Victimology

Personality and Social Psychology Review 1999, Vol. 3, No. 3, 234-245

Copyright C) 1999 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

The Social Construction of Violence: The Case of Sexual and Domestic Violence

Charlene L. Muehlenhard and Leigh Ann Kimes Department ofPsychology

University ofKansas

What counts as "violence" is socially constructed, has varied over time, and reflects power relationships. Informed by social constructionism, we illustrate thesepoints us- ing as examples sexual violence and domestic violence. We review changes in how so- ciety andsocial scientists have defined and understood these topics during the last 30 years. We then discuss 3 areas ofcontinuing controversy: who should decide ifsexual or domestic violence has occurred, what to count as sexual anddomestic violence, and the role ofgender in defining sexual and domestic violence.

The American public is concerned about violence. The nightly news brings stories of serial rapists prowl- ing neighborhoods, estranged husbands murdering their wives, and strange men molesting children on their way to school. The public is understandably frightened and concerned. Social scientists have re- sponded by attempting to explain why some individu- als engage in violence and by recommending solutions.

Although explaining and preventing violence seems difficult, identifying what behaviors constitute violence seems, at first glance, to be obvious. The pro- cess of labeling some behaviors as violent and others as nonviolent, however, is not as simple or straightfor- ward as it might seem. How do some behaviors come to be regarded as violent, worthy of news reports, leg- islative action, and scholarly inquiry, whereas others come to be regarded as nonviolent or escape our atten- tion entirely? How is violence defined, and what dif- ference does it make?

In this article, we examine how violence is defined and conceptualized. Our thesis is that what counts as violence is socially constructed, has varied over time, and reflects power relationships. Informed by social constructionism, we illustrate these points using as examples sexual and domestic violence.

Social Constructionism and Social Problems

Social constructionism involves "elucidating the process by which people come to describe, explain,

Requests for reprints should be sent to Charlene L. Muehlenhard, Department of Psychology, 426 Fraser Hall, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045. E-mail: charlenegukans.edu.

or otherwise account for the world in which they live" (Gergen, 1985, pp. 3-4). Social constructionists are concerned with examining the words that people use and the ways in which people understand the world, the social and political processes that influ- ence how people define words and explain events, and the implications of these definitions and explana- tions-who benefits and who loses because of how we describe and understand the world. From a social constructionist perspective, words and concepts we use "are products of particular historical and cultural understandings rather than being universal and im- mutable categories of human experience" (Bohan, 1996, p. xvi). From this perspective, a single, uncon- tested, universal, or true definition of any concept does not exist. Definitions of terms depend on who gets to define them; thus, definitions reflect the inter- ests of people with power.

Social constructionism provides a perspective for exploring social problems such as violence. People have an interest in defining violence in ways that ex- clude their own behavior (Baumeister, 1996/1997). Consequently, whose behavior gets defined as violent and under what circumstances, and who gets to decide this, reflects the interests of those in power. When less-powerful people attempt to challenge existing power relationships and to promote social change, an initial battleground is often the words used to discuss these problems (Kelly & Radford, 1998). Definitions of terms like sexual violence and domestic violence

have the power to label some acts negatively, while ig- noring and, by implication, condoning other acts. How these terms are defined affects how people label, ex- plain, evaluate, and assimilate their own [experi- ences]. In addition, the definitions ofthese terms con- vey numerous assumptions about power and coercion,

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sexuality, and gender. (Muehlenhard, Powch, Phelps, & Giusti, 1992, p. 24)

Thus, when women have attempted to resist the way they are treated, an important approach has been to challenge widely accepted definitions of violence, ex- panding these definitions to include events that were previously considered acceptable (Kelly & Radford, 1998): "All attempts to create change involve question- ing who decides 'what counts' as victimization and who defines its meaning and seriousness" (Kelly & Radford, 1998, p. 71).

In the past 3 decades, definitions of social problems have been influenced by a greater diversity of voices from underrepresented groups. During this period, there have been civil rights movements to call attention to discrimination based on race, gender, and sexual ori- entation. The women's movement has resulted in more women holding positions ofpower in government, ac- ademia, business, and the media. Consistent with the social constructionist perspective that greater power leads to greater influence over defining and framing social issues, women have had greater influence on how sexual and domestic violence is defined and un- derstood by the public and by social scientists. Exam- ining how definitions and explanations of sexual and domestic violence have changed over time illustrates how these concepts are socially constructed rather than fixed with any one, unchanging, uncontested meaning. We now summarize some of these changes.

A Brief History of the Social Construction of Sexual and

Domestic Violence

Thirty years ago, terms such as wife rape, date rape, wife beating, and courtship violence did not ex- ist (Bergen, 1998; Loseke, 1989). Violence was con- ceptualized as something that occurred between strangers rather than in families and other close rela- tionships (Bergen, 1998). The first type of intimate violence to be regarded as a serious social problem was child abuse. An article by Kempe, Silverman, Steele, Droegemueller, and Silver (1962) on the "bat- tered-child syndrome" was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, accompanied by a supportive editorial ("The Battered-Child Syn- drome," 1962)1 and heavy media coverage (Bergen,

Interestingly, this editorial implied that abortions are a form of child abuse: "By making abortions illegal except under limited cir- cumstances, civilized society now protects the child in utero. It should continue to give adequate protection through the early years of life when the child is still too young to defend himself' ("The Bat- tered-Child Syndrome," p. 42). This example highlights the socially constructed nature of what counts as abuse.

