NCJ Number
116533
Journal
Journal of the Center for Women Policy Studies Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: (1988) Pages: 14-16
Editor(s)
D Adams,
J Jackson,
M Lauby
Date Published
1988
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This is a report on two conferences sponsored by the Family Violence Research Laboratory of the University of New Hampshire; the first for researchers and the second for policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers.
Abstract
The stated purpose of these conferences was to bridge the gap between researchers and the battered women's movement. The gap exists, in part, because most researchers are men and most activists are women. The conference did not fulfill the stated purpose and clearly hindered the dialogue between activists, practitioners, and researchers. Judging from the majority of papers presented at the research conference, woman abuse is being repsychologized; that is, individual and family interventions are favored and funded over interventions which seek to change institutional responses and communities. The majority of studies also tend to interpret woman abuse in ways that tacitly reinforce notions of women's complicity in violence, and current research tends toward techniques which are blind to the effects of gender. According to the editors, a feminist-based analysis of battering leads to very different analysis of the sociological issues involved in battering. Despite the fact that this conference did not accomplish the organizers' stated goal, the Activist Research Task Force was formed, which formulated a seven-point plan for planning and research.