Typology of Female Offenders in Intimate Partnerships – A Feminist Approach

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrated by women is an infrequently discussed topic. The lack of knowledge about female perpetrators of IPV results institutionally in insufficient prevention training and discursively in inadequate appreciation of the women's realm. Thus, this chapter will examine the debates on female IPV in the area of tension between violence prevalence research and the gender-based approach in social sciences and shows that female IPV as a women's reality of life is not limited to resistance violence and is far more complex. By collecting data from 58 female IPV cases, the author develops a typology of female offenders of IPV. Case files documented by the counsellors at violenTia, a German counselling specialist working with women perpetrating violence in their partnership, were examined. The counsellors' notes in the case files were analysed by methods of the empirically grounded type construction, that is the notes were thematically coded and dimensionalised and the case files were grouped according to empirical regularities, followed by an analysis of the contexts of meaning, the type construction and the characterisation of the types constructed. As per the findings, four types (1–4) and one subtype (3′) of female IPV were developed. The main dimensions of the typology are the structure of violence (asymmetrical/symmetrical), the pattern of violence (systematic/situational), the agency of violence (who has the ability and capacity to use violence) and attribution of meaning to violence (for example, explanations and legitimisation). The author concludes that types of female offenders show strong external heterogeneity. A finding which is important for appropriate treatment settings. Female perpetrators often lack the words to describe violent behaviour and repeatedly have unprocessed trauma. Accordingly, to understand and prevent IPV, it is necessary to widen perspectives on female offenders without reducing them to traditional gender stereotypes.

Citation

Gulowski, R. (2023), "Typology of Female Offenders in Intimate Partnerships – A Feminist Approach", Banwel, S., Black, L., Cecil, D.K., Djamba, Y.K., Kimuna, S.R., Milne, E., Seal, L. and Tenkorang, E.Y. (Ed.) The Emerald International Handbook of Feminist Perspectives on Women’s Acts of Violence, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 155-169. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-255-620231011