NCJ Number
145354
Date Published
1993
Length
183 pages
Annotation
Building upon previous feminist literature, this book explores women's experiences after leaving their abusive partners.
Abstract
In the introductory chapter, the author reviews significant contributions to the psychological and conventional sociological literature on battered women. The book examines some of the challenges feminism has made in response to traditional work in the field of wife abuse. Two subsequent chapters discuss the notion of emotional abuse and the relationship between emotional abuse, physical abuse, and the dynamics in the relationships between battered women and their abusers. Women's experiences in leaving their abusive partners are described in terms of the women's material needs (housing, information, medical aid, money, and protection) and the short- and long-term effects that leaving has on the victim. The author concludes that concepts of both victimization and survival are important to women's own understanding and expression of their experiences.