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resort to violence. It is women and children who are usually at the receiving end of such anger and violence. According to McCue (2008), poverty is associated with stress and intimate partner violence is often a consequence of that stress. Poverty, unemployment and poor job opportunities for men create a sense of frustration and repression which predisposes them to abusive behaviour. Violence can be used as a strategy by men who have low income or from lower socioeconomic class to maintain a position of power in family life (Finley, 2013). Women who experience poverty (and thus have few economic resources) are confined to their homes where their abusers share their space, which erodes their chances of leaving the abusive relationship (Da`il, 2012).
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as depression), body image distortion and sexual intimacy problems (Hansen & Harway, 1993; Miller, 2012; Walker, 2009).
BWS produces a clear description of the patterns of violence in intimate relationships and their psychological/behavioural sequelae for female victims. Whilst BWS has not yet been specifically listed in the DSM-V (2013), it is generally recognised as an implied sub-category of the medically certified Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is noted under gender related diagnostic issues (DSM – V, p. 276) that:
“At least some of the increased risk for PTSD in females appears to be attributable to a greater likelihood of exposure to traumatic events, such as rape, and other forms of interpersonal violence.”
Such an association between BWS and PTSD is commonly justified on the basis that many victims of domestic violence exhibit symptoms comparable to those exhibited by persons who have undergone other traumatic life experiences, such as prisoners of war (Craven, 2003).
According to Walker (2009), women who have BWS show the following symptoms:
hyper-arousal and high levels of anxiety;
avoidance behaviour and emotional numbing (usually expressed as depression, dissociation, minimisation repression and denial);
disrupted interpersonal relationships from batterer’s power and control measures;
body image distortion and/or somatic or physical measures and
sexual intimacy issues.
The first three groups of symptoms are the same as for PTSD (intrusive recollection of the trauma, hyper arousal and high level of anxiety and avoidance behaviour and emotional numbing, depression, dissociation, minimisation, repression, and denial), while the additional three criteria groups are present in intimate partner violence (Walker, 2009).
According to Walker (2009) disruption in interpersonal relationships, in addition to physical violence and sexual coercion, are used by batterers as forms of manipulation. Others include
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isolation, following the batterer’s rules, sexual degradation, jealousy, unpredictability and direct and indirect threats of more violence towards the woman, her family or any children from the partnership. Isolation includes being treated as a possession and controlling the woman to ensure she has no contacts with anyone the batterer deems unsuitable. Some males lock the phones or do not allow the woman a cellular phone to ensure they have total control.
Walker (2009) suggests that many battered females have problems with their body image, they are insecure and, it seems, may transfer their hate of the batterer onto specific body parts which they work hard to improve for instance, by dieting, exercising and/or using plastic surgery. The author, in research she carried out, noticed that battered women often talk about not liking their bodies as an entire entity, which is consistent with their low self-esteem.
Batterer’s also use sex as a way to mark the woman as his possession, by giving her frequent black eyes or other bruises he is fundamentally marking his territory, telling other males to stay away (the implication is if they don’t things could get worse). The male in a battering relationship also controls whether the couple has loving sex or abusive sex. Many women report that male partners insist on having sex immediately after a beating has taken place.
This indicates that these males get sexually excited by violence which makes them very dangerous. Women who manage to leave this type of relationship are usually not able to have successful intimate relationships with other males (Walker, 2009).
2.14.1 Stages of Battered Women Syndrome (BWS)
The following stages are associated with the syndrome of women battering according to Eckstein and McDonald (2010) and Walker (2009).
Stage one: Denial
The first stage of BWS is denial, denial occurs when the battered woman is unable to admit and acknowledge that she is being subjected to abuse. During this stage, battered women not only avoid admitting the abuse to their friends and family but they themselves will not acknowledge the brutality that they are suffering from. They fail to recognise that there are any problems between themselves and their partners. There are multiple factors that may contribute to a battered woman’s unwavering denial: 1) manipulative and behaviour of their abuser, 2) the acts of abuse maybe so covert that they do not appear to be harmful or detrimental. In other instances, battered women may believe that denial is the most effective way to avoid being subjected to further violence and brutality (Eckstein & McDonald, 2010).
