"I Didn't Know Whether I Was Right or Wrong or Just Bewildered": Ambiguity, Responsibility, and Silencing Women's Talk of Men's Domestic Violence. (March 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Towns, Alison J.; Adams, Peter J.
• Is Part Of: Violence against women. Volume 22:Number 4(2016)
• Page Start: 496
• Page End: 520
• Publication Date: 2016-03
• Subjects: domestic violence -- intimate partner violence -- prevention -- responsibility -- blame; Abused women -- Periodicals; Women -- Crimes against -- Periodicals; Violent crimes -- Periodicals; Femmes victimes de violence -- Périodiques; Femmes, Crimes contre les -- Périodiques; Crimes violents -- Périodiques; 362.8292
• DOI: 10.1177/1077801215605918
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1077-8012

Abstract

Little has been written about the impact on women of the man's obscuring and deflecting of responsibility when domestic violence is used by him against her. Women's advocates report that women who seek shelter from domestic violence assume blame for the violence and struggle to shift from this position of responsibility. Women are likely to be silenced if they assume responsibility and are less likely to come forward. In this study, we use discourse analysis to describe the ambiguities around responsibility that worked to silence 20 women and the sociocultural influences that supported this ambiguity. We discuss the implications for prevention.