Patriarchal Terrorism Research Articles

Examining Public Responses to the Vigilante Lynching of an Accused Witch in Ghana

Assaults on women as witches still occur in modern Ghana. In Ghana, impoverished, widowed and older women are regularly stereotyped as witches and accused of practicing malevolent witchcraft. Many are subjected to lethal and non-lethal acts of aggression. In July 2020, a nonagenarian woman was accused of witchcraft and lynched by a transitory public mob. In this article, we analysed approximately 400 readers’ comments left at a Ghana-based internet news website (Ghanaweb.com), which reported the crime. The objective was to identify and analyse the major themes expressed. The data indicate that the commenters overwhelmingly were appalled by the disregard of the victim’s human rights. In alignment with previous literature, the data also revealed that the commenters attributed the 2020 lynching incident to several established drivers of modern-day witch-lynching, such as scapegoating, patriarchal terrorism, religious manipulation, ignorance about mental health and the ageing process, and limited social safety nets for older and indigent people. Many commenters called upon the authorities to impose draconian punishment on the offenders to deter future incidents. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations for curtailing witchcraft-related violence in Ghana.

Insidious Trauma: A Literature Review

Despite the promising development of trauma studies as an interdisciplinary phenomenon, the notion of insidious trauma is often relegated to its margins. As a theory with its roots in feminist psychotherapeutic practices of scholars such as Maria Root and Laura Brown, the paradigm of insidious trauma provides scope to discuss mundane and everyday experientialities of trauma that result from socially marginalized positions. The central aim of this paper is to aver that there is a need to expand the category of insidious trauma to explore the quotidian traumas of marginalized groups. For this, the paper presents analogous feminist and masculinist understandings of trauma experienced due to individuals’ complex entanglement with the patriarchal discourse. In exploring the notion of insidious trauma through a feminist lens, the paper connects it to the theories of coercive control, patriarchal terrorism, and betrayal trauma. The paper also discusses paradigms of male trauma that concur with the theory of insidious trauma. In this course, the paper presents the historical failure of the diagnosis of male hysteria. It discusses how narrow understandings of masculinity in a patriarchal culture have generated emotionally stunted development in men and foreclosed their avenues to seek help for domestic violence. The paper then posits that expanding Michael Rothberg’s category of the implicated subject provides a way to throw light on how the entire patriarchal social structure is complicit in generating male and female victims of its ideology.

Khaled Hosseini's women as modern archetypes: A study of obedient, resistant and empowered Afghan women.

This article focuses on Khaled Hosseini's use of the analogy of women as obedient, resistant, and empowered as modern archetypes who learn of the gendered oppression that works through their bodies. Khaled Hosseini, through his writings, lends voice and offers moral encouragement to women by crafting resistant, rebellious, empowered, and strong female characters. With theoretical support from Johnson's Patriarchal Terrorism and Spivak's Can the subaltern speak, this article traces how Hosseini interrogates the patriarchal hierarchies that encompass women's identity in Afghanistan. Women's sufferings correlate with the country's overall circumstances, particularly during and after the war, on the terror regime. Therefore, women's endurance and Afghanistan's endurance amid hostile and oppressive circumstances become equally imperative for Hosseini's works. This article finds that Hosseini correlates Afghan women's issues like tradition and modernity, women and Islam, mother and daughter relationship, resistance and rebellion, and their quest for change and empowerment with the war on terror, foreign invasions, and the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Misogynistic terrorism: it has always been here

ABSTRACT Anti-semitism, racism, pro-life beliefs, and extreme Christian ideology have long been acknowledged to be a feature in far-right terrorist violence in the United States. However, what has been less acknowledged is the underpinning element of misogyny. This paper aims to reflect on why this is. First, it looks at the chronological trajectory of “common-couple violence” to “patriarchal terrorism” to “misogynistic terrorism.” Even though scholarship on this form of terrorism can be traced back to the 1970s, mainstream Terrorism Studies has never fully engaged with the idea. This is echoed in a recent assertion that misogyny and violence against women is not political and therefore not terrorism. Second, this paper aims to demonstrate that this lack of engagement works in tandem with the bare minimum of acknowledgement of misogyny in the far-right. Explicitly, it argues that it is hard to see misogyny in a largely patriarchal and masculinist system. This is even more important today with the rise of Incels and the manosphere, especially in how these support the US’s flirtation with Trump’s misogynist and racist driven neo-fascism.

