Battered Woman’s Syndrome: A Tragic Reality, an Evolving Theory
Keywords:
Feminist Criminology, Gender and Criminology, Women and Gender Studies, LawAbstract
Battered Woman’s Syndrome became a crucial area of study that complemented the feminist movement of the 1970s. While criminologists generally began to analyse women’s role in crime, Lenore Walker, author of ‘Battered Woman’, focused her research on women enduring domestic violence and the effects of this continued abuse. Walker’s research revolutionised opinions and beliefs around domestic violence, but her theory has been met with much criticism. Critics feel that this syndromisation pathologises women, and that it does not adequately represent a woman’s response to this abusive treatment. This article analyses the competing theories to illustrate the progression and give a critical analysis around Battered Woman’s Syndrome.
References
Bibliography
• Arnold G, ‘A Battered Women’s Movement Perspective of Coercive Control’ (2009) Sage Publications Journal
• Barnett P, ‘The Walker Cycle of Violence and its Applicability to Wife Battering in the South African Context’ (1993) University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg
• Brandwein A, Battered Women, Children and Welfare Reform: The Ties that Bind (Sage Publications 1999)
• Burnstein M.H, “Child Abandonment: Historical, Sociological and Psychological Perspectives’ (1981) 11(4) Child Psychiatry and Human Development
• Buzawa E, Buzawa C, Stark E, Responding to Domestic Violence: The Integration of Criminal Justice and Human Services (Sage Publications 2012)
• Davies J, Lyon E, Monti-Catania D, Safety Planning with Battered Women (Sage Publications 1999)
• Dodd J, "The name game": Feminist protests of the DSM and diagnostic labels in the 1980s” (2015) 18(3) History of Psychology
• Dutton M.A, “Critique of the "Battered Woman Syndrome" Model” (2014) The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress< http://www.aaets.org/article138.htm >
• Dutton M.A “Update of the “Battered Woman Syndrome” (The National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women August 2009) < https://vawnet.org/sites/default/files/materials/files/2016- 09/AR_BWSCritique.pdf>
• Forell A, Matthews D, A Law of Her Own: The Reasonable Woman as a Measure of Man (New York University Press 200)
Goodman M.S and Fallon B, Pattern Changing for Abused Women: An Educational Program (Interpersonal Violence: The Practice Series) (Sage Publications 1995)
• Gondolf E Assessing Woman Battering in Mental Health Services (Sage Publications 1997)
• Harwin N, Hague G, Malos E ‘The Multi-agency Approach to Domestic Violence: New Opportunities, Old Challenges?’ (Whiting & Birch 1999)
• Heidensohn F, Rafter N H, International Feminist Perspectives in Criminology: Engendering a Discipline (Open University Press 1995)
• McAuley F, McCutcheon J, Criminal Liability (Sweet & Maxwell 2000)
• McMahon M, “Battered women and bad science: The limited validity and utility of battered woman syndrome” (2009) 6 (1) Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law
• McPartland A, Battered Woman Syndrome in Irish Criminal Law: Justification or Excuse, 7 King's Inns Student L. Rev. 220 (2017) Mitchell C, Intimate Partner Violence: A Health-Based Perspective (Oxford University Press 2009)
• Peterson C, Maier S.F, Seligman M.E.P, Learned Helplessness: A Theory for the Age of Personal Control (Oxford University Press 1996)
• Roberts A, Helping Battered Women: New Perspectives and Remedies (Oxford University Press, 1996)
• Schutte N.R, History of the Battered Woman Syndrome- a fallen attempt to redefine the reasonable person standard in domestic violence cases [2013] Seton Hall University
• Seligman M.E.P , 'Learned Helplessness' [1972] University of Pennsylvania Psychiatry
• Stark E, Flitcraft A., Women at Risk: Domestic Violence and Women’s Health, (Sage Publications 1996)
• Stark E, Coercive Control (Oxford University Press 2007)
• Tadros V, Criminal Responsibility (Oxford University Press 2007)
• Toft C, Featherstone B, Fawcett B, Hearn J, ‘Violence and Gender
• Tonsing H, ‘Battered Women Syndrome as a Tort Cause of Action’, 12 J.L. & Health 407 (1997)
• Watson D, Parsons S, Domestic Abuse of Women and Men in Ireland: Report on the National Study of Domestic Abuse (Stationery Office Dublin 2005)
• Walker L.E., The Battered Woman (Harper & Row 1979)
• Walker L.E, Terrifying Love: Why Battered Women Kill and How Society Responds (Harper Collins Publisher 1989)
• World Health Organisation, ‘Intimate Partner Violence’ (2012, WHO/RHR/12.36)
