Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Future directions
Other Titles:	Violence against women
Authors:	DeKeseredy, Walter
Keywords:	Measurement;Psychological abuse;Perpetrators;Theories of violence;Sexual assault;Men as victims;Dating violence
Topic:	Sexual violence
Year:	2006
Publisher:	Sage Publications
Citation:	12 (11), November
Notes:	General Overview: This Canadian commentary looks at some key future directions for examining gender variations in intimate partner violence (IPV). Objective: The article seeks to also dispel the myths of sexual symmetry (that women are just as violent as men) in marital, cohabiting and dating violence. Discussion: It looks at the need to contextualise research, theorising and evaluation. This includes the need to focus on the reasons why men and women use violence, instead of counting the number of acts as in the case of sexually symmetrical data generated by the Conflict Tactics Scale. Research and a literature review show that women’s violence is often the result of self defence or fighting back. The article also discusses sexual assault as one of the major forms of intimate partner violence. It argues that sexual assault is often ignored by those who claim women are as violent as men. It suggests that sexual assault demands as much attention as other forms of violence in research on gender differences in intimate violence. The need for more qualitative data is raised. It also calls for research on rural women’s experiences. Conclusion: The article concludes that more work needs to be conducted to demonstrate the importance of contextualised evaluations of women’s use of violence. It further suggests that irrespective of whatever new directions in research on women’s use of violence, these are unlikely to be known unless proactive steps are taken to disseminate contextualised empirical and theoretical contributions to the mass media.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/14909
ISSN:	1077-8012
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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