1. MaeQuinne McKines
HED 414: Women’s
Health Issues
Intimate Partner Violence
“No I was young, stupid and in love. Even though it was not right, he had a way of making it
seem so, it was as if something in me brought this out of him, so it was my fault.” (Yolanda) This topic is
very close to my heart because my mom was a victim of intimate partner violence. Like many women,
she at first believed it was her fault for being a victim of such unwanted harm. Many women do not get
the chance to realize that it is not their fault, it is the batterer's,and something is wrong with him, not
them. In this essay I am hoping to create a shift in the way women approach their victimization, by
speaking out, getting out of the situation, and becoming aware to further prevent the abuse from
happening again. I want women to become empowered by being able to still have a voice against these
men who continue to victimize women even after their relationship. Intimate partner violence can be
prevented as long as we come together to bring awareness in all communities. We have to break through
the stereotypical gender roles that have been embedded in our history and have demeaned women
overtime. Enacting change and making a difference, should help us restore consciousness in individual
views on intimate partner violence. Gender inequality is the biggest risk factor for intimate partner
violence, which can lead to sexual violence, and damage one’s physical, mental, and psychological
health.
Intimate partner violence is a serious human rights issue that affects millions of women
worldwide regardless of age, economic status, race,religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or educational
background. “Some global estimates suggests that one in three women worldwide will experience some
type of abuse in their lifetimes.” (Michalski 2005) Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an act of behavioral
or physical harm against an individual’s physical, mental, or psychological health. Sexual violence is any
sexual act that makes an attempt to obtain sex or another act that is directed against women’s sexuality,
such as coercion. It can also include rape, marital rape, date rape,or cheating. Physical violence can
include hitting, choking, slapping, pushing, spitting, pregnancy abuse, threatening with any weapon or use

2. of a weapon, or death. Psychological abuse can destroy a woman’s self-esteem and include isolation,
manipulation, humiliation, jealousy, lying, or threats. It can also evoke feelings of being scared,trapped,
or isolated. In many situations the abuser will isolate the woman from going out, having friends, seeing
family, transportation, and sometimes even deprive her of food. The abuser can cause the woman to feel
guilty about certain things or even hurt her and then apologize, which can be a form of mental abuse
because he plays mind games. They’re many risk factors that can result in intimate partner violence and
according to A Framework forHealth Equity, these factors can possibly be affected do to social
inequalities, institutional power, and neighborhood conditions. “Social and demographic groups are at
greater risk for intimate partner violence than others: women, minority groups, younger individuals, those
with less education, and those living in poverty or with low incomes.” (Michalski 2005) Needless to say
this still does not exclude other demographic groups from becoming victims of IPV,but certain groups
are subjected more than others. Gender inequality has to be one of the biggest risk factors that provoke
men into harming women. This is due to the gender roles that have been associated with men and women
in society. “Masculinity and femininty are traits that are internalized by men and women, either through a
biologically determined predisposition to these traits or through socialization processes. Gender resides in
individual minds and/or bodies” (Anderson 2007) Domestic violence reflects patriarchal inequality, a
reduced sense of personal control, or a high need for control that can trigger violent episodes. The
absence of control in a social environment can have a negative affect on an individual’s well being and
can cause psychological distress. Men might engage in violence because they do not have a sense of
control over their social environment or the demographic conditions they’re exposed to. The lack of
control over social inequalities, institutional power, or neighborhood conditions may trigger the need of
control elsewhere, which happens to be women or a woman they want or would like to be romantically
involved with. According to the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence,their Power and
Control Wheelstates,“Male Privilege: Treating her like a servant: making all the big decisions, acting
like the “master of the castle.” Being the one to define men’s and women’s roles.” This idea of male
privilege builds on the notion of men using women as a sense of empowerment. It also explains the

