Citation

Perilla JL, Frndak K, Lillard D, East C. Violence Against Women 2003; 9(1): 10-46.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1077801202238429

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article explores women’s uses of violence by bringing together feminist sociopolitical analysis and bell hooks’s concept of patriarchal violence in the home. The voices of women from diverse backgrounds, sexual orientations, and ethnicities illustrate each of the three components (learning, opportunity, and choice) of Zemsky’s and Gilbert, Poorman, and Simmons’s model of domestic violence. The ideas emerging from this initial exploration of the issue lend support to the importance of contextualizing individual acts of violence within frameworks that include, among other elements, ethnicity and sexual orientation. The authors emphasize the importance of inviting the voices of women who have been affected by intimate partner violence to guide the ongoing dialogue and exploration of this social issue.