Battered Women in Rural America

An Ethnostatistical Comparison of the Forms and Levels of Woman Battering in Urban and Rural Areas of Kentucky

Sociological research informs us that urban areas are more likely than rural areas to witness the blight of violent crime. This likelihood is borne out by crime statistics that show that violent crime is much lower in rural areas. However, violence against women within families does not seem to follow this pattern. Using an ethnostatistical approach that combines ethnography and more traditional statistical methods, we report on 510 woman-to-woman interviews with urban and rural battered women and include a selection of qualitative findings. In interpreting and explaining our statistical findings, we reinvoke the ethnographic work from which the survey derived and conclude that the forms and levels of woman battering vary little between rural and urban areas. Our research therefore empirically highlights the much neglected problem of rural woman battering. We also explore the social forces and culturally nuanced meanings that appear to influence the parity in forms and levels of woman battering in rural and urban communities. In particular we focus on rural and urban forms of patriarchy and their relationship to Durkheimian notions of the rural collective conscience.

Rural Woman Abuse

Using an ethnographic method that relies heavily on 85 in-depth interviews, 50 of them with rural battered women, this article provides rich empirical data on the much-neglected topic of rural woman abuse in Kentucky. My interviews indicate women experience a considerable amount of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by their husbands or partners. I contextualize this intimate violence against the physical and social isolation that characterizes the lives of many rural battered women. The article concludes with a discussion of how rural patriarchy necessitates certain social policy initiatives.

Asymptotic Justice

Justice is a difficult proposition for much intimate partner violence. The criminal justice system has often been reluctant to protect abused women and very reluctant to punish abusers. The authors report here on how probation, as one alternative outcome of criminal prosecution, can approximate justice for some victims and can keep some victims safer. Sentencing abusers to probation is more likely than jail and is often better for victims than releasing offenders withoutsupervision. Although this sentence will not end violence, it can come close, especially over time, to achieving some justice.

Separation and/or divorce sexual assault in rural Ohio: preliminary results of an exploratory study

A rapidly growing social scientific literature shows that many women are at great risk of being killed, beaten, or psychologically abused when they exit or try to leave their marital and/or cohabiting partners. However, less than a handful of studies have examined male-to-female sexual assaults during and after separation or divorce. Furthermore, the bulk of the limited empirical work on this problem was done in urban areas. Thus, the main objective of this article is to help fill two major research gaps by presenting the preliminary results of an ongoing exploratory study of separation and/or divorce sexual assault in rural Ohio.

Domestic violence and help-seeking behaviors among rural women: results from a shelter-based study

Research on domestic violence and help-seeking behaviors of women living in rural communities has been limited. This study adds to existing knowledge by examining this type of violence along with mental health characteristics and related help-seeking behaviors of a sample of predominantly Hispanic women seeking shelter at a rural domestic violence shelter. Study participants experienced physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse, harassment, stalking, and abuse with a weapon in their current intimate relationship. Twenty-four percent of study participants of Hispanic backgrounds and 10% of participants from all other racial/ethnic groups reported experiencing all types of abuse listed above. When compared with other study participants, a greater percentage of Hispanic participants indicated that they had thought of and/or attempted suicide. Participants' help-seeking behaviors from formal support systems suggest a mismatch between the types of abuse experienced and the resultant help-seeking behaviors they used. These help-seeking behaviors also indicate the relevance of mental health characteristics (e.g., suicide ideation) in these behaviors. These and findings from other studies may provide the impetus for a systematic documentation of domestic violence and help-seeking behaviors of women living in rural communities.

An examination of intimate partner violence in rural communities: results from a hospital emergency department study from Southwest United States

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects women disproportionately, women being 5-8 times more likely than men to be victimized by their intimates. Women in abusive relationships use a disproportionate share of health care services, including more visits to the emergency departments. Female clients from two hospital emergency departments in the rural Southwest were recruited and administered semistructured interviews. Study findings indicate the prevalence and pervasiveness of IPV among study participants and illustrate the significant effects of and predictive nature of three factors associated with abuse in the past to current IPV.

Promoting domestic violence education for nurses

Domestic violence is one of the major health problems facing families today. Women in rural areas often are an overlooked population at high risk for this problem. Domestic violence is a concern for women, who may be patients or healthcare workers. Teaching about domestic violence is a very sensitive issue because it is often difficult for the abused to admit or confront that she is being abused. The authors developed an effective interactive workshop to teach nurses how to assess and intervene with women who have experienced domestic violence.