1998). Child abuse reporting laws soon were passed in state legislatures (Bergen, 1998). In her analysis of these events, Bergen attributed this rapid response2 to the fact that this issue was "safe": It concerned inno- cent children who did not provoke the violence. Other areas of intimate violence, however, were not addressed until the 1 970s or 1980s.

Evidence suggests that women have been abused by men throughout history. Often, such violence has been condoned and even explicitly legalized as an ac- ceptable way for husbands to discipline their wives, provided the husbands operated within certain limits. For example, the "rule of thumb," thought to have been instituted by Sir William Blackstone in 1768, al- lowed a husband to discipline his wife as long as he hit her with a stick no thicker than his thumb (Bergen, 1998). Blackstone, discussing English com- mon law, described the rationale for such a Lkw: If a husband needs to answer for his wife's misbehavior, it is reasonable that he have the power to restrain her by domestic chastisement (Bergen, 1998). English common law influenced U.S. law; for example, in 1824, a Mississippi court gave husbands the right to chastise their wives with corporal punishment (this policy was changed in 1894; Bergen, 1998).

English common law also influenced U.S. rape law. English common law treated rape as a property crime against men, with women being men's prop- erty (Brownmiller, 1975). One example concerns marital rape. In 17th century England, Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale declared that a husband cannot be guilty of raping his wife because once she has given her sexual consent in marriage, she cannot retract this consent (Bergen, 1998; Estrich, 1987).3 In the United States, rape traditionally was defined as a man's en- gaging in "sexual intercourse with a female, not his wife, by force and against her will" (Finkelhor & Yllo, 1985, p. 1). Thus, because of this marital ex- emption, it was legal for a husband to force his wife to have sex; this has changed only recently.

Even into the 1960s and 1970s, psychologists and sociologists paid little attention to sexual and domestic

2Society's response to child abuse was "rapid" compared with its response to other forms of intimate violence. However, the first case ofchild abuse to glean public attention occurred in 1874. Mary Ellen Connolly was abused and neglected by her stepparents. Police would not intervene, and there were no organizations to protect children from abuse. The child was finally removed from her home by the American Society for the Prevention ofCruelty to Animals (Bergen, 1998). From this perspective, passing these reporting laws by 1967 was a long time coming. Furthermore, the topic ofchild abuse is still contested today; "corporal punishment" of children is legal in the United States and is supported by many people (Gelles & Straus, 1988).

3Legal scholars debate whether Hale was reciting English com- mon law or custom. Either way, husbands could not be charged with raping their wives (Estrich, 1987).

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violence, and to the extent that they addressed it, they often blamed women (see Muehlenhard, Harney, & Jones, 1992, for a review). For example, Abrahamsen (1960) investigated rapists' wives to see how they had motivated their husbands to rape women. In his case study ofa rapist, Wille (1961) attributed the rapist's re- peated assaults to his mother's abandoning him, to his foster mother's incestuous and dominating style, to his female boss's unstable and dominating behavior, and to the victim's unconscious desire to be raped. Snell, Rosenwald, and Robey (1964) evaluated wife beaters' wives and concluded that the beatings fulfilled both the husband's and wife's needs: "she to be punished for her castrating activity; he to reestablish his masculine identity" (p. 111). They concluded that the wives were aggressive, masculine, frigid, and masochistic and that the wives called the police only when "a situation which she has fostered ... now appears out of control" (p. 111). Amir (1971) concluded that 19% of the forc- ible rapes reported in Philadelphia in 1958 and 1960 had been "victim precipitated," caused by women who had deviated from gender roles by engaging in behav- ior such as using indecent language, going to a man's residence, or attending a picnic where alcohol was present. MacDonald (1971) described women as invit- ing rape if they talked with strangers or worked in the garden in two-piece bathing suits. These social scien- tists' perspectives on gender roles and violence against women are evident in their research. They assumed that women provoked sexual and domestic violence, and they conducted research to "prove" that "fact." Their research served to buttress the social control of women's behavior.

The 1970s brought changes, however. In the early 1970s, a group of women in England, many of whom themselves had been battered, established the first shelter for battered women, Chiswick Women's Aid (Pizzey, 1974/1977). Feminists established the first such shelter in the United States in 1972 (Bergen, 1998). In 1974, Pizzey, an English grass-roots activ- ist and one of the founders of Chiswick Women's Aid, wrote Scream Quietly or the Neighbors Will Hear, the first book on wife abuse. Martin's 1976 book, Battered Wives, helped publicize wife abuse in the United States; Martin construed battering as a way for husbands to maintain their patriarchal domi- nance, establishing a new framework for conceptual- izing wife battering. By 1977, even Reader's Digest was describing wife beating as "one of this country's least recognized and most appalling social problems" (as cited in Loseke, 1989, p. 191). A few years later, Makepeace (1981) documented physical violence in college students' heterosexual relationships, a phe- nomenon he called "courtship violence." Battering in lesbian and gay relationships has only recently been acknowledged (Bergen, 1998).

Whereas feminist activists in England emphasized domestic violence, feminist activists in the United States emphasized rape (Bergen, 1998; Pizzey, 1974/1977).4 Griffin's 1971 article, "Rape: The All-American Crime," and Brownmiller's 1975 book, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, empha- sized the violent nature of rape, rape as a form of so- cial control over women, and the social construction of sexuality as an expression of male dominance in this culture. Through grass-roots activism, feminists established rape crisis centers to assist rape victims.

