2.1 The UK Studies
2.1 The UK Studies
In Britain,there are many types of studies on domestic violence:on prevalence,attitudes,experiences,and responses of the public and the professions (Hanmer et al.,2000;Hester et al.,2000;Skinner et al.,2005).To begin,I will consider only examples of research on prevalence,experiences of domestic violence,and attitudes of victims.I will look at both official records and academic studies,in order to make symmetrical comparisons with Chinese
research.The studies I will describe deal,first,with the statistics published within the British Crime Survey (BCS) organised by the British government(Mirlees-Black,1999;Walby &Allen,2004),then with more qualitative data,including Mooney's (2000) study and Hanmer et al.'s (2000) study.According to the BCS,we can see particularly that the prevalence of domestic violence remains high.Mooney's study focuses mainly on victims' experiences in dealing with different levels of physical,psychological and sexual violence.Hanmer et al.'s (2000) study also investigates women's personal experience of domestic violence.
2.1.1 Data from the BCS
The British Crime Survey (BCS) is carried out every five years by the government.It is a very important source of information,not just about levels of crime but about public perceptions of,and attitudes to crime.The results of this survey play an important role in informing Home Office policy.Since 1996,the BCS has included the findings of a new computerised self-completion component on domestic violence (Mirlees-Black,1999).The questionnaire was designed to maximise victims' willingness to report domestic assaults and minimise threats.The questionnaire was updated and extended for the 2001 survey (Walby &Allen,2004).It has provided the most reliable findings on the extent of domestic violence in England and Wales to date.The BCS encourages reporting even those incidents victims do not define as 'crimes'.The questionnaire covers a range of violent behaviours against women and men aged 16 to 59,including physical assaults and frightening threats and other forms of emotional abuse used by current and former partners (Mirrlees-Black,1999),and now also harassment and stalking (Walby&Allen,2004).The analysis of these surveys is shown below,focusing on prevalence and experience of domestic violence (Mirrlees-Black,1999;Walby&Allen,2004):
Table 2.1.1:Mirrlees-Black (1999) and Walby et al.(2004)'s studies
According to Table 2.1.1,we can see that Mirrlees-Black (1999) and Walby et al.'s (2004) studies were an investigation among women and men aged 16 to 59.From the data,we can conclude that inter-personal violence which comprises crimes and behaviours such as domestic violence,sexual assault and stalking is widespread in the UK.In particular,inter-personal violence as a concentrated phenomenon tends to show extremely high levels of repeat victimisation.There were 6.6 million incidents of domestic physical assault,including 2.9 million incidents resulting in injury,and about 7 million were frightening threats (non-physical violence)(Mirrlees-Black,1999).There were 12.9 million incidents of domestic violence against women,with 2.5 million against men (Walby et al.,2004).The total of incidents reported by Mirrlees-Black and Walby et al.'s studies was different(13.6 million and 15.4 million respectively).The proportion of domestic incidents reported in 2001 was higher than in 1996,increasing by 1.8 million incidents over that period.Accordingly,academics point out that domestic violence is a serious social issue today (Dobash &Dobash,1998;Hague &Malos,2005;Hanmer,2000;Hester et al.,2000;Lee &Stanko,2003;Mooney,2000).
These data also indicate that women are the main victims and suffered the most injury from domestic violence.For example,Mirrlees-Black's (1999) data shows that the proportion of female victims (23%),reporting physical assault,was higher than male victims (15%).Female victims (26%) also experienced threats more than male victims (17%).Looking at Walby et al.'s (2004) data,we can also see that half of women (48%) experienced not only physical assault but also frightening threats.In comparing the two groups (women and men),one in five women and one in ten men have been victims of domestic violence.In such violence,47 per cent of females suffered physical assaults,while 31 per cent of males did so (Mirrlees-Black,1999).Mirrlees-Black's (1999) data also shows that the victims were injured in 41 per cent of incidents.But women (47%) were more likely to be injured than men (31%).
From another angle,we can also see that although women are primarily the victims of assault,they are less likely to suffer in silence.For example,31 per cent of female victims and 63 per cent of male victims had not told their experience of the worst incidents to others (Walby et al.,2004).Accordingly,we can infer that 59 per cent of female victims and 37 per cent of male victims may tell their sufferings to others (directly related to the number suffering domestic violence).Perhaps,the higher the number of victims experiencing domestic violence is,the more likely they are to speak out.
From Mirrlees-Black's (1999) and Walby and Allen's (2004) research,we can see that the studies not only cover physical violence but also non-physical violence(such as emotional or financial or threatening violence) which appears to take place still more frequently.For example,half of women (48%) who have suffered physical assault reported that they have also been subjected to frightening threats and nearly half (41%) to emotional or financial abuse.Of the men reporting having been subjected to domestic violence,only nine per cent reported experienced frightening threats and 28 per cent emotional or financial abuse (Walby et al.,2004).In respect to psychological or emotional abuse,women suffered such violence frequently.The proportion of psychological violence female victims (37%) experienced was overall higher (27%) than for male victims (10%).Accordingly,the proportion of nonphysical violence or psychological violence is higher than that of physical violence.Psychological violence,as academics and practitioners suggest,is a very common form of suffering (Horley,1988;Kelly,1988;Mooney,2000;Smith,1989;and Yan,2004).It also influences victims' mental health seriously.Nearly all victims said that they were upset by such experiences (Mirrlees-Black,1999).
Both studies also reveal current or post-domestic violence occurring between men and women,including children.In Mirrlees-Black's (1999) study,victims suffered domestic violence from their current or former partners.In Walby et al.'s(2004) study,female victims who had to see their former partners because of their joint child care arrangements experienced assault from the former partners.Twentynine per cent reported that their children had been threatened,and,in one per cent of cases,the perpetrator had hurt the children.The course of violence within the post-domestic or cohabiting relationship is thus a prominent issue,which cannot be neglected.