3. concept of gender inequality and how power can be seen as gendered, which explains why men need to
feel in control of women when they lack control elsewhere.
In spite of the fact that intimate partner violence is a major health issue, it impacts women
worldwide everyday. Health care providers, the government, and the media are essential aspects to how
intimate partner violence is being dealt with. The growth of victim advocacy and support services has
increased, due to the prevalence of domestic violence. The focus for prevention and intervention has
mainly been on the physical harm women endure. The emotional and psychological distress caused by the
batterer,most of the time is ignored and women choose not to talk about it. In an interview with Yolanda
Smith, a victim of domestic violence, when asked if she told others, she responded, “No. Hell No.”
Support for victims can be very helpful when going through their abusive relationships. Receiving
encouragement from family and friends can be vital to a woman’s sense of self-worth, when trying to
recover. Battered women centers or shelters can be beneficial to helping women transition into leaving
their abuser. These types of programs can offer counseling, job opportunities or training, and assistance
dealing with legal matters. Legalreforms where crimilizing domestic violence and efforts to reform
police practice are also common approaches that are dealing with domestic violence. Police officer’s
experience and training are becoming more conscious of the violence amongst women and they have
taken these cases seriously, rather than before. Treatment programs for the batterers are also ways of
preventing future women from being harmed. Within these programs gender roles are discussed and
problem-solving skills are taught to these men within a group structure. In some cases,counseling for
men who have physically harmed women have been effective in altering their anger or behavior when
their upset. Even though these programs are offered,many men dropout or never attend the sessions they
were referred to. Hospitals and health care settings can be essential to women who come in contact with
the health system on a regular basis. Even if women are not consistent in going to the hospital, health care
providers are trained to identify and respond to victims of abuse. The hospital is an important place to
distinguish women who show signs of abuse in order to show support and offer them other services if
they need them. Screening questions for intimate partner violence are resourcefulin improving women’s

4. health outcomes. Community awareness is a way of reaching out to families in trying to help prevent
intimate partner violence within a communal level. Community councils aim to address, inform, and
bring a greater awareness to women and families in order to hinder the worse from happening. Schools
are also an important way to increase awareness. Providing the youth with healthy relationship tips,
gender roles, coercion and control is a great way to prevent violence in schools and even bullying. Other
information regarding intimate partner violence can be seen in the media and used as a way to promote
awareness on a public scale. “Public attitudes and actions with respect to cases of partner violence against
women play an important role in shaping the social environment in which the victims are embedded, a
social environment that can contribute either to condone and perpetuate or to reduce levels of partner
violence against women.” (Garcia, Herrero 2006) The media plays a huge role in how the public views
intimate partner violence, whether it is a negative look towards the batterer or the victim. All these
concepts impact women by allowing them the opportunity to receive help, get out the situation, and move
on with their lives. Even with all these programs that are provided for victims of abuse, many women still
do not come forward and speak out.
The batterer lives by a cycle of violence that keeps most women in fear of ending or leaving the
relationship. The cycle of violence is used to “maintain authority” and to “maintain service.” The cycle
has six different stages,which begin in violence and end in violence. There is the remorse stage, where
the batterer feels a deep regret or wrong for the violent act that had occurred. Then there is the hearts and
flowers stage,where the batterer seduces the victim with promises or makes even more direct threats that
entraps the victim and makes them afraid to leave. The purpose is to keep the memory of the violence off
the victim’s mind and instill hope in them, so they will think it will never happen again. The next stage is
the victim taking the blame for the harm caused against her and she accepts the idea that she brought it
upon herself. The last stage before violence occurs again is the stage where he belittles the victim into
objectifying her into a thing. She is no longer a person but has become an object, so therefore he is
entitled to do anything with or to the object. If this cycle continues, it will only result in death, whether it
is homicide, suicide, or both. The batterer can also use other forms of behavior in order to maintain power

5. and control over the victim. According to the Power and Control Wheel,there are many ways in which
the batterer establishes control such as, “Coercion and threats, intimidation, emotional abuse, isolation,
minimizing/ denying/ blaming, using children, economic abuse, and male privilege.” Men use all of these
tactics in order to empower or uphold their physical dominance, and it allows them to feel like a man
when certain situations do not go their way. Socially constructed views of gender roles and stereotypes of
male supremacy contribute to the disillusion of domestic violence. Many men feel like they’re entitled to
harming women because of the lack of power women have. Women are stereotypically deemed as weak,
submissive, and soft spoken, which men tend to view as inferior and they feel women should do as
they’re told. If women do not listen or decide not to conform to these stereotypes that men hold on a
pedestal, that’s grounds for a woman to be punished. Men are rarely held accountable for their actions and
their actions become justifiable because individuals outside of the relationship assume the woman
provoked his actions. Women stay in these relationships for reasons they feel are more important than
their well being. They live in fear of physical harm, threats, harassment,making the abuser angrier, living
alone or being alone, losing children, losing their house or car,financial struggles without him,
deportation, the court system, or even the idea that no one will believe them. Women stay because they
love the abuser,they’re committed to the relationship, sex/ affection/ kindness during non-violent acts,
their history together, and they even hope the abuser will change his violent behavior. Women develop a
low self-esteem,being emotionally drained, guilt, self-blame for the abuse, feeling like a failure, and
becoming unwanted by other men. They do not want to go through a divorce, become a single parent,
start over, change their life style, leave their pets, grieve, or lose touch with the family they’ve grown to
love. A lot of women also stay because of their children and they do not want to separate them from their
dad, they fear the child will resent them, and they rather steer away from custody issues. The abuser
makes sure to isolate the victim from support systems, which leaves them having nowhere to go and
unaware that help is available. All these barriers and more are why leaving the abuser can be the hardest
thing to surpass in the victims life. The Power and Control Wheel and The Cycle of Violence combined,

