Reviews : Marital Violence
| Published date | 01 June 1986 |
| Author | Charles Dodd |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058603300218 |
| Date | 01 June 1986 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
71
links
between
the policy
twkers
and
sentences,
Pengelly&dquo;3
accou7*
of the
birth
ofthe
1982
Act
is
accurate
and
readable.
Shehascaptured
the
spirit
of the Tories
in
power
in
the
Juvenile
Court.
BARRIE
CROOK
SPO,
Mansfield
No
Holds
Barred:
The
Raving
Beauties
choose
New
Poems
by
Women
The
Women’s
Press;
pb,
£2.95
The
place
is
planet
earth,
inhabited
by
men
and
women,
implacable
foes.
The
women
bear
children,
moon
round
supermarkets,
wipesick off
the
carpet,
weep.
The
men
earn
the
money,
swagger
round
the
pubs,
rape,
pillage
etc,
Visigoths
lurking
on
the
landing.
A
curious
visitor
from
another
planet,
flicking
through
this
new
collection
of wo~nen’s
poems,
may
speculate
that
common
bondsof humanity
and
destiny
should
link
these
men
and
these
women,
and
wonder
what
has
gone
wrong.
On
hundred
poems
are
presented,
chosen
from
15,000
submissions,
and
while
selection
may
not
always
be truly
representation~.l,
the
loudest
sounds
that
emerge
from
these
pages
are
the
screams
of
victims.
There
are
some
celebrations,
of love,
of
children,
but the
most
powerful
speak
of
incest,
rape
andneglect.
There
is
a
weak
anemptat
irony,
’Nice
Men’ by
Dorothy
Byme,
some
bawdiness
and
some
humour,
in
particular
’Whatwealœrsex:’
by
Fran
Landsman,
who
has
fun
fantasising
about
being
a
female
bottom
pincher.
How
good
or
otherwise
it
was
as
poetry
seemed
irrelevant,
but
the
form
noticably
compressed
the
content
and
gave
it
added
power -
emotion
recollected
in
hostility.
As
a
piece
of
propaganda
the
book
is
superb.
Leave
it
lying
around
and
no-one
can
resist
it,
although
reactions
vary.
Men
put
it
down
with
embarrassed
disclaimers,
women
with a
look of
black
shock
which
slowly
bums
into
rage.
What
I
found
was
missing
from
this
range
of
women’s
experience
was
any
kind
of celebration
of female
friendship,
surely
the
most
enduring
and
nurturing
of
relationships,
and
one
which
often
outlasts
many
more
fleeting
encounters.
It appears
that the,,greatest
wrong
men
have
done
to
women,
frequently
with
their
collusion,
is
to
divide
them
against
each
other.
The
cries
from
the
wilderness
would
not
be
so
desolate
if we
stood
together.
SUE
PRIESTLEY
Crawley
Marital
Violence
NORMAN JOHNSON
(ED)
RKP,
1985;
£8.95;
pb; pp
195
-
Much
of
what is
said
Will
already
be
familiar
ground
to
those
actively
involved
in,
or
Sympathetic
towards,
the
women*&movemeat.
In
Britain
the
way
legal
Mmedies
av£hble%baUer6d
women
are
used
and
interpreted
often
means
protection
is
denied
to
those
most
in
need.
In any
event,
such
remedies
can
be
of
limited
value
if
society
is
unwilling
to
treat
martial
violence
seriously
and
it
is
hardly
surprising
that
the
editor
can
show
how
the
police,
social
workers
and
the
medical
profession
often
ignore
or
re-define,
(usually
in
terms
of
child
care),
the
problems.
One
important
contribution
looks
at
refuge
provision
in
the
context
of
the
ideology
of
the
VVomett~s-Aid
Movement
emphasising
democratic
decision
making
and
self
help,
which
was
found
to
be
far
than
an
empty
ideal.
But
self
help
principles
need
not
imply
lack
of official
funding.
A
partnership
is
called
for,
with
state
aid
underpinning
a
local
provision
managed
by
local
groups.
Howevem,
an
American
contributor looks
at
the
problems
caused
when
a
need
for
funds
produces
greater
state
intervention.
De-
politicalisation
can
result
by
narrowing
the
definition
of
wife
battering,
removing
it
from
its
class
context
and
viewing
it
in
terms of
individual
pathology
and
not
structure.
Marital
rape
is
looked
at
and
the
relationship
between
the
battering
of
women
and
child
abuse
is
also
explored.
Although
it
is
not
felt
that
violence
begets
violence,
it
is
suggested
that
the
battering
ofwomen
can
precipitate
child
abuse.
Finally,
them
possibility
of
a
’battered
husband
syndrome’
is
considered
and
rejected
in
an
American
contribution.
It
the
editor
is
correct
in
his
assertion
that
the
battering
of
women
attracts
less
media
interest
now
compared
with
a
decade
ago
then
publications
of
this
kind
are
invaluable
in
re-kindling
our
appreciation
of
the
problem
and
its
extent.
Of
particular
concern
must
be
the
possibility
of central
funding
producing
a
decline
in
political
aims
and
asoftening
of the
way
marital
violence
is
viewed.
Perhaps
additional
funding
from
the
centre
in
Britain
today
is
unlikely
but
this
book
illustrates
the
potential
pitfalls
of
sucha
strategy.
It reminds
me,
too,
that
Man’s
inhumanity
to
Women,
as
a
judge
recently
put
it,
must
never
be
forgotten.
CHARLES
DODD
SPO,
Inner London
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