Domestic Violence Course Resources

This file contains suggested introductory materials for a course on
violence against women, especially intimate partner violence in the U.S.
The suggestions were offered on WMST-L in June/July 2010.  For more WMST-L
files available on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

Dear list,
I am beginning to prepare materials for a summer course and would like to
compile a list of accessible introductory sources (essays or book excerpts,
particularly) on the topic of violence against women. My immediate interest
is intimate partner violence in the U.S. (from individual case studies to
systemic analyses), but I would welcome suggestions for more general sources
as well.
Thanks in advance,
Kellie

-- 
Kellie Holzer, Instructor
Interdisciplinary Writing Program
Department of English
Box 354330
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
kholzer  AT  u.washington.edu

You might look at Donna Ferrato's *Living with the Enemy*. Even if you don't
assign the book, you should be able to show some of her photographs from the
various images available online. You can also find materials discussing
Ferrato's project that might serve as an interesting focus, again, even if
you don't assign the book itself.

Jody

-- 
Jody R. Rosen, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor of English
New York City College of Technology
City University of New York

Hi Kellie,

VAWnet has an extensive on-line library of violence
prevention/anti-violence education materials pertaining to
domestic/sexual violence. Their website is http://www.vawnet.org/.

Fern Gilkerson
Health Education Specialist
Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Harrisburg, PA  17112

I would also recommended the documentary "Saving Our Lives" by
Cambridge Documentary Films. It is very powerful and explores why
women kill their batterers.

Gail

Gail Dines
Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies
Chair of American Studies
Wheelock College
35 Pilgrim Road
Boston, MA 02215
gaildines.com

I recommend the work of Michael P. Johnson. He has a short book from
Northeastern University Press, 2008, entitled A Typology of Domestic
Violence, as well as some older pieces (single and coauthored). You might
find something to excerpt for your students, or might make use of it
yourself in presentations to them.

In particular, I find his distinction between what he calls "patriarchal
terrorism" and other types of intimate violence very useful for students
(and others).

-- 
Laura Kramer, Ph.D.

I would recommend excerpts from Ann Jones' book "Next Time She'll Be Dead,  
Battering and How to Stop It".
 
--Kimberly
 
Kimberly Feeney, MA
Domestic Violence Programs
Shelter Coordinator
SC Dept. of Social Services

Anything by Russell P Dobash and Rebecca Emerson Dobash. Excellent research,
accessible writing, leaders in the field.
Erin Graham
erinjoan  AT  shaw.ca

Hi Kellie,

The Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence has one of
the best domestic violence fatality review teams in the country. You
can download their reports here

http://www.wscadv.org/resourcesPublications.cfm?aId=46CF88FC-C29B-57E0-81A9BE6D1B76CB3E

The census reports help to give students an idea of who is using what
services so they can understand the demand.  2009 Domestic Violence
Counts: The National Census of Domestic Violence Services, National
Report and Washington Summary
http://www.wscadv.org/resourcesPublications.cfm?aId=ABA21DB6-C29B-57E0-86C9F44861CA641B

You also have the Northwest Network in Washington http://www.nwnetwork.org

If you are teaching about woman abuse or any other form of violence
and abuse you will need to address measurement issues. It is a good
idea to do this very early in the class.
 
-Measuring the Extent of Woman Abuse in Intimate Heterosexual
Relationships: A Critique of the Conflict Tactics Scales PDF (7 p.)
HTML by Walter DeKeseredy and Martin Schwartz, VAWnet: The National
Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women (Feburary 1998)
http://new.vawnet.org/Assoc_Files_VAWnet/AR_ctscrit.pdf
 
Other recommendations:

-Bancroft, L. (2002). Why does he do that? Inside the minds of angry
 and controlling men. New York: Putnam and Sons.

-Dobash, R. P., Dobash, R. E., Cavanagh, K., & Lewis,
 R. (1998). Separate and intersecting realities: A comparison of men's
 and women's accounts of violence against women. Violence Against
 Women, 4 (4), 328-414.

-Dobash, R. P., Dobash, R. E., Wilson, M., & Daly, M. (1992). The
 myth of sexual symmetry in marital violence. Social Problems, 39
 (1), 71-91.

-Dragiewicz, M. (2008). Patriarchy reasserted: Fathers' rights and
 anti-VAWA activism. Feminist Criminology, 3 (2), 121-144.

-Dragiewicz, M. (2009). Why sex and gender matter in domestic violence
 research and advocacy. In E. Stark & E. S. Buzawa (Eds.), Violence
 against women in families and relationships: Vol. 3 Criminal Justice
 and the law (pp. 201-216).

-Dragiewicz, M. & Lindgren, Y. (2009). The gendered nature of domestic
 violence: Statistical data for lawyers considering equal protection
 analysis. Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law, 17 (2).

-Kimmel, M. S. (2002). "Gender symmetry" in domestic violence: A
 substantive and methodological research review. Violence Against
 Women, 8 (11), 1332-1363.

-National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (2007). Lesbian, Gay,
 Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in the United States in
 2007
http://www.Ncavp.Org/Common/Document_Files/Reports/2007%20NCAVP%20DV%20REPORT.Pdf

-Renzetti, C. M., Edleson, J. L., & Bergen, R. K. (2001). Sourcebook
 on Violence Against Women. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Molly Dragiewicz
Assistant Professor
Criminology, Justice & Policy Studies
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
molly.dragiewicz  AT  uoit.ca

Kellie,

In response to students in Women's Studies classes who kept asking,
 sometimes rather belligerently, "why doesn't she leave?" I wrote an
 essay "And I Didn't Leave."  It was published in my most recent book,
 Beyond the Margins: Reflections of a Feminist Philosopher," and
 describes the psychological violence that I experienced a long time
 ago as well as my telling this story to a class in which a
 particularly insistent student was, I feared, pushing the question so
 hard that someone in the class who might have been abused and stayed
 in the relationship would feel called upon to respond.  Before the
 pressure could build any more, I simply told my own story, still
 being met with incredulity on the part of the insistent student and
 the final question: "Well, you wouldn't stay now, would you?"  My
 answer certainly didn't satisfy her, but it may help students who are
 just beginning to think about the issue.  Maybe it would be useful to
 ward off that common question and the situati!  on I was trying so
 hard to avoid in that class.

My book was published by SUNY in 2003.

Linda A. Bell
Emerita Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Women's Studies Institute
Georgia State University
wsilab  AT  langate.gsu.edu

Hi Kellie,

Are you interested in sources concerning intimate partner violence or
violence against women?  The two overlap, of course, but they have
different meanings.

Claire

Dear Kellie,

You might also look at Women in the Trees: U.S. Women's Short Stories
About Battering and Resistance, 1839-2000
edited by Susan Koppelman.

Nancy Mykoff

Assistant Professor - History
Utrecht University
Middelburg, The Netherlands

>You might also look at Women in the Trees: U.S. Women's Short Stories
>About Battering and Resistance, 1839-2000
>edited by Susan Koppelman.

That is a good one!

I forgot one great resource, a powerful graphic novel called Dragonslippers http://www.dragonslippers.com/


Dr. Molly Dragiewicz
Assistant Professor
Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
molly.dragiewicz  AT  uoit.ca