6. is what keeps women in abusive relationships and in order to break through these barriers, awareness,
prevention, and intervention have to be put into action.
Speaking out in communities, media, and in other social functions can help with actions needed
to take place for a strategic breakthrough in the destabilizing of intimate partner violence. With all the
programs and centers offered to women that are victims of abuse, there are still not enough women
speaking out before it is too late. Getting more women to talk about their stories and reach out in their
communities can be a way in helping other women to leave their abusive relationship. There needs to be a
better way for women to speak about what is going on and tell someone about the abuse they’re going
through. With a better awareness,women should be able to reach out to someone about the abuse before it
is too late. Public attitudes need to change towards intimate partner violence because there should always
be a zero tolerance approach towards violence. Getting the youth involved is the best way to prevent these
young girls from growing up and becoming victims. They need to be taught curriculum that does not
include gender bias and makes attempts to educate boys and girls on violence. The medicalization of
intimate partner violence needs to be addressed as a medical problem when treating women who have
experienced intimate partner violence. Health care providers need to take a more empathetic approach
when presenting screening questions on domestic violence. Most women visit hospitals over a period of
time throughout their life, so utilizing sources within hospital settings can be a way of getting women to
speak up. Analyzing patient readiness to leave their partner can be a critical turning point in a victim’s
life. Physicians also need to look past the physical harm done by intimate partner violence and be aware
of all the other issues that being victimized can cause. Victims tend to blame themselves and this is
because they have been emotionally defeated,psychologically beaten, and mentally drained. Medical
institutions have provided help and programs for women to get through their situation, but they can do
better. Physicians also need to be trained in early intervention and use the idea of health care as a form of
intervention. Having domestic violence specialists on staff, ready, and trained only can ensure that the
victim will get all the help she needs. Intimate partner violence victims need as much intervention as
possible when trying to get them to leave the situation. They are putting their life at risk, maybe even their

7. children’s life at risk, when trying to justify an abuser’s actions of violent acts or threats. It is obvious that
leaving the abuser is hard for women to do, but these barriers that hold women back can be broken by
reassuring women it is not their fault. Support is what women are in need of and if it cannot be found
outside of the relationship, then that leaves them to stay in it.
Intimate partner violence can be preventable if we as a nation come together and figure out what
exactly generates violence against women, how it can be treated or dealt with in a more efficient way,and
why its prevalence is increasing even though awareness is becoming more recognized. The sense of self-
worth and well being of women are being effected everyday because of the physical, mental, or
psychological abuse they encounter from their counterpart. We are still allowing men the upper hand in
terms of letting them get away with harming women because we make it hard for women to speak out.
The media romanticize violence against women, the government does not enforce harsh enough
punishment, and our communities are not working hard enough to instill awareness at a younger age.
There have been many programs and centers for women to recover and receive help with leaving their
relationship and these have been helpful to the women that seek out help. The women who choose not to
speak out, or stay with the abuser,and wait until their life is on the line to get out of the situation need to
be reached before death is the end result. We need to act before death occurs, which will give us a chance
to save lives and help these men receive help as well. There is a reason men will say they do not believe
in hitting women and then when they get to the point to where they can no longer control their anger, that
belief is pushed out of sight and out of mind. The root cause of intimate partner violence, domestic
violence, or violence against women are the socially constructed views of how men and women are
suppose to conform into a set role according to their gender. Anything out of these roles is deemed as
abnormal and society cast these individuals out because they are going against the grain. Gender
inequality has been embedded in our history and in our minds that women are less than men. The male
domination or male supremacy socially determines women as weak and can be objectified due to the
power and control they do not have. This topic has given me a new outlook on just how much women
need support and empathy in order to speak out about their abuser. Even in that support I believe women

