NCJ Number
114490
Date Published
1988
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This analysis uses an existential approach emphasizing the social meaning of actions and concludes that wife battering represents a response to a perceived threat to the self and that the threat must be eliminated to stop the violence.
Abstract
The perception of threat to males in intimate couples occurs within the context of patriarchal assumptions about male authority and dominance. A male's perception of threat within a marriage results from a developmental sequence involving several stages and covering many incidents. Violent males' needs for loyalty and control are central features of the situations that lead to violence. Urging wives to nurture rather than threaten their husbands' sense of dominance will rarely succeed in fulfilling exaggerated needs, however. The other alternative for eliminating the threat to the male's sense of self is to change men's need to dominate wives. This goal is a radical one that threatens the entire structure of capitalistic patriarchy. Other measures like better law enforcement, counseling, and family planning will also be helpful, although they will not change the underlying cause of wife battering. Notes and 18 references.