Spouse and What Partner Abuse—Who and When? - Definitions Of Abuse

Early definitions of domestic abuse focused exclusively on physical assault and bodily injury. For example, the Colorado Committee of the Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights offered this definition of a battered wife in The Silent Victims: Denver's Battered Women (Washington, DC: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1977): "a woman who has received deliberate, severe and repeated physical injury from her husband, the minimal injury being severe bruising." This definition excluded acts like pushing, slapping, pinching, or other violent acts perpetrated by husbands on their wives that produced no or minimal bruising, as well as threats of violence.

In their groundbreaking work based on the 1975 and 1985 National Family Violence Surveys (NFVS), Murray Straus and Richard Gelles defined "spousal violence" in specific actions, known as the Conflict Tactics Scale. That scale is now the measure most widely used to estimate the extent of spousal abuse. According to the scale, a spouse can be considered abusive if he or she:

• Throws something at a partner
• Pushes, grabs, or shoves
• Slaps
• Kicks, bites, or hits the partner with a fist
• Hits or tries to hit the partner with an object
• Beats up the partner
• Threatens the partner with a knife or a gun
• Uses a knife or fires a gun at the partner

Today, a broader interpretation is accepted and abuse is understood to include sexual and psychological actions and harm, such as marital rape and forced isolation. Feminist scholars and advocates have expanded the definition to encompass issues of intent, control, and power, conceptualizing the problem of violence against women as "coercive control" (Richard J. Gelles, "Estimating the Incidence and Prevalence of Violence against Women," Violence against Women, vol. 6, July 2000). The National Coalition against Domestic Violence defines battering as a pattern of behavior through which a person establishes power and control over another person by means of fear and intimidation. The incorrect belief that abusers are entitled to control their partners is a primary cause of aggression and abuse, according to the coalition.

The National Coalition against Domestic Violence also describes battering as emotional, economic, and sexual abuse, as well as using children, threats, male privilege, intimidation, isolation, and various other strategies to maintain power through fear and intimidation. The organization argues it is important to view all these behaviors as battering in order to understand how verbal threats, a single slap, or an insult can escalate to a life-threatening situation.

An international examination of violence by Lori Heise et al. in Violence against Women: The Hidden Health Burden (Washington, DC: World Bank, 1994) also defined abuse in terms broad enough to include the wide variety of abuses that occur throughout the world. Heise and colleagues observed that violence against women is tolerated partly because the victims are female. They distinguished between cultural customs and abuse intended to harm. Genital mutilation, for instance, is a ritual or tradition intended by its practitioners to guarantee marriage for the female victim, rather than abuse that is intended to harm. Still, whether it is considered custom or ritualized abuse, this practice can cause long-term physical and psychological harm, suffering, and even death. Table 2.1 shows definitions of violence against women developed by different organizations around the world.

Heise and colleagues cautioned against using the overly broad definitions of abuse proposed by some organizations,

TABLE 2.1

Definitions of violence against women from around the world
SOURCE: Lori L. Heise, et al, "Appendix Box B. 1. Definitions of Violence against Women," in Violence against Women: The Hidden Health Burden, The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The World Bank, 1994
Behavior by the man, adopted to control his victim, which results in physical, sexual and/or psychological damage, forced isolation, or economic deprivation or behavior which leaves a woman living in fear. (Australia, 1991)
Any act involving use of force or coercion with an intent of perpetuating/promoting hierarchical gender relations. (Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, 1990)
Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life. Violence against women shall be understood to encompass but not be limited to:
Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the community, including battering, sexual abuse of female children, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence, violence related to exploitation, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women, forced prostitution, and violence perpetrated or condoned by the State. (UN Declaration against Violence against Women)
Any act, omission or conduct by means of which physical, sexual or mental suffering is inflicted, directly or indirectly, through deceit, seduction, threat, coercion or any other means, on any woman with the purpose or effect of intimidating, punishing or humiliating her or of maintaining her in sex-stereotyped roles or of denying her human dignity, sexual self-determination, physical, mental and moral integrity or of undermining the security of her person, her self-respect or her personality, or of diminishing her physical or mental capacities. (Draft Pan American Treaty against Violence against Women)
Any act or omission which prejudices the life, the physical or psychological integrity or the liberty of a person or which seriously harms the development of his or her personality. (Council of Europe, 1986)

which encompass gender inequalities such as unequal pay or lack of access to contraception or other health care services. They termed such inequalities "discrimination," rather than "abuse." Abuse against women, according to their study, is verbal or physical force, coercion, or deprivation directed against a woman or girl that causes physical or psychological harm, humiliation, loss of liberty, or other female subordination.