The early antirape movement, based on accepted knowledge about the nature of rape, focused on rape by strangers (Bergen, 1998). A few early studies did address acquaintance rape (e.g., Kanin, 1957, 1967), but they generated little public attention (Bergen, 1998). A 1982 Ms. magazine article on a hidden form of rape occurring on college campuses-known as "date rape"-generated a lot of attention, however (Bergen, 1998). Researchers such as Koss (e.g., Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987; Koss & Oros, 1982) and Russell (1984) conducted research showing that rape was much more common than had been realized, that most of these rapes were committed by acquain- tances, and that few of these rapes ever came to the attention of the criminal justice system.

Currently, there are more rape crisis centers and more shelters for battered women, although still not enough. Marital rape is now a crime in all 50 U.S. states, although in some states rape by a husband is defined more narrowly than rape by a stranger (Bergen, 1998; X, 1994). Research on sexual and do- mestic violence has proliferated, and researchers sel- dom blame women for their own victimization.

In summary, the way that social scientists and polit- ical activists have constructed violence has changed dramatically during the past 3 decades: Our images of who perpetrates violence now include acquaintances as well as strangers and undetected as well as con- victed offenders. Our explanations have moved from asking what the victim did wrong toward examining the perpetrator and society. Many controversies re- main, however, to which we now turn.

Current Controversies

Although we regard the changes over the last 30 years as positive, we do not mean to imply that social

4Pizzey (1974/1977) herselfthought that American feminists had it backward:

I knew [America] was one of the most violent countries in the world and that it had pioneered the studies on baby battering, but all that one ever read about was rape crisis centers. It seemed obvious to me that America had put the cart before the horse and that the huge publicity about rape (horrifying as it is) obscured the fact that theman who rapes is also the boy who as a child has been conditioned to see all women as objects for his service. (pp. 6-7)

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scientists or political activists have finally found the "true" definitions of sexual and domestic violence. From a social constructionist perspective, there is no such thing as a true definition. There are ongoing struggles to define sexual and domestic violence and to frame the ways in which we think about these problems.

Who Should Define These Problems?

Who has "the authority to define reality remains a key arena of political struggle" (Kelly & Radford, 1998, p. 75). What counts as sexual or domestic vio- lence can be decided by many people (e.g., legisla- tors, social scientists, perpetrators, victims), all with different implications.

One approach is to rely on legal definitions of sex- ual and domestic violence. Such definitions are com- pelling in that they are our official government- approved definitions, with the weight ofthe culture be- hind them. They convey an air of objectivity; they seem like the real definitions of these terms. There is nothing objective about the law, however. Laws are written by legislatures composed predominantly of White men from upper socioeconomic groups who frame these problems from their own perspectives. Furthermore, legislators create de jure definitions, but victims (who decide whether to report incidents to au- thorities), police and prosecutors (who decide whether to move cases through the criminal justice system), and juries (who decide whether to convict) all create de facto definitions. If an incident does not fit the defini- tion of any one of these groups, it will drop out of the legal system. Thus, cases that result in convictions are likely to reflect the narrowest and most stereotypic def- initions of sexual or domestic violence (Estrich, 1987; Holmstrom & Burgess, 1978). Examining the crimes of convicted offenders to draw conclusions about the nature of sexual and domestic violence perpetuates these narrow definitions.

In contrast, another approach is to allow the indi- viduals involved to define their own experiences. This approach at first glance might seem empowering to persons with less power than legislators or other officials, but in practice, it presents numerous diffi- culties. Whereas who is or is not a legislator or police officer is clear independent of anyone's definition of sexual or domestic violence, who is or is not involved in a violent incident is contingent on how violence is defined. For example, allowing perpetrators to define their own behavior is obviously problematic. People are reluctant to see themselves as violent (Baumeister, 1996/1997). Even convicted offenders, defined as perpetrators according to the exceedingly narrow definitions of the criminal justice system, are

reluctant to see themselves as violent (Dobash & Dobash, 1998; Ptacek, 1988; Scully, 1990). It might seem to make sense, though, to allow victims to de- fine their experiences. This idea is also complicated, however, because it is not always clear who is a vic- tim. The notion of allowing victims to label incidents themselves implies that it is clear a priori who is a victim and hence who is entitled to label the incident. Sometimes, however, the distinction between victims and perpetrators is contested; in many violent rela- tionships, both persons claim to be victims of the other person's aggression (Istar, 1996; Loseke, 1989; Marrujo & Kreger, 1996). We might assume that victims have broader defi-

nitions of sexual and domestic violence than do legis- lators, but this is not always the case. Sometimes, even women whose experiences meet legal defini- tions of rape do not regard themselves as rape vic- tims. Koss, Dinero, Seibel, and Cox (1988) identified women who had been raped, based on Ohio's legal definition of rape. Of these women, only 27% labeled their experiences as "rape."5 Warshaw (1994) pre- sented numerous interviews with women whose ex- periences met legal definitions of rape but who did not initially label their experiences as such.

