I Didn’t Know Whether I Was Right or Wrong or Just Bewildered: Ambiguity, Responsibility, and Silencing Women’s Talk of Men’s Domestic Violence

Little has been written about the impact on women of the man’s obscuring and deflecting of responsibility when domestic violence is used by him against her. Women’s advocates report that women who seek shelter from domestic violence assume blame for the violence and struggle to shift from this posit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Violence against women 2016-03, Vol.22 (4), p.496-520
Main Authors: Towns, Alison J., Adams, Peter J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Ambiguity
Battered Women - psychology
Discourse
Discourse analysis
Domestic violence
Female
Help-Seeking Behavior
Humans
Intimate Partner Violence - psychology
Male
Middle Aged
Prevention
Self Efficacy
Sexual Partners - psychology
Silence
Social Support
Sociocultural factors
Women
Young Adult
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Summary:Little has been written about the impact on women of the man’s obscuring and deflecting of responsibility when domestic violence is used by him against her. Women’s advocates report that women who seek shelter from domestic violence assume blame for the violence and struggle to shift from this position of responsibility. Women are likely to be silenced if they assume responsibility and are less likely to come forward. In this study, we use discourse analysis to describe the ambiguities around responsibility that worked to silence 20 women and the sociocultural influences that supported this ambiguity. We discuss the implications for prevention.
ISSN:1077-8012
1552-8448
DOI:10.1177/1077801215605918