2.1.2 Mooney's study
Mooney's North London Domestic Violence Survey (NLDVS) in 1994 (Mooney,2000) was a response to the need for better information on the extent of domestic violence.NLDVS was built on the insights of feminist research which they applied within a random survey large enough to make possible cross-tabulations by age,class and ethnicity.NLDVS is still the largest survey centred solely on domestic violence to take place in the UK.
The principle of method for NLDVS was to use a variation of the victimisation surveys in order to deal with the specific problems against domestic violence.Domestic violence has been recognised as a crime.Perpetrators using domestic violence violate victims,which breaks the law.Therefore,this survey typically involves questioning a sample of the population in order to assess the hidden figure of many crimes,including attention to social and geographical patterning of problems,family difficulties and domestic violence.NLDVS employed well-trained interview teams who understood and were committed to tackling the problem of domestic violence.The survey was local in focus,yet large in scope.One thousand individuals were interviewed in an area of North London.The individuals were drawn from a wide spectrum of age ranges,ethnicities and classes.Among the inner city inhabitants surveyed,half identified themselves as being of English,Scottish or Welsh origin,while the rest were mostly of Irish or African Caribbean background,with some respondents citing Cypriot,Asian and African origin.The data about experience and attitudes to domestic violence will be shown below:
• Ninety-two per cent of women consider that physical violence results in actual bodily harm to be domestic violence.
• The vast majority of women (80%) see mental cruelty as domestic violence.
• More women (68%) define the behaviour of domestic violence to include being threatened with physical force or violence,even though no actual physical violence occurs.
• Seventy-six per cent of women 'made to have sex without giving consent' see this as a part of domestic violence.
• Seventy-six per cent of women consider domestic violence to include physical violence such as grabbing,pushing,shaking,which does not result in actual bodily harm.(Mooney,2000:31)
According to Mooney's study,we can look at women's experiences and awareness of domestic violence.In the light of such women's experiences and attitudes,we can see that Mooney covered the three aspects of physical,psychological and sexual violence.In particular,the challenges of defining psychological violence were reflected in her study.Individual respondents consistently pointed out that threats also belonged to domestic violence although the non-physical threats did not cause actual bodily injury.Eighty per cent of the women agreed that mental cruelty constituted domestic violence.The work suggested that the phenomenon of mental abuse is more common than actual physical violence (Mooney,2000) and that its impact was not secondary to actual physical harm.As a woman said,'in my opinion mental cruelty is equally as bad as physical violence,except the scars,do not show and never heal' (Mooney,2000:33).Another woman reported that the 'mental abuse does the damage really' (Mooney,2000).Although defining psychological violence is difficult,victims experienced it and defined it based on their experiences.
2.1.3 Hanmer et al.'s Study
Hanmer and colleagues' study looked at women's experiences of domestic violence using a qualitative approach (Hanmer et al.,2000).Their analysis is from interviews held with 60 women who lived in refuges and in the community.Among them,half of the women interviewed had personal or family origins from the Asian subcontinent,primarily Pakistan,but also from Bangladesh and India.The rest of the thirty women were not completely homogenous in terms of personal and family origins,but nearly all were white and saw their origins as within the location area of the interviews.Female victims (Hanmer et al.,2000) explained domestic violence as follows:
• Women describe major benefits gained by men through the use of violence.
• 'The more violence he did to me,the happier he would be'.
• 'He is happy with me;he does love me;he doesn't want no one else to get my feelings.He is a baby to me because I've seen him upset and I know the way he feels and he's come to me for help.I know he does need me and he's nobody else to turn to'.
• 'He is so jealous I've even been accused of knocking about with his own dad! That's how jealous he is,but he's really caring with it as well.There is no way on earth he wants anyone else to have me,no way.That's because he cares.If I ever left him,he'd literally kill me' (Hanmer et al.,2000:11-12).
According to the women's experiences shown in Hanmer et al.'s study,we can see that there is an issue of gender and power in domestic violence.The female victims felt that men control women by the violence.Happiness for men is often built on women's pain,as in the above description,'the more violence he did to me,the happier he would be' (Hanmer et al.,2000:12).The male's behaviour is seen as extremely selfish and cruel.The study has also shown that abused women often blamed themselves and forgave their perpetrators.One abused woman considered her partner as a 'baby'.So,this woman seemed to forgive her husband and tolerated the violence.From the study,we can also see an implication that some men exhibited strong violent tendencies.For example,if the abused woman left her partner,he would kill her(Hanmer et al.,2000).
2.1.4 Summary
From the literature on the British previous studies dealing with the extent of domestic violence,and the attitudes and experiences of the population in relation to it,we can see that domestic violence is widespread in the UK.For example,comparing the incidents between 1996 and 2001 by Mirrlees-Black and Walby and Allen's studies,we can see that the proportion of domestic violence remains high.In 1996,there were 13.6 million reported incidents (Mirrlees-Black,1999),while in 2001 there were 15.4 million reported incidents (Walby et al.,2004).From such studies,the experiences women suffered also indicate that gender inequality exists between women and men.Women were mainly the victims of domestic violence and suffered injury more than male victims.At the same time,mental or emotional abuse was also reflected in the studies.Moreover this phenomenon is prominent as Mooney's study revealed.Her study shows what attitudes the victims had to domestic violence.Gender and power inequality were salient in Hanmer and colleagues' study.Through their investigation,data revealed the contradictions felt by female victims suffering domestic violence and underlined the importance of abused women raising their awareness about domestic violence.