There are several reasons why individuals whose experiences meet legal definitions of sexual or do- mestic violence would not use these labels for their own experiences. In our culture, there are vivid ste- reotypes about rape and battering. For example, rape is when a strange man with a knife jumps out of the bushes or a dark alley or breaks into a woman's home while she is sleeping in her own bed; battering is when an out-of-control man relentlessly beats his helpless wife, who is unable to leave him because she is economically and emotionally dependent on him, and she cowers and cries rather than fighting back. Such images come from laws, movies, magazines, jokes, pornography, and so forth (Burt, 1991; Loseke, 1989; Reinholtz, Muehlenhard, Phelps, & Satterfield, 1995). Individuals whose experiences do not match one of these stereotypes might not regard themselves as victims of rape or battering (Kahn, Mathie, & Torgler, 1994). Consistent with the stereotype of the

5There is some disagreement about whether the component of Koss et al.'s (1988) definition ofrape involving alcohol and drugs ac- tually corresponded to Ohio's legal definition of rape (for a discus- sion, see Muehlenhard et al., 1994). When this component is included in the definition, Koss et al. found that 15% of college women had been raped; when this component is excluded from the definition, the prevalence is 1 1% (Koss& Cook, 1998). Thus, this component ofthe definition cannot account for the large percentage ofwomen who met Koss et al.'s definition ofrape but who did not construe their experi- ences as "rape." A substantial percentage ofwomen who reported ex- periencing sexual intercourse, oral or anal sex, or penetration with objects because they were physically forced still did not describe their experiences as rape.

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stranger rapist described previously, Koss et al. (1988) found that victims of acquaintance rape were less likely than victims of stranger rape (as Koss et al., 1988, defined it) to label their experiences as rape (23% vs. 55%, respectively).6

Defining oneself as a victim may also threaten a person's self-image. Phillips (1996, as cited in Kahn, 1998) interviewed women and found that, although almost all had experienced sexual violence, none la- beled her experiences as rape. Doing so would have threatened their self-image as "a together, in control, agentic woman who could take care of herself' (p. 5). Furthermore, there was a lack of fit between the sim- plified ways in which the women viewed victimiza- tion and the complexity of their own experiences.

Defining someone as an unacknowledged victim of sexual or domestic violence presents a paradox. Feminist researchers value letting women define their own experiences but also advocate for broader defini- tions of rape than the stereotypes portray. This results in situations in which feminist researchers classify women as rape victims, but the women do not clas- sify themselves as rape victims. Gilbert (as cited in Kahn, 1991) called this an insult to women: "This implies women don't know when they're being raped until a researcher tells them. ... This is insulting" (p. 7C). Similarly, Gutmann (1991) asked, "If you have to convince a woman that she has been raped, how meaningful is that conclusion?" (p. 219). Both Gilbert and Gutmann, however, argued for an ex- tremely narrow definition of rape: Gilbert (1991) ar- gued that feminist researchers' definitions of rape were too broad, resulting in a "phantom epidemic of sexual assault" (p. 54); he reportedly told students that "comparing real rape to date rape is like compar- ing cancer to the common cold" (X, 1994, p. 152). Gutmann argued that men should not be considered guilty of rape unless they actually intended to commit rape; she advocated excusing men who interpreted women's refusals as foreplay. Consistent with the so- cial constructionist perspective, then, the issue of who should define sexual and domestic violence is controversial, inextricably related to politics and power.

How To Define Sexual and Domestic Violence

How words are defined can have a powerful effect, yet this effect can be so subtle that often it is not appar- ent even to those who use the words. Loseke (1989)

presented an example of this phenomenon. The No- vember 23, 1983, issue of Christianity Today (as cited in Loseke, 1989) said the following about defining wife abuse: "While definitions of wife abuse vary ... the evidence of extreme violence done to women ren- ders any definition moot" (p. 201). Analyzing this statement, Loseke wrote, "The preceding quote argues that definitions do not matter-yet this writer already had assumed that 'wife abuse' is about 'extreme vio- lence done to women"' (p. 201).

Loseke (1989) examined how wife abuse was con- structed in popular magazines. Wife abuse was first mentioned in popular magazines in 1974. Few maga- zine articles defined wife abuse explicitly, but many defined it implicitly by describing it or by typifying it through personal stories. In the definitions they con- structed, wife abuse involved extreme physical vio- lence (beating, choking, threatening with knives) and extreme emotional violence (a husband's locking his wife in their home while he was at work or threaten- ing to lock her in a coffin-like box). This violence oc- curred on a continuing basis; grew worse with time; resulted in physical injuries (broken bones, bleeding, permanent injuries) and emotional trauma (living in extreme terror or domestic hell); and ultimately af- fected the children, who witnessed it, and future gen- erations, who would repeat the cycle (Loseke, 1989). The attacks were described as irrational, occurring even though the wives did nothing wrong. Wives of respectable, economically successful men were not exempt from this problem. The definitions con- structed in popular magazines matched the defini- tions constructed by experts: Wife abuse involves severe, repeated, and consequential violence (Loseke, 1989).

According to Loseke (1989), limiting wife abuse to extreme violence ignores the "normal" violence in American homes: the pushing, shoving, and slapping that leaves few, if any, injuries and that is regarded as normal or at least tolerable:

Such a definition encourages public support since it al- lows Americans simultaneously to [abhor] the ex- treme violence of "wife abuse" while maintaining be- liefs that some violence is "tolerable"; it allows Americans simultaneously to feel sympathy for the pure victims of "wife abuse" while maintaining that other women do not deserve sympathy because they seem implicated in their victimization. (p. 202)

Thus, such a definition does not challenge the idea that some violence is acceptable toward somewomen under some conditions.

Feminist activists have developed alternate con- ceptualizations of domestic violence that emphasize one person's power and control over another person

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6Victims of acquaintance and stranger rape differed in how they labeled their experiences but not in their subsequent depression, anxi- ety, problems with relationships and sex, or thoughts of suicide.

