Women at Risk: Domestic Violence and Women's Health / Edition 1

by Evan D. Stark, Anne Flitcraft

Overview

Battering by men is the most significant cause of injury to women in our society. It is also a major cause of child abuse, murder, substance abuse and female suicide attempts. This volume, the result of 15 years of research conducted by the authors - a social worker and physician respectively - explores the theoretical perspectives of this dramatic expression of male domination, together with health consequences for women and clinical interventions.

The authors found that the traditional resources women turn to for help reinforce male domination: the medical, psychiatric and behavioural problems presented by battered women arise because male strategies of coercion, isolation and control converge with discriminatory structur

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803970410
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	03/26/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Evan Stark is a sociologist, forensic social worker and award-winning researcher with an international reputation for his innovative work on the legal, policy and health dimensions of interpersonal violence, including its effects on children. Dr. Stark’s award-winning book, Coercive Control: The Entrapment of Women in Personal Life (Oxford, 2007), was named the outstanding social science book published in 2007 by the Association of American Publishers and influenced the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe to expand their definitions of domestic violence to include coercive control. With a Ph.D......University, he is Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University where he held appointments in Public Affairs, Public Health and Women and Gender Studies. Dr. Stark has held visiting appointments and Fellowships at the University of Essex, the University of Bristol, the Escuela Superior de Economía y Negocios (ESEN) in El Salvador and, most recently, as the. Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh. Since his retirement, Dr. Stark has done extensive work on imporiving the response to abuse women in Turkey, as part of the State Department's "U.S. Speaker and Specialist Program" as well as in Serbia, Taiwan and throughout the United Kingdom.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Medicine and Patriarchal Violence
Imagining Woman Battering
Social Knowledge, Social Theory and Patriarchal Benevolence
PART TWO: HEALTH CONSEQUENCES
Women and Children at Risk
A Feminist Perspective on Child Abuse
Killing the Beast Within
Woman Battering and Female Suicidality
Preventing Gendered Homicide
PART THREE: CLINICAL INTERVENTIONS
Personal Power and Institutional Victimization
Treating the Dual Trauma of Woman Battering
Clinical Violence Intervention
Lessons from Battered Women
Discharge Planning with Battered Woman
Physicians and Domestic Violence
Challenges for Prevention

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Karen M. Donahey, PhD (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Description: This book's contents reflect two decades of study and research on domestic violence and its significance for women's health.
Purpose: The purpose is to identify the medical dimensions and health consequences of domestic violence as well as to evaluate the appropriateness of the clinical response and suggest ways to improve it.
Audience: The book is written for medical professionals, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health workers as well as those who do research in this area. The authors are nationally recognized authorities on interpersonal violence, including women battering, child abuse, and homicide. Twenty years ago they directed the first major federal research program on domestic violence in healthcare settings.
Features: References are current and pertinent. There is an adequate number of tables. Its overall appearance is simple and attractive.
Assessment: This book explores the theoretical perspectives as well as health consequences of woman abuse and evaluates clinical interventions by the medical field to reduce and treat violence against women. The book will be useful for both physicians and mental health professionals in helping them to understand, identify, and treat women who are being abused.

Doody's Review Service

3 Stars from Doody

This book's contents reflect two decades of study and research on domestic violence and its significance for women's health. The purpose is to identify the medical dimensions and health consequences of domestic violence as well as to evaluate the appropriateness of the clinical response and suggest ways to improve it. The book is written for medical professionals, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health workers as well as those who do research in this area. The authors are nationally recognized authorities on interpersonal violence, including women battering, child abuse, and homicide. Twenty years ago they directed the first major federal research program on domestic violence in healthcare settings. References are current and pertinent. There is an adequate number of tables. Its overall appearance is simple and attractive. This book explores the theoretical perspectives as well as health consequences of woman abuse and evaluates clinical interventions by the medical field to reduce and treat violence against women. The book will be useful for both physicians and mental health professionals in helping them to understand, identify, and treat women who are being abused.

Karen M. Donahey

Linking domestic violence to a range of family and women's health problems, the authors present a composite picture of a "battering syndrome" which involves health and justice agencies in both the problem and the solution. The volume presents research and theory surrounding the related health risks posed by battering, the effects of institutional victimization, and preventative strategies on an institutional level. Stark and Flitcraft are nationally recognized authorities and the founders of one of the first shelters for battered women. Paper edition (7041-2), $22.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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