8. still need to be aware that the violence they’re enduring is not okay and can eventually kill them. Intimate
partner violence has been an issue in my life for as long as I’ve been alive. My mother was a victim, and
it was hard for her to leave the situation and feelsafe in other relationships. I feel like staying with the
batterer only allows them the power and control they desire and need to feed off in order to abuse women.
Bringing a greater awareness to women and children who are unaware or just do not choose to learn more
about this issue, is one of the main reason I chose this topic. I want women to speak out and know that
there is always someone willing to support them throughout their abuse. No one wants to see or hear
about a woman being harmed by a man because of the power and control he needs to keep him sane.
Enacting change and standing up against violence against women is something that empowers me as a
woman. So with that empowerment, I want other women to know that there are people out there who can
hear their cry for help, even if it is from inside their head. All in all I just want women to know, men do
not have the right to bring you physical, mental, or psychological harm and that is not a healthy
relationship. A relationship is not about power and control or conforming to gender roles that are ignorant
ideologies embedded in our history. Relationships can be meaningful and they’re men out there that will
love you unconditionally, regardless of the social inequalities, institutional power, or neighborhood
conditions.
Interview Transcript: Yolanda Smith
Background:
1. When did you learn that domestic violence was occurring in your life?
It was not a continuous form of domestic violence, but I had more than one boyfriend that hit me.
2. How did you know? What was it like when you first found out?
I remember my mom said I couldn’t see my boyfriend Thaxter at the time. He kept me at a hotel
all night and said I could not go home. That was the first time he hit me.

9. 3. When this first happened, how did you feel?
I was hurt, upset, scared,all the above. Most of all I was shocked that he put his hands on me.
4. Did you tell others?
No. Hell no.
Nature of illness/ issue:
1. Did you think about what caused this? And if so, what were your thoughts?
He was jealous, very jealous and insecure with his relationship with me.
2. Did you seek information about this? From where?
No I was young, stupid and in love. Even though it was not right, he had a way of making it seem
so, it was as if something in me brought this out of him, so it was my fault.
Experience:
1. Can you tell me about what it’s like to live with this issue?
I just don’t let it happen anymore. It was years and years ago, so it’s the past. I will never let
another man hit me without calling the cops.
2. Has it changed your life? How so?
Yes,because I will never allow a man to hit me and still be in a relationship with me. I’ll go to
jail first before I let them get away with hitting me, I’d kill them.
3. Did it affect your sense of your self, relationships with others? Your experience with your family
and friends?
-Yes,because I did not have any sense at the time but I know it should not be tolerated now.
-Yes,I make sure I watch their every move when they get mad. They can get mad but don’t put
your hands on me.
-Yes,I was missing one night when he did not let me come home. My mom was hurt real bad and
she told me never to see him again.
4. Do you think your economic status affected this?
I think it was more of his status because he was able to get more things than I was. He never
made me worry about anything.
5. What about your gender? Cultural background? Sexuality?
I was beautiful and a square. He did not want anyone to talk to me. If I did talk to someone he
would immediately get jealous.
6. Is this part of your life now? Can you talk with me about how?
No, that’s long gone.
7. If you could tell others something important about this experience, what would you want them to
know?
Never let a person hit them, they don’t have to accept that. If they hit you once, they will do it
again, so just leave the relationship.
Bibliography
Anderson, K. L. (2007). Who Gets Out? Gender as Structure and the Dissolution of Violent Heterosexual
Relationships. Gender and Society,21(2),173-201.
Johnson, M. (2005). Domestic violence: It's Not about Gender: Or is It? Journal of Marriage and Family,
67(5),1126-1130.

10. Michalski, J. H. (2005). Explaining intimate partner violence: The sociological limitations of
victimization studies. Sociological Forum, 20(4),613-640.
Umberson, D., Anderson, K., Glick, J., & Shapiro, A. (1998). Domestic Violence, Personal Control, and
Gender. Journal of Marriage and Family, 60(2),442-452.