NCJ Number
120793
Journal
Smith College Studies in Social Work Volume: 59 Issue: 3 Dated: special issue (June 1989) Pages: 232-251
Date Published
1989
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This analysis of one woman's detailed account of her husband's sexual abuse of her and of their divorce emphasizes how the women's understanding of male dominance produced her rage and led to her divorce.
Abstract
Tessa experienced physical, psychological, and financial inequality. However, she surmounted her powerlessness and victimization and broke out of a violent relationship when she could no longer contain her own violence. Her narrative reconstructs not only the sequence of the events that led to separation but also the meaning and morality she attaches to these events. Her narrative is both a personal statement and a cultural product that contains assumptions and formulations that could not have been made at another time or by women in many other parts of the world. Such narratives can provide useful information to clinicians if they focus on the choices of language. In addition, therapists can work with abused women to create new narratives, in which the outcome is surviving rather than victimization. Footnotes and 42 references.