Patriarchal Terrorism and Common Couple Violence: Two Forms of Violence against Women

This article tackles two distinct types of couple violence occurring within families in the US and other Western countries. A review of data from a large sample survey and of qualitative and quantitative data collected from womens shelters indicates that some families suffer from occasional display of violence from either husbands or wives (common couple violence) while other families are terrorized by systematic male violence (patriarchal terrorism). Findings of national survey also reveal the incidences of spouse abuse perpetrated by either the husband or the wife in contrast to the reports received in shelter homes with high incidence of women abuse. The differences in the gender pattern of violence between the national surveys and the statistics collected by public agencies are due to their nonoverlapping of variables. Further discussed are per couple frequency patterns of behavior in terms of escalation and reciprocity and initiation of violence. Arguments are presented regarding the validity of two radically different descriptions of the nature of couple violence in the US. Finally the study emphasized that the difference between common couple violence and patriarchal terrorism is important due to its implications for the establishment of public policy the development of educational programs and intervention strategies and the development of theories of interpersonal violence.