Separation/Divorce Sexual Assault in Rural Ohio: Survivors' Perceptions

SUMMARY

Since the 1970s, many studies have enhanced a social scientific understanding of the lethal and non-lethal physical abuse of women during and after separation and divorce, but less than a handful have examined sexual assaults on rural women who want to leave, are trying to leave, or who have left spouses or live-in male partners. Further, none of the work done so far on this problem has examined the role of collective efficacy. The results presented here help fill these research gaps and call into question the common assumption that there is more collective control on criminal behavior in rural settings. Moreover, our exploratory qualitative data show that collective efficacy can take many shapes and forms, and often what is perceived as the “common good” may actually be behaviors and discourses that threaten the health and well-being of women seeking freedom from abusive male partners.

KEYWORDS:

• Collective efficacy
• marriage
• rape
• rural

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This article was presented at the 2005 National Institute of Justice Conference on Research and Evaluation. National Institute of Justice Grant 2002-WG-BX-0004 and financial assistance provided by Ohio University supported the research reported here. Arguments and findings included in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice or Ohio University. The authors thank Bernie Auchter, Karen Bachar, the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Megan Cameron, Katharine Darke Schmitt, Joseph Donnermeyer, Danielle Fagen, Judith Grant, Mandy Hall, Carolyn Joseph, Mary Koss, My Sister's Place, the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, Claire Renzetti, McKenzie Rogness, Leora Rosen, and all the service providers who helped the research team.

Notes

Pseudonyms are used throughout this article to protect the identities of all those who participated in and contributed to this study, including service providers.

Following Websdale (1995, p. 102) and Wuest and Merritt-Gray (1999), rather than simply restricting a definition of rural to population size (e.g., 5,000) or to living in the countryside, here, rural communities are referred to as those “where people know each other's business, come into regular contact with each other, and share a larger core of values than is true of people in urban areas.”

See DeKeseredy, Ellis, and Alvi (2005), DeKeseredy et al. (2004a), and Hardesty (2002) for in-depth reviews of the literature on male-to-female physical assaults during and after separation and divorce.

See DeKeseredy et al. (2004b) for more in-depth data on these characteristics.

See DeKeseredy et al. (2004b) for more in-depth data on how male peer support contributes to separation and divorce sexual assault in rural communities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Walter S. DeKeseredy

Walter S. DeKeseredy is in the Criminology & Justice Studies department, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada L1H 7K4 (E-mail: [email protected]).

Martin D. Schwartz

Martin D. Schwartz is in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701 (E-mail: [email protected]).