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rather than extreme physical violence. In a model used by the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (n.d.), the following are all considered components of domestic violence against women in heterosexual re- lationships: emotional abuse (making a woman feel guilty or bad about herself, calling her names, humili- ating her); economic abuse (preventing a woman from getting or keeping a job, giving her an allow- ance, not letting her know about family income); iso- lating her (controlling what a woman does, whom she talks with, or where she goes; using jealously to jus- tify control over her); using children (making a woman feel guilty about the children, threatening to take the children away); and even using "male privi- lege" (a man's treating a woman like a servant, mak- ing all the big decisions, and being the one who defines men's and women's roles), as well as more overtly violent acts of intimidation, threats, and phys- ical and sexual violence. A similar model for domes- tic violence in lesbian relationships also includes acts such as threatening to "out" a partner, questioning if a partner is a "real" lesbian, enforcing internalized homophobia, and claiming that the domestic violence must be "mutual abuse" because women cannot abuse other women. Using these models, the line be- tween abusive and nonabusive relationships is not as clear as it would be with narrower definitions requir- ing severe physical violence or injuries. Many rela- tionships include name-calling, jealousy, and male privilege. When only the most blatantly violent be- haviors count, subtle forms of power and control be- come acceptable.

From the perspective of a power-and-control model of domestic violence, there are numerous problems with the physical violence model of domes- tic violence. For example, focusing on physical vio- lence rather than on power and control can lead to interventions in which the therapist recommends that a battered woman alter her behavior to do her part in breaking the cycle of violence (Adams, 1988). Fol- lowing this advice, the batterer agrees to stop batter- ing, and the victim agrees to stop whatever behaviors had provoked the battering (e.g., nagging, withhold- ing sex). In effect, then, the therapist is complicit with the batterer in controlling the victim's behavior.

Similar points can be made for sexual violence. Limiting the definition of sexual violence to situa- tions involving extreme physical force means that "normal" power and control get treated as acceptable. For example, the most common strategy men use to have sexual intercourse with unwilling women is ig- noring their refusals without using physical force (Muehlenhard & Linton, 1987; Rapaport & Burkhart, 1984). The woman may not resist because of fear, confusion, or embarrassment about making a scene (Warshaw, 1994). If she does not resist, force is un-

necessary. Such incidents do not fit definitions that require extreme physical force.

There are other models for thinking about sexual coercion, however. Like the alternate models of do- mestic violence discussed previously, many of these models focus on power and control rather than on physical force. Kelly and Radford (1998; also see Kelly, 1987) counted a wide variety of acts as sexual violence: rape, pressure to have sex, obscene phone calls, sexual harassment, flashing, and so forth. In this model, "the more common, everyday abuses women experience [are linked to] the less common experiences labelled as crimes" (Kelly, 1987, p. 59), with the common factor being that "men use a variety of methods of abuse, coercion, and force to control women" (Kelly, 1987, p. 58). With the possible ex- ception of sexual murder, Kelly and Radford (1998) declined to rank the seriousness of these experiences. Instead, they regarded the impact of the experiences, some of which occur repeatedly, as varying depend- ing on a complex amalgam of individual and contex- tual factors. If all these acts are counted as sexual violence, the distinctions between "victims" and other women becomes blurred because almost all women have experienced some of these incidents. Rather than just a few women being victimized, all women are affected by "normal" gender relations as currently constructed in this culture.

Another approach is to define sexual violence as sex obtained without the other person's consent rather than as sex obtained using force. Such a model has been in- troduced into the legal systems of Canada and parts of Australia, where responsibility for explicitly seeking sexual consent is placed on the accused (Kelly & Radford, 1998). What constitutes consent, however, can be contested. An individual's freedom to refuse or consent to sex is often limited. For example, economic need may pressure a woman into a marriage and sexual activity in which she might otherwise choose not to en- gage. If a woman believes, perhaps correctly, that re- fusing to have sex with her husband will lead to divorce and that divorce will lead to economic hard- ship, perhaps even homelessness (Liebow, 1993), how free is she to refuse sex? "When material conditions preclude 99 percent ofyour options, it is not meaning- ful to call the remaining 1 percent-what you are do- ing-your choice ... consent is not a meaningful concept" (MacKinnon, 1990, p. 4). A group known as Women Against Sex argued that, in this culture, women are never really free to give or refuse sexual consent because sex is part of a "package deal-with love, security, emotional support, and sex all going to- gether" (A Southern Women's Writing Collective [ASWWC], 1990, p. 147). Because rejecting sex is likely to result in losing the entire package, they argued that sex is in fact compulsory for all women.

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Other writers have called attention to subtle yet powerful social pressures that make individuals less free to refuse or consent to sex. Gavey (1992) wrote about the negative labeling of women who refuse sex (e.g., "sexually uptight," p. 340) and the "tyranny ofin- ferred 'normality"' (p. 331), which dictates how often and under what circumstances "normal" women should have sex. These "technologies of heterosexual coercion" (p. 329) can hide sexual coercion even from those who are coerced (Gavey, 1992). Morgan's (1974/1992) definition ofrape even included sex initi- ated by the female victim if she initiated it out of "fear of losing the guy, fear ofbeing thought a prude, fear of hurting his fragile feelings,fear" (p. 84). MacKinnon (1987) wrote, "Politically, I call it rape every time a woman has sex and feels violated" (p. 82). She was not suggesting that men be arrested as rapists based on this criterion; instead, she proposed this definition to en- courage people to reevaluate and change their sexual relationships. Women Against Sex has taken perhaps the most

extreme position in broadening the concept of sexual violence. They argued that all sex subordinates women because sexuality has been constructed by the patriarchy. Thus, "while a woman might evade em- pirical force, she literally cannot evade conceptual or definitional sexual force" (ASWWC, 1990, p. 142). They argued that even if women feel desire, this de- sire is constructed by the patriarchy and is hence op- pressive to women. They argued for radical celibacy, rejecting all sex, even lesbian sex and masturbation.

