violence, and proposes strategies for addressing violence against women on college campuses.
Abstract
The author conceptualizes violence against women on a continuum of intensity that ranges from the least to the most destructive. The continuum extends from brief, annoying contacts, such as street hassling, to brutal incidents of incest, battering, and rape. A number of patterns connect the acts along the continuum, including myths, beliefs, and assumptions that tend to obscure the nature of violent acts against women. These patterns include minimization, victim blaming, female masochism, and the myth that violence against women stems from a small percentage of deviant men rather than from broader cultural male behavioral conditioning. The psychological consequences of violence against women include depression, victim's distrust of her personal reality, borderline personality disorder, and multiple personality disorder. Physical consequences of the violence against women are death, emergency room problems, chronic symptomatology, eating disorders, and self-mutilation. In the context of violence against women on college campuses, this article recommends that the campus health center become a proactive member of the college community in the design and implementation of primary, secondary, and tertiary intervention and care efforts. 51 references