Domestic Violence and Sexuality by Donovan Catherine Hester Marianne

Author:Donovan, Catherine, Hester, Marianne [Donovan, Catherine, Hester, Marianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9781447320968
Google: BduczgEACAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 18526782
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 2014-01-15T02:39:26+00:00

Perpetration of potentially abusive behaviour against partners

The COHSAR respondents were also asked about potentially abusive behaviours they had perpetrated against their partners, using similar items of emotional, physical and sexual behaviours as those they might themselves have experienced. Respondents generally reported fewer instances of potentially abusive behaviour against their partners than they reported from partners to themselves (Table 4.4). This is not surprising, echoes previous studies, and may reflect the social undesirability associated with domestic abuse as well as unmeasured differences in sampling probabilities. What is particularly interesting is that a similar hierarchy of behaviours were used against partners as had been experienced by respondents. Thus behaviours such as insulting and putting down one’s partner, telling them what to do and say, causing fear, isolating them from friends and using age, class and education against them featured strongly in the list of emotional behaviours, as did kicking, shoving or pushing in relation to physical behaviour. The respondents seemed even more reluctant to express what sexual behaviours they had used against partners, although causing fear, hurting their partner during sex or forcing them, were most prevalent (but stated by very few respondents).

In order to differentiate between actions that might be motivated by self-defence and retaliation against the partner, rather than by a desire to control their partners, respondents were asked why they had used the behaviours. There were 21 possible reasons given as options for respondents and of these, five can be broadly defined as ‘defensive’ strategies:

• they hit you first (positive response by 7 per cent)

• to protect yourself from them (positive response by 8 per cent)

• to retaliate against them (positive response by 9 per cent)

• to protect children/relatives/friends (positive response by 1 per cent)

• to protect property/pets (positive response by 2 per cent).

In total, 108 respondents answered at least one of these five questions and 64 respondents answered two or more of these questions positively. This suggests that a significant proportion of respondents living in relationships where both partners are using potentially abusive behaviour may simply be seeking to defend themselves or others from further abuse. In other words, what some describe as symmetrical or ‘mutual abuse’, may actually involve a primary aggressor. Of those respondents reporting four or more instances of potentially abusive behaviours of their partner (from the separate abuse scale mentioned earlier), more than half (51 per cent) cited one or more reasons related to protecting themselves or others, or retaliation against their partner’s violence, and well over a quarter (29 per cent) cited two or more reasons of this nature. Of those respondents reporting two or more instances of potentially abusive behaviours of their partner (from the separate abuse scale mentioned earlier), nearly a third (32 per cent) cited one or more reasons related to protecting themselves or others, or retaliation against their partner’s violence, and over one-fifth (21 per cent) cited two or more reasons of this nature.

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