Whether an act is considered to be sexual violence depends not only on the type of coercion involved but also the sexual acts involved. Most people consider forced sexual intercourse, and perhaps fellatio or anal sex, to count as sexual violence. Other sexual behav- iors, such as clitoral stimulation, are less likely to be considered important enough to count. Such defini- tions reflect how sexuality is constructed in our cul- ture. Many people consider penile-vaginal intercourse the only form of "real" sex (Chalker, 1994; Sanders & Reinisch, 1999; Valdez & Muehlenhard, 1998). This may occur in part because penile-vaginal intercourse is the only sexual act that can lead to procreation and in part because of a phallocentric perspective on sexual- ity. That is, even though the clitoris is more relevant than the vagina to female sexual arousal, defining "real" sex as vaginal penetration may occur because the vagina is more relevant to male sexual arousal, and in our culture, sex is defined from a male perspective: "It seems reasonable to assume that men have a vested interest in the doctrine that the vagina is more relevant to sexuality than the clitoris is. The vagina is relevant to male sexuality" (Rotkin, 1972/1986, p. 386). "Defi- nitions broad enough to include sexual acts between two women, which cannot involve penile penetration,

are beyond the scope of what many people regard as serious sexual assault" (Muehlenhard, Powch, et al., 1992, p. 29).

Generally speaking, feminists have broadened the definitions of what counts as sexual or domestic vio- lence. None of these definitions is without contro- versy. Some criticism comes from conservatives such as Gilbert (1991), discussed previously, but other criticism comes from feminists. For example, Roiphe (1993) criticized broad definitions of rape, saying that "the suggestion lurking behind [such broad defi- nitions] of rape is that men are not just physically but intellectually and emotionally more powerful than women" (p. 68; see Muehlenhard, Sympson, Phelps, & Highby, 1994, for a critique of Roiphe's argu- ments). Few feminists accept the radical celibacy ad- vocated by Women Against Sex. Thus, although most feminists applaud the expansion of the definitions of sexual and domestic violence over the past 30 years, there is no consensus as to how broad these defini- tions should be.

The Role of Gender in Defining Sexual and Domestic Violence

According to popular magazines, the role of gender in domestic violence is clear: Domestic violence is something that men do to women. The husbands in these magazine stories are described as stereotypically masculine with macho values, and the wives are de- scribed as stereotypically feminine-selfless, fearful, dependent (Loseke, 1989). When police respond to ac- tual domestic violence calls, however, the situation is not always so clear. Police often hear reports ofmutual violence, or ofno violence, or sometimes ofwomen at- tacking men (Loseke, 1989).

At least 30 studies have shown that women report using physical violence against their partners as fre- quently as-or more frequently than-men do (Currie, 1998). The data from most ofthese studies came from the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS; Gelles & Straus, 1988). This scale asks respondents ifthey or their part- ners have ever used a series of tactics during disagree- ments and fights with their partners. These tactics are classified into three categories: rational discussion (e.g., discussing an issue calmly, getting information to back up their side); verbal or nonverbal expressions of anger (e.g., insulting or swearing, sulking or refus- ing to talk, throwing something); and physical violence (e.g., pushing, kicking, beating up). This scale is gen- der neutral: Women and men are asked the same ques- tions. In the studies mentioned previously, at least as many women as men reported engaging in these be- haviors. Does this mean that women are at least as vio- lent as men-that at least as many women as men engage in domestic violence?

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This research has generated debate among domes- tic violence researchers and activists. Critics have ar- gued that we cannot determine who has or has not engaged in domestic violence simply by their reports of who hit whom (Currie, 1998; Kurz, 1998). Instead, we need to know about the motives for and conse- quences of the violence. The CTS does not ask about this information.7

Currie's (1998) qualitative study of the meaning of violence to the women and men involved in it il- lustrated how complicated this issue is. Currie gave Canadian female and male college students the CTS and, in addition, asked them to write explanations of the incidents they reported on the CTS to help put the incidents into context. Men actually reported experi- encing more violent incidents than did women. How- ever, women reported being more likely than men to miss school because of the violence, and only women reported a need for medical attention. More men (72.2%) than women (53.5%) said they did not report the incidents because they saw them as "trivial."

In many instances, both women's and men's quali- tative descriptions downplayed the incidents reported on the CTS. When men downplayed violent incidents they had experienced, Currie (1998) interpreted this as evidence that the incidents had not really been that bad; she concluded that, when men complete the CTS, they "upgrade" minor incidents, making them appear worse than they really were. When women downplayed violent incidents they had experienced, however, Currie interpreted this to mean that the women were excusing or rationalizing men's violent behavior; she concluded that the CTS underestimates the violence that women experience. Perhaps she is right, but perhaps some men and some women "up- grade" incidents on the CTS, whereas other women and men minimize the violence they experience.

