Dependency, Control, and Isolation

Abstract

Shelters for victims of domestic violence, established by grassroots activists and feminists in the late 1960s and early 1970s, have been coopted by federal, state, and local welfare agencies in recent years. While the expropriation has resulted in greater visibility and funding, it has also perverted many of the goals and philosophies of the early movement by inflicting bureaucratic controls on battering victims. Interviews with shelter residents in a small southwestern city revealed that in seeking to appeal to power-wielding bureaucrats, battering victims develop economic, legal, and psychological dependencies upon the welfare establishment. The domestic violence shelter may serve not only as a haven from abusive males but also as a funnel into a paternalistic social institution. The process of “agencization” can reduce clients' autonomy, retard the development of self-worth, and discourage victims from seeking reinforcement from mutual-support networks.