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Stage two: Guilt
When battered women have experienced the denial stage, they move to the guilt stage. This stage occurs when a battered woman recognises or acknowledges that there is a problem with her relationship. She recognises that she is a victim of abuse and such abuse is likely to happen again. This is when most battered women take on the blame or responsibility for physical and psychological abuse that they receive. Battered women begin questioning their own characters and find themselves lacking, they also try harder to live up to their partners’
expectations of them. This does not work and the cycle is repeated time and time again (Eckstein & McDonald, 2010; Walker, 2009).
Stage three: Enlightenment
Stage three occurs when a battered woman begins to understand that no one deserves to be beaten. She now accepts that the beatings she receives from her partner are not justified. She also recognises that she is not the problem; it is her abuser that has a problem. Nonetheless, she stays with her abuser attempting to keep the relationship going with what are usually unrealistic hopes for future change (Eckstein & McDonald, 2010). Battered women in this stage also commit themselves to saving their marriage and use various different reasons to justify this decision (Walker, 2009).
Stage four: Responsibility
Stage four of BWS occurs when the battered woman recognises that her abuser has a problem that only he can fix. Battered women in this stage realise that nothing they can do or say will help their abuser. When battered women acknowledge this, they understand that their safety and the safety of their children (if any), is contingent on them leaving the abusive relationship (Eckstein & McDonald, 2010).
2.14.2 The cycle of woman battering
According to Walker (2009), a physically abused woman must experience at least two complete cycles of battering before she meets the criteria for BWS. The cycle has three distinct phases, first is the tension-building phase, second phase is the explosion or acute battering incident phase and lastly there is the loving phase. The longer this cycle continues without intervention the more frequently the cycle will occur, and the more severe the battering will become.
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Diagram 1: The cycle of violence (Walker, 2009, p. 32).
Phase one: tension-building
During this phase the man acts with increasing violence. He is edgy and tense, is verbally abusive, insults and criticisms increase, and he begins to push, shove and hit his partner.
Battered women often believe they can still calm their partner by using techniques that have been successful in the past. When these coping techniques fail, the tension becomes unbearable and the couple moves into the second phase.
Phase two: explosion or acute battering incident
The second phase is the explosion or acute battering incident. As the tension mounts the woman becomes unable to placate the man, she may argue or defend herself. The man uses this as the justification for his anger and assaults her, often saying that he is teaching her a lesson. Although Walker (2009) acknowledged that the severity of violence used in this phase varies, she argues that it is at this stage that a survivor’s sense of fear and perceptions of danger are at their most heightened as they fear death or serious injury.
Phase three: honeymoon
The third phase is the honeymoon or loving phase. The batterer may try to justify his abusive behaviour by blaming the woman for the abuse. It is common for a battered woman to falsely believe the battering is her fault. The batterer's promises to change often encourage the
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woman to have hope as she wants the abuse to end, not necessarily the relationship. Denial of abuse and minimising of batterer's behaviour is common in both the abused and the abuser.
The loving and kind behaviour of the batterer during this phase appears to provide reinforcement for the cycle, allowing the battered woman to convince herself that her partner is capable of change. The cycle then begins all over again, with the violence escalating in frequency and severity. Males who psychologically abuse their partners usually begin to use intermittent physical abuse after the honeymoon phase. Psychological abusers may not ever become frequent physical abusers but at some point physical abuse is used, particularly as the woman becomes older (Walker, 2009).
In summary, the battering cycle usually begins after a courtship period which is often described as being filled with loving behaviour. Over time, the first phase of tension building becomes more common, and the honeymoon phase or the third phase declines. Phase three is often characterised by an absence of tension or violence and no observable loving-contrition behaviour and reinforces the woman’s notion that all will be well (Walker, 2009).