Currie (1998) suggested that gender stereotypes are inextricably related to what behaviors get defined as violent:

On one hand, women normalize male violence as "un- derstandable" or "excusable," a response that con- forms to the notion ofmen as typically aggressive. On the other hand, because women are traditionally typi- fied as passive, violent behavior on their part is notable or remarkable although not a serious threat to men. In short, the way gender plays itself out in heterosexual violence is far more complex than can be captured

7Data suggest that women are more seriously injured than men and that women and men often have different motives for striking their partners: Violent wives typically report self-defense or retalia- tory reasons for their violence, whereas violent husbands more often report external or situational factors or coercive and controlling rea- sons (Hamberger & Potente, 1994; White & Kowalski, 1994).

through research designed to "count" violent inci- dents. (p. 107)

Currie concluded that ultimately this is a political rather than an empirical question: Whether domestic violence should best be characterized as "male violence" or "mutual combat" depends on "whose definition counts. From this perspective, answers to the question 'who is violent' are not empirical, but rather political, because they are linked to larger issues surrounding the produc- tion of knowledge" (p. 107).

Unlike domestic violence researchers, sexual vio- lence researchers have almost exclusively asked women about their experiences as victims and men about their experiences as perpetrators, in effect defin- ing sexual violence as something that men do to women. Studies that have asked women and men if they have experienced coercive sex generally have found that fewer men than women report such experi- ences, although the percentages vary depending on the wording of the questions. For example, in one study, more men than women reported engaging in "un- wanted" sexual intercourse (Muehlenhard & Cook, 1988); many of these incidents, however, seemed un- wanted in some ways but wanted in other ways (e.g., sex engaged in because of peer pressure; to gain more experience; to be more popular; or to avoid appearing shy, afraid, inexperienced, or homosexual).

Researchers who have asked both women and men about their experiences with sexual coercion gener- ally have found that, on the average, men who report experiencing coercive sex report less serious conse- quences than do women who report experiencing co- ercive sex (Muehlenhard & Long, 1988; Satterfield & Muehlenhard, 1996; Struckman-Johnson, 1988). For example, Satterfield and Muehlenhard (1996) asked women and men if they had ever been in a situation in which someone started doing something sexual to them without their consent and they decided to go along with it, even though they did not want to. Sig- nificantly more of the women (58%) than the men (26%) reported such an experience. In their subse- quent reactions to the event, women reported more confusion and anger, self-blame, and depression than did men; men reported more thoughts that the inci- dent had been either inconsequential or fun than did women. These results indicate that, although women and men reported experiencing the same type of inci- dent, their experiences differed, with women report- ing more negative experiences than men, on the average. The concept of "the average" is problematic, however, because there was considerable variation among women and among men, with both women and men spanning the entire range of responses on most scales. Some men reported more trauma than did some women. Thus, any generalization constru-

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ing women's reactions as serious and men's reactions as trivial-or treating women and men as monolithic groups-would have been inadequate.

Both gender-specific and gender-neutral definitions of sexual and domestic violence have implications. Gender-specific definitions that include only men's vi- olence toward women ignore men who are victimized by women and ignore women and men victimized by persons ofthe same sex, including those in lesbian and gay relationships, Thus, such definitions perpetuate gender-role stereotypes that men are invulnerable, in control, and sexually insatiable, whereas women are vulnerable, passive, and merely sexual gatekeepers, ei- ther acquiescing to or declining men's initiatives but having no sexual agency themselves (Muehlenhard, 1998). Furthermore, by ignoring lesbian and gay rela- tionships, such definitions perpetuate compulsory het- erosexuality, a term Rich (1980) used to describe the cultural context that ignores lesbianism and presents heterosexuality as women's only option.

Gender-neutral definitions, in contrast, acknowl- edge men who are victimized by women and acknowl- edge women and men who are victimized by others of the same sex. Thus, they challenge gender-role stereo- types and compulsory heterosexuality. Ignoring gen- der, however, ignores how gender has been constructed in our culture. Merely looking at fre- quency rates without considering what the incidents mean to the women and men involved is likely to be misleading. Ignoring gender also ignores the impact of violence on all women and men in society, even those not directly involved (e.g., women fear rape signifi- cantly more than do men, which limits women's free- dom; Gordon & Riger, 1989; Poirier & Muehlenhard, 1998). Numerous feminist authors have critiqued gender-neutral approaches to social problems: MacKinnon (1990) wrote, "Gender neutrality means that you cannot take gender into account ... neutrality enforces a non-neutral status quo" (p. 12). Along simi- lar lines, Rush (1990) argued that gender neutrality is a strategy used in the backlash against feminism: "Gen- der neutrality is rooted in the idea that both genders, male and female, are equally oppressed and that any at- tempt to hold men and male institutions accountable for transgressions against women is no longer fashion- able nor acceptable" (p. 170). Rhode (1990) argued that, by focusing on gender similarities, feminists may "risk reinforcing a value structure they seek to chal- lenge. Affirmations of similarity between women and men may inadvertently universalize or validate norms ofthe dominant social group, norms that have been in- attentive to women's interests, experiences, and per- spectives" (p. 3).

Whether sexual and domestic violence should be defined as gender specific or gender neutral is an ongo- ing struggle among researchers and activists. "How-

ever commonplace the term male violence is to femi- nist researchers and activists today, gendering violence against women has been and remains a protracted struggle" (Currie, 1998, p. 97). Kurz (1998) identified gender-neutral terms likefamily violence, intimate vio- lence, and domestic violence as one of the factors that prevent us from seeing how violence against women permeates society and affects all aspects of women's lives. Kurz argued that "these constructs convey the impression that violence is directed by all family mem- bers against all other family members, and they mask the facts ofwho is being violent to whom" (p. 197).

