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Introduction
- Temple University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Introduction FEMINIST INTEREST in wife beating dates back to the first wave of feminism.I Nineteenth -century Victorian reformers and suffragists championed women's right to be free from physical abuse by their husbands.2 Wife beating also has longstanding roots in Anglo-American law, as explained by William Blackstone in his Commentaries. The husband also (by the old law) might give his wife moderate correction. For, as he is to answer for her misbehavior, the law thought it reasonable to entrust him with this power of restraining her, by domestic chastisement, in the same moderation that a man is allowed to correct his servants or children; for whom the master or parent is also liable in some cases to answer. But this power ofcorrection was confined within reasonable bounds; and the husband was prohibited to use any violence to his wife, aliter quam ad virum, ex causa regiminis et castigationis uxoris suae, licite et rationabiliter pertinent [other than what is reasonably necessary to the discipline and correction of the wife]. The civil law gave the husband the same, or a larger, authority over his wife; allowing him, for some misdemeanors, flagellis et fustibus acriter verberare uxorem [to wound his wife severely with whips and fists]; for others, only modicam castigationem adhibere [to apply modest corrective punishment].3 Afew nineteenth-eentury American cases upheld the husband's right of corporal punishment .4 Pleck, although emphasizing that these particular appellate cases represent extreme views, nonetheless concurs that, for abused wives, "American legal justice in the Victorian age was mostly ineffectual."5 Scholars have explored the roots of the contemporary battered women's movement .6 Some date its origins to the 1960s, when interest focused on child abuse.7 One Copyrighted Material 277 278 I BATTERED WOMEN scholar points to earlier origins in the depression and World War II-a period that generated both popular support for the idea ofgovernment intervention and a general societal concern with injustice.8 Other scholars highlight societal trends that contributed to the concern with family violence generally, such as: (1) a tendency to see family violence as a symptom of a crisis in the family; (2) attitudes toward child-centered parenthood that made coercion by family members less acceptable; (3) the development ofa culture promoting self-exposure (commercial and artistic, as well as personal); and (4) a decreased emphasis on religious and moral values.9 Still other scholars (including Susan Schechter in an essay herein) point to the anti-rape movement as an additional precursor of the battered women's movement.J° In the second wave of feminism, feminists turned their attention to wife beating after focusing on abortion and rape.I I Feminist interest stemmed in part from a concern with the family. 12 Also influencing the battered women's movement were such factors as the proliferation of feminist organizations in social work, mental health, and the legal professions; a feminist emphasis on decentralized organization structure enabling adaptation to local conditions; and feminists' ability to promote cooperation between battered women's groups and their sponsors.13 Feminists effected far-reaching social and legal reform by establishing shelters and enacting government policy.14 Feminists were active on both sides of the Atlantic. The first battered women's shelter ("refuge") was established in London in 1971.15 Feminists soon established 'Women's Aid" groups throughout Britain to seek funding for shelters. By 1975 feminists formed the National Women's Aid Federation to advocate legislation, shelter services, and education.16 Parliamentary committees held hearings culminating in the passage of protective legislation.17 In this country, public attention focused on wife beating in the early 1970s.18 The first shelter opened its doors in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1973,19 and was soon followed by others.2o References to wife beating began appearing in the media from 1974 on.21 The National Organization for Women (NOW) established local and national task forces.22 A member of NOW, herself a battered wife, organized the first local task force in 1973 in Pennsylvania.23 In October 1975, at its eighth annual meeting, NOW created a National Task Force on Battered Women/Household Violence.24 A national network, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, came into being in 1978.25 Despite their similarities, the British and American battered women's movements differed in approach. Dobash and Dobash explain: When translated into action, American attention is drawn to individual rights and personal problems. This leads to an emphasis on the law and the psychomedico...