Domestic violence can happen to
anyone, regardless of age, gender, or socioeconomic status, but in most cases,
men are the perpetrators and women are the survivors/victims. This is why the
majority of the research (and there is a lot!) explores women's experiences as
survivors of domestic violence. I have chosen two articles to break down
examining these experiences. These are "Women's coping experiences in the
spectrum of domestic violence abuse" by Lisa Ann Haeseler published in
2013 in the Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work as well as the article
"Domestic violence against women: Understanding social processes and
women's experiences" by Jan Bostock, Maureen Plumpton and Rebekah Pratt
from the Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology in 2009.
"Women's coping experiences in the spectrum of domestic violence abuse" was a case study where the researcher interviewed eight professionals who worked with survivors of DV to explore the coping mechanisms of abused women currently in the relationship and abused women who had left a DV relationship. The researcher found women currently in a DV relationship usually experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, feelings of vulnerability, isolation, helplessness, threats and financial independence. Often the stages which lead to coping are self-blame, abuser-blame and then the hope that things will change. The coping mechanisms characteristic of women who remain in abusive relationships are rationalizing or justifying the perpetrators behavior which usually involves a lot of self-blame and thoughts of "I deserve this" or "he's controlling because he loves me". Survivors of domestic violence also go through cognitive reconstructions of the abusive behavior. The article states "Women make positive, cognitive reconstructions of their abuser's behavior by creating defensive storytelling, where the partner's faults are viewed as virtues. A woman may rationalize that his raging jealously is due to his love for her". Other coping mechanisms the researcher found was poly-substance abuse as well as all-encompassing fear; fear to stay in the relationship and fear of leaving as well. The final coping mechanisms for women who remain in DV relationships is constant avoidance of incidents or acts of violence. There is this persistent feeling of walking on eggshells to keep the perpetrator happy and avoid a violent outburst.
The researcher also found several coping mechanism of women who leave the DV relationship. She found usually it takes multiple attempts before a survivor will successfully get out of a relationship and there is a heightened concern for safety since there is a much higher risk for abuse, stalking and harassment during this time. Also, there's this stigma of being abused in society, and you go through a lot of isolation and social deprivation, one prevalent coping mechanism is regaining your support system and getting back in touch with friends and family you might have been isolated from. The researcher also found the grief process (grief for the loss of a partner) and anxiety coping mechanisms as well.
There were a lot of commonalities between this article and the article "DV against women: Understanding social processes and women's experiences". This article had 4 themes which were commonalities and contradictions in experience of abuse, living with abuse, the response of systems actively reinforced or challenged abuse, and dealing with the abuse beyond the relationship. This study explored how although abuse starts differently, sometimes it's out of the blue and sometimes it starts with seemingly small incidents and escalate, there are many commonalities found in the ways perpetrators abuse. These ways include isolation, financial dependence, emotional abuse, threats, and the impact of abuse often results in withdrawal and fear. These findings were very consistent with the previous article. The second element of women's experiences is living with the abuse which is usually either keeping the status quo (that walking on eggshells trying to keep the abuser happy) or gaining independence which is usually when women are attempting to leave the relationship. Some ways they may gain independence is disclosing the abuse, connecting with their own support system or community support, relocating or collecting evidence of abuse to begin legal processes. The next element of the study examined the ways in which societal systems like law enforcement either challenged or reinforced abuse. One way abuse was reinforced was with ineffective protection; "Reporting the abuse initially to the police or social services contributed to participants being further exposed to abuse and harassment from the perpetrator because the perpetrator was not effectively prevented from repeating the violence". One way systems challenged abuse was by siding with the survivor, offering support and the common bond and recognizing abuse as unacceptable. The last element of this article was how abuse was dealt with beyond the relationship. Relocating, and getting to that safe place affected isolation and the survivors support system. Also, since there is that financial dependence in the relationship, once you get out of it you experience more financial hardship and the lack of material support. Finally, beyond the relationship, survivors found they could devote time to themselves and to their life aspirations.
There was a lot of overlap in the content of these two articles which are about women's coping experiences and understanding the social processes involved in domestic violence, because the two are not mutually exclusive. In other words, women experience domestic violence and cope the way they do in large part due to the way our society is set up. Many view domestic violence as a "private matter" or stigmatize the survivor which reinforces the abuse and creates further isolation and lack of adequate support. In order to change the way women cope with domestic violence, (and end domestic violence on a larger scale) society must first change. We need to stop reinforcing abuse, recognize this behavior whether it's physical, emotional, or verbal abuse is not acceptable, offer better protection for women experiencing DV, and stop contributing to the isolation of survivors because strong supports are so incredibly essential which is something very present in both of these articles.
