Reviews : Men Who Batter Women Adam Edwards Jukes Routledge, 1999; pp192; £14.99, pbk
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059904600417 |
| Author | Paul Teft |
| Date | 01 December 1999 |
| Published date | 01 December 1999 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
272
REVIEWS
Men
Who
Batter
Women
Adam
Edwards
Jukes
Routledge,
1999;
pp192; £14.99,
pbk
This
book
is
far
more
accessible
than
its
predecessor
Why
Men
Hate
Women.
There
is
a
refreshing
honesty
and
realism
in
the
preface
and
introduction
in
which
the
author
admits
to
daily
struggles,
doubts
and
confusion.
He
acknowledges
the
benefits
men
gain
in
terms
of
creature
comforts,
through
their
abusive
behaviour,
and
how
as
a
male
worker
he
is
prone
to
the
same
sorts
of
behaviour
as
the
men
with
whom
he
works.
On
the
key
points
he
is
resolute,
treating
violence
as
a
decision
connected
with
power
and
control;
detailing
the
desire
to
inflict
pain
and
punishment
and
the
satisfaction
derived
from
doing
so;
restating
that
anger,
drink,
drugs
or
insecurity
do
not
cause
violence
and
emphasising
the
serious
psychological
as
well
as
physical
harm
done
to
women.
Jukes
begins
by
using
case
studies
which
illustrate
the
above
and
so
deals
with
men’s
inability
to
listen,
their
fear
of
women’s
&dquo;separateness&dquo;,
narcissism,
egotism,
assumed
rights
and
distorted
thinking.
This
is
followed
by
a
trawl
of
research
statistics
to
emphasise
the
scale
of
the
problem
and
a
rather
dry
review
of
literature
on
aggression
and
violence
from
the
work
of
Freud,
Klein,
Bowlby
et
al
which
only
had
relevance
for
me
when
it
progressed
to
social
learning
theory
and
cultural
overspill
theory.
The
attempt
to
contextualise
the
understanding
of
male
violence
to
date
is
followed
by
more
useful
chapters
featuring
men’s
avoidance
tactics
and
the
dangers
of
collusion.
Different
treatment
models
are
described
which
lead
the
reader
to
conclude
that
a
pro-feminist
informed
approach
drawing
from
both
psycho,
educational
and
psycho-analytic
methods
is
the
best
option.
The
section
on
Groupwork
is
disappointingly
unoriginal.
It
details
the
benefits
of
Groupwork
and
argues
for
process
orientated
unstructured
groups
within
a
frame
of
reference
determined
by
the
contract
of
participation.
No
attempt
is
made
to
promote
a
holistic
approach
with
parallel
work
with
partners/ex-partners
of
men
in
groups
and
the
potential
benefits in
measuring
change,
assessing
risk,
supporting
women
in
difficult
decisions,
safety
planning
and
programme
development
which
could
result.
Work
with
women
seemed
confined
to
information-giving
listed
in
appendix
five
of
the
book.
Adam
Jukes
states
that
his
book
is
written
for
practitioners
who
have
not
had
clinicaUpsycho-dynamic
training,
presumably
under
the
assumption
that
they
are
working
with
the
reality
and
effects
of
domestic
violence
on
a
daily
basis
in
managing
their
caseloads.
He
concludes
however
that
&dquo;it
requires
highly
trained
clinicians
to
effectively
steer
a
path
between
the
complex
psycho-dynamics
of
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