FEMALE TACTICS AND STRATEGIES OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE: A STUDY OF INCIDENT REPORTS

Abstract

Researchers have debated the extent to which females pursue violence against their male partners for purposes of enforcing or resisting control. In an effort to shed light on this important topic, we examined 43 incident reports of women who were court-referred to a batterer intervention program to explore how and why they engaged in intimate partner violence. Our analysis of the reports revealed that the most common tactic of physical violence was pushing and the most common tactic of psychological violence was intimidation. The motive to enforce was observed in the majority of the incident reports, while attempts to resist, retaliate, and punish occurred in about one third of the reports. We also found that female violence typically occurred in the contexts of anger and fear. The implications of our research for violence intervention programs are discussed.

This research was presented at the Mid-South Sociological Association 2005 meetings in Atlanta, GA.

Notes

∗This Table does not equal the sample size of 43 because not all women reported using physical violence. Also, this figure does not include the number of occurrences. For instance, if a woman reported punching a man two or more different times, only one act of punching was recorded. Finally, the types of physical violence are not mutually exclusive. Since many Incident Reports included several different types of physical violence, the totals presented in Table 1 exceed the number of women (n = 35) who reported the use of physical violence.

∗This Table does not equal the sample size of 43 because not all women reported using psychological abuse. Also, this figure does not include the number of occurrences. For instance, if a woman reported yelling at a man two or more different times, only one act of yelling was recorded. Finally, the types of psychological abuse and their indicators are not mutually exclusive. Since many Incident Reports included several types of psychological abuse and indicators, the totals recorded in Table 2 exceed the number of women (n = 31) who reported the use of abuse.