To illustrate the negative consequences of using gender-neutral models of domestic violence, advo- cates of the male violence model describe what hap- pened when Steinmetz (1977-1978), using data from the CTS, introduced the idea of the battered husband syndrome, which she claimed was the most underreported form of family violence. The topic was picked up by the media, and estimates of the number of battered husbands were soon exaggerated (Gelles & Straus, 1988). Conservative politicians used these claims as an excuse to decrease funding for shelters for battered women, arguing that if women are as vi- olent as men, there is no justification for shelters for battered women. In Chicago, this rationale was used to block funding for a shelter for battered women and their children. In New Hampshire, resources were di- rected away from battered women's shelters to open shelters for battered husbands, which have subse- quently closed because of a "complete absence of cli- entele" (Currie, 1998, p. 109). Furthermore, the discourse on battered husbands and mutual combat can make it more difficult for battered women to es- cape their violent relationships "by reducing the plau- sibility of their 'victim status' in the public's mind" (Currie, 1998, p. 99).

Gendering domestic violence, defining men as vio- lent and women as victims, also has been criticized, however. Domestic violence among same-sex couples has been "virtually ignored" by researchers, in part be- cause of "rampant heterosexism among social scien- tists" (Bergen, 1998, p. 114), who defined the term family violence as referring only to traditional hetero- sexual couples, and in part because of the belief that women would not batter other women and that any vio- lence between men would be a fair fight (Bergen, 1998). The few studies that have been done on this topic suggest that domestic violence occurs in lesbian and gay relationships at about the same rates as in het- erosexual relationships (Elliott, 1996).

Elliott (1996) criticized the gendered model of vio- lence used by the battered women's movement:

The basic philosophy of the battered women's move- ment [has been] that patriarchy and sexism are respon-

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sible for all violence. Thus, of course, women cannot abuse and men cannot be victims.... Because it was so difficult to explain away women as batterers and men as victims when using the movement's established philosophy of violence, gays and lesbians were pur- posefully silenced. (p. 6)

Similarly, Letellier (1996) wrote that "gender-based heterosexist theories ofbattering preclude the possi- bility of male victims or female perpetrators of vio- lence" (p. 75). Renzetti (1996) recommended that, to make domestic violence services truly welcoming to battered lesbians, gender-neutral materials should be used. These critiques are illustrated by Currie's (1998) study ofviolence experienced by Canadian college stu- dents. This study was extensive, involving 4,623 ques- tionnaires distributed to students across campus. How- ever, Currie did not include violence in lesbian and gay relationships in her study, saying that this would re- quire "an entirely different approach and research methodology" (p. 109). Violence in lesbian and gay re- lationships does not fit easily into gender-specific defi- nitions of domestic violence.8

In summary, there is no one correct way to define sexual and domestic violence. Various definitions re- flect the interests of heterosexual men, heterosexual women, and lesbians and gay men. Clearly, who gets to define violence has tremendous influence on the conclusions one can draw from research and on the so- cial policies based on those conclusions.

Summary and Conclusions

Howwe define violence has important implications. Terms like date rape and wife beating provide people with words to describe and understand their experi- ences. Definitions ofthese terms influence what behav- iors are considered unacceptable-worthy of public condemnation, research, and legislative action-and what behaviors are considered acceptable and normal. Narrowly drawn definitions ofviolence mean that these problems will be perceived as rare, attributed to a few deviant individuals. Broader definitions, in contrast, mean that these problems will be perceived as wide- spread, which challenges the status quo.

It would be satisfying ifwe could provide the "true" definitions of sexual and domestic violence. There is no such thing as a true, objective definition, however. Definitions reflect the interests of the people who cre- ate and promote them. Words mean whatever people with power agree that they mean.

It also would be satisfying if we could at least say that, over the last 30 years, definitions have im- proved-that we have made progress in how we de- fine these issues. Terms like progress or improvement are meaningless without a specific goal, however. To say that changes in definitions represent progress would imply that there is one goal that ev- eryone is trying to achieve or one perspective on which everyone agrees. This is seldom the case. For example, in the past 30 years, the definitions of rape used by many people have expanded to include situa- tions that previously would not have counted as rape. Is this progress because these broader definitions in- clude the experiences of more women and men and no longer accept a status quo in which a certain amount of sexual coercion is accepted as just part of life? Or have these definitions been broadened too far so that they trivialize the word rape and construct women as passive and unable to stand up to men? We cannot say that a particular definition represents progress without specifying what we consider to be progress. Our specification of what we consider prog- ress would be based on our definition reflecting our interests.

Social scientists are in a powerful position to con- struct terms. In research, writings, and lectures to stu- dents, we often construct concepts either explicitly or implicitly. Sometimes we define terms explicitly by stating definitions or creating operational definitions; at other times, we define terms implicitly by the exam- ples we choose to typify a concept. We also help con- struct concepts by selecting which research questions to ask and which variables to study. In all these ways, we contribute to the cultural debate about how these terms will be defined. We urge all social scientists to think about the

power they have to construct these concepts. We urge them to consider who benefits, who loses, and what is implied through the questions they choose to ask and the way they define terms. Clearly, definitions are cre- ated and modified by people; this is readily apparent given how the definitions of sexual and domestic vio- lence have changed over the past 30 years. Because of the importance of definitions in framing social prob- lems, the struggle to promote some definitions over others will continue, and social scientists will continue their role in shaping concepts. This role is inevitable; carrying out this role oblivious to the potential implica- tions of these actions is not.

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