Women's Experiences with Battering: A Conceptualization from Qualitative Research

Battering of women by their male partners affects an estimated 3-4 million women each year in the United States.1 Prevalence studies indicate that between one-third and one-fifth of all women will be physically assaulted by a male partner.2 Battering generally consists of men's continuous use of physical, and often sexual, assaults along with verbally and emotionally abusive behaviors that may become more severe and damaging over time. In addition to assaulting their partners, batterers also threaten, intimidate, and humiliate them; isolate them from family and friends; restrict their access to money and other resources; threaten the safety of children and others in their families; and control their activities outside the home.3 Sex is also a weapon batterers use to gain power over their partners; this manifests itself as both rape and withholding sexual affection. ' Evidence is growing that the physical, psychological, and sexual violence battered women are subjected to contributes to the development of many serious health problems including injury, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders, substance abuse, suicide, and homicide.5-16 In growing appreciation of the complex pattern of violent behaviors that battering comprises, some scholars are now beginning to distinguish the phenomena of battering from acute acts of physical assault.14,17-22 Battering is increasingly understood to be a chronic, continuous experience, with more attention being given to battered women's sense of fear and disempowerment, or the process of losing power. Battering has been usefully define