Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- one Introduction
- two Domestic violence and the medical profession
- Part One Domestic violence patients speak out
- Part Two Clinicians’ knowledge and clinical experience of domestic violence
- Part Three Clinicians’ training and inter-agency collaboration
- fourteen Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Appendix 1 Details of research participants
- Appendix 2 Useful information and contacts
seven - Explanations of causes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- one Introduction
- two Domestic violence and the medical profession
- Part One Domestic violence patients speak out
- Part Two Clinicians’ knowledge and clinical experience of domestic violence
- Part Three Clinicians’ training and inter-agency collaboration
- fourteen Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Appendix 1 Details of research participants
- Appendix 2 Useful information and contacts
Summary
As has already been suggested, the position of domestic violence within medical practice cannot be isolated from the social, cultural and legal discourses which shape how domestic violence is constructed as an individual and social phenomenon. Both groups of participants discussed within various contexts what they considered to be the causes of domestic violence. These responses include blaming or questioning the role of ‘the victim’ within the domestically violent situation, the personality traits of both the ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’, biological and hormonal explanations, cycle of abuse theories, individual characteristics of the perpetrator, environmental factors, social, economic, and cultural explanations and, finally, patriarchal analyses of domestic violence.
This chapter will examine the perceptions of the stage two participants in relation to the causes of domestic violence. The participants from stage one of the research did contribute to this discussion within their own interviews; however, this is not included in the text. Where differences and/or similarities exist between the two groups they will be examined. In the following discussion, the responses of the participating healthcare professionals will be contextualised with data which emerged from the domestic violence and health questionnaire sample, from which this in-depth sample originated.
Victim blaming and cycle of abuse theories
The following quotations focus on interview extracts which implicate ‘the victim’ in the cause of domestic violence. While focusing on the ‘victim’ of a legally defined crime may appear questionable, the actions of women who experience domestic violence have already appeared as significant in previous discussions. In Chapter Two, for example, ‘victim’ blaming was found by research conducted by Kurz (1987), in relation to the response of health practitioners to domestic violence. It was clear from the research on which this book is based that the participating women from stage one had internalised such theories and were aware of their impact.
“I find it frustrating when some people choose, and again I’m stereotyping here, y’know you see some … I don't know if it happens with men, but some women that seem to choose the same partner again, the same type of partner again and that's frustrating and when they go back that is just horrendous and that is going to add and clinically, like I’ve been round this circle before sort of thing, it's going to end up [in] violence or the death of somebody, or just a very unhappy situation.” (Dr Jabber)
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Domestic Violence and HealthThe Response of the Medical Profession, pp. 93 - 106Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2000