Transforming the Culture: Creating Safety, Equality, and Justice for Women and Girls (From Preventing Violence in America, P 263-285, 1996, Robert L Hampton, Pamela Jenkins, and Thomas P Gullotta, eds. -- See NCJ-159949)

• NCJ Number: 159961
• Author(s): D Garske
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter argues that the current preference for a gender-neutral analysis of violence and for preventive strategies that stem from that analysis ultimately hinder attempts to address the distinctive causes of violence against women and girls.

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of violence committed against females by males, a gender-based analysis of violence in the United States has not been incorporated into the public discourse on violence to any significant extent; rather, women's experience of violence has been marginalized or even excluded from consideration. Theories regarding male violence against females focus on the belief system prevalent in relationships between women and men, wherein the male believes he is entitled to control and coerce the female by a variety of means, including violence. The perpetuation of this belief system in a culture becomes a primary cause of gender-based violence and must be targeted by violence-prevention efforts. Exclusive reliance on the microlevel approach of addressing individual risk factors, primarily on the family level, may be inadequate to prevent intimate violence against women. More all-encompassing macrolevel solutions must be developed and supported. A valuable source of information and methodology on this topic is social movement theory (SMT), which provides a strategic framework and analytical tools for organizing and evaluating social movements. A social movement is defined as a collective action in which the populace is alerted, educated, and mobilized over years and decades to challenge the whole society to redress social problems and restore critical social values. SMT's analytical tools can be applied productively to the movement to end violence against women, family violence perpetrated by men, and violence in general, especially in terms of envisioning an alternative, problemsolving reality that promotes safety, equality, and justice. The author presents a working model for the Transforming Communities Project in Marin County, Calif., which uses a gender-based approach to address violence against women. 38 references