Domestic Violence

by Tamara L. Roleff

Book Overview

Authors debate the seriousness and causes of domestic violence and how society should respond to domestic violence in the following chapters: Is Domestic Violence a Serious Problem? What Factors... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0737703466
• ISBN13: 9780737703467
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Greenhaven Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.7" x 8.9"
• Age Range: 15 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 10 to 12

Customer Reviews

From the editor of this anthology

I am the editor of this book, Domestic Violence: Opposing Viewpoints. I included an article written by Craig Chalquist in this book, which I titled "Therapy Programs for Batterers Are Effective at Reducing Domestic Violence." (His title: "The Masters of Return: Batterers in Recovery and Beyond.")Mr. Chalquest is dismayed by how some authors perceive domestic violence, and that is his right. He has another valid concern about how batterers attempt to explain/justify/excuse their behavior. However, to give this book a poor review because of it is wrong. The title of this book is Domestic Violence: Opposing Viewpoints, and that is the entire purpose of this book: to present opposing viewpoints about domestic violence. The intent of the book is to present biased arguments on both sides of the issue so that the reader can make up his or her own mind. As he mentioned, not everyone views the problem of domestic violence in the same light he does. If I was the author of the entire book and wrote it espousing one point of view, instead of the editor who included previously published articles that explore different sides of the issue, he would be justified in his criticism. As it is, however, his criticism is irrelevant to the book.

from a contributor to this anthology

Addendum to original review (below): I think the editor makes a good point below re: the purpose of the book. I've adjusted my rating of it because it does indeed contrast opposing viewpoints, some of which (as a counselor involved in the field) I continue to find troubling but recognize as valid contributions to this anthology.-------------------------Writers who see domestic violence as an ongoing, serious, criminal activity are contrasted with those who believe it to be exaggerated and overmeasured. As a man who has worked with both male and female perpetrators as well as a number of male and female victims of domestic violence, I cannot concur with statements that seek to underemphasize the catastrophic impact of what really is a national epidemic.I was particularly dismayed by characterizations of feminists who point out the patriarchal context of DV as so black and white that all men are supposedly regarded as potential batterers and rapists. I've yet to meet a counselor, critic, or victim advocate of the feminist perspective who really believes this; the relative handful who do tend not to succeed in such an emotional arena, nor do they tend to be trusted by their male and female colleagues. It is also incorrect to imply that feminists by and large think patriarchy "causes" DV. What many maintain rather is that patriarchy forms the context that gives men implicit permission to control women. DV is merely the extreme example of this kind of male privilege.My own paper emphasizes the need for holding perpetrators accountable for their acts of violence. And so we should. But that accountability and those acts exist in a society of outrageous violence and an ongoing unwillingness to take women's claims of male privilege, power, and abuse seriously. I can't tell you how many battering men have immediately launched into "if it weren't for the women's movement" or "this is all exaggerated" or "it was OJ's fault that I got arrested," ad nauseum, to justify their own misbehavior.If we are to get a handle on this terrible tragedy of terrorism in our own homes, our own culture, we surely must pay more careful attention to its victims, whose bruised faces and broken bones tell their own tale without recourse to studies or statistics. For this purpose the book does do an adequate job of presenting these crimes in their actual detail, regardless of those who would minimize them might wish to think.