References
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/casp.985/abstract
http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/15433714.2013.750551#.VGB4gO8tDIU
"Women's coping experiences in the spectrum of domestic violence abuse" was a case study where the researcher interviewed eight professionals who worked with survivors of DV to explore the coping mechanisms of abused women currently in the relationship and abused women who had left a DV relationship. The researcher found women currently in a DV relationship usually experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, feelings of vulnerability, isolation, helplessness, threats and financial independence. Often the stages which lead to coping are self-blame, abuser-blame and then the hope that things will change. The coping mechanisms characteristic of women who remain in abusive relationships are rationalizing or justifying the perpetrators behavior which usually involves a lot of self-blame and thoughts of "I deserve this" or "he's controlling because he loves me". Survivors of domestic violence also go through cognitive reconstructions of the abusive behavior. The article states "Women make positive, cognitive reconstructions of their abuser's behavior by creating defensive storytelling, where the partner's faults are viewed as virtues. A woman may rationalize that his raging jealously is due to his love for her". Other coping mechanisms the researcher found was poly-substance abuse as well as all-encompassing fear; fear to stay in the relationship and fear of leaving as well. The final coping mechanisms for women who remain in DV relationships is constant avoidance of incidents or acts of violence. There is this persistent feeling of walking on eggshells to keep the perpetrator happy and avoid a violent outburst.
The researcher also found several coping mechanism of women who leave the DV relationship. She found usually it takes multiple attempts before a survivor will successfully get out of a relationship and there is a heightened concern for safety since there is a much higher risk for abuse, stalking and harassment during this time. Also, there's this stigma of being abused in society, and you go through a lot of isolation and social deprivation, one prevalent coping mechanism is regaining your support system and getting back in touch with friends and family you might have been isolated from. The researcher also found the grief process (grief for the loss of a partner) and anxiety coping mechanisms as well.
There were a lot of commonalities between this article and the article "DV against women: Understanding social processes and women's experiences". This article had 4 themes which were commonalities and contradictions in experience of abuse, living with abuse, the response of systems actively reinforced or challenged abuse, and dealing with the abuse beyond the relationship. This study explored how although abuse starts differently, sometimes it's out of the blue and sometimes it starts with seemingly small incidents and escalate, there are many commonalities found in the ways perpetrators abuse. These ways include isolation, financial dependence, emotional abuse, threats, and the impact of abuse often results in withdrawal and fear. These findings were very consistent with the previous article. The second element of women's experiences is living with the abuse which is usually either keeping the status quo (that walking on eggshells trying to keep the abuser happy) or gaining independence which is usually when women are attempting to leave the relationship. Some ways they may gain independence is disclosing the abuse, connecting with their own support system or community support, relocating or collecting evidence of abuse to begin legal processes. The next element of the study examined the ways in which societal systems like law enforcement either challenged or reinforced abuse. One way abuse was reinforced was with ineffective protection; "Reporting the abuse initially to the police or social services contributed to participants being further exposed to abuse and harassment from the perpetrator because the perpetrator was not effectively prevented from repeating the violence". One way systems challenged abuse was by siding with the survivor, offering support and the common bond and recognizing abuse as unacceptable. The last element of this article was how abuse was dealt with beyond the relationship. Relocating, and getting to that safe place affected isolation and the survivors support system. Also, since there is that financial dependence in the relationship, once you get out of it you experience more financial hardship and the lack of material support. Finally, beyond the relationship, survivors found they could devote time to themselves and to their life aspirations.
There was a lot of overlap in the content of these two articles which are about women's coping experiences and understanding the social processes involved in domestic violence, because the two are not mutually exclusive. In other words, women experience domestic violence and cope the way they do in large part due to the way our society is set up. Many view domestic violence as a "private matter" or stigmatize the survivor which reinforces the abuse and creates further isolation and lack of adequate support. In order to change the way women cope with domestic violence, (and end domestic violence on a larger scale) society must first change. We need to stop reinforcing abuse, recognize this behavior whether it's physical, emotional, or verbal abuse is not acceptable, offer better protection for women experiencing DV, and stop contributing to the isolation of survivors because strong supports are so incredibly essential which is something very present in both of these articles.
References
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/casp.985/abstract
http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.library.wwu.edu/doi/full/10.1080/15433714.2013.750551#.VGB4gO8tDIU