Gender based partner violence: Constructions of narratives of women sentenced to prison

This work presents results of a wider empirical research of the issue of gender based violence and violence against women as a problem rooted in structural systems of the patriarchate and the ideology of gender inequality. The goal of the research that was carried out in the Correctional Facility for Women in Požarevac, is to reassess theoretical concepts of “structural violence”, “cultural violence” and “patriarchal terrorism”. Revised are gender and patriarchal ideology, which gives legitimacy to direct and structural violence in a manner that makes it acceptable and unrecognizable as violence. Systematic violence from a partner is rooted in the patriarchal tradition which gives men the right to control their women by using not only physical violence, but maybe even more present forms of violence, like: economic violence, emotional violence, isolation, threats and many other forms of control. Narratives of women who suffered violence and killed their bullying partners, reveal their perceptions of the problem and construct a certain reality in which they were living prior to their arrival in the prison. To stay in a prison is undoubtedly a special kind of experience, and the initial event is anew survived by the probationers and “processed” while they are trying to find sense in their new living circumstances of staying in the prison. Certain social constructs and discourses can be recognized, among other things, in their narratives.Key words: gender based violence, homicide, structural violence, cultural violence, patriarchal terrorism.

No Way Out: Severely Abused Latina Women, Patriarchal Terrorism, and Self-Help Homicide

This article explores the diminished occurrence of intimate partner homicide (IPH)—referred to as self-help homicide—perpetrated by Latinas when compared with Black and White women. Self-help homicide is a consequence of patriarchal terrorism. I endeavor to answer the following research question: What explains lower rates of self-help homicide perpetrated by Latinas relative to White and Black women? This question is addressed through a self-help/intersectional theoretical analysis of structural, institutional, and cultural barriers to criminal justice resource access. This diminished access increases the likelihood of IPH victimization.

The Children of Patriarchal Terrorism

In an exploratory qualitative interview study of 25 children who experienced domestic violence, 10 children diverged from the rest of the group in regards to expressed strong fear. The questions asked were: what are the violent experiences of these children? What, from the children’s perspective, is the nature of the violence? A thematic analysis of the interviews with the 10 children identified six themes: a high degree of coercive control and exposure to ‘bizarre acts’, severe and repeated violence, perceived impossibility of physical interventions during the violent acts, violence permeating everyday life, strong feelings of fear and a constant state of readiness, and descriptions of life starting after the abusers leave the family. The results urges researchers, clinicians and policymakers to better distinguish between children who experience domestic violence in order to better target support and intervention.

Characteristics of Callers to the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men

Reports an error in Characteristics of callers to the domestic abuse helpline for by Denise A. Hines, Jan Brown and Edward Dunning (Journal of Family Violence, 2007[Feb], Vol 22[2], 63-72). In the online and print publications the Acknowledgement as well as the address listed under the last author were incorrect. The correct address is as follows: E. Dunning, Family Interventions Project, 4300 Auburn Blvd., Suite 208, Sacramento, CA 95841, USA. And the correct Acknowledgment is as follows: In addition to thanking the members of the Family Research Laboratory for their comments on a previous draft of this article, the authors would also like to thank Mark Rosenthal for his help in preparing the data for analysis. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-00670-002.) Intimate partner violence (IPV) by women against men has been the subject of much debate. Feminists typically argue that IPV is committed only by men against women. Others argue that violence is a human problem and women also commit much IPV. To resolve these debates, IPV has been classified into two categories: common couple violence captured by population-based studies, and patriarchal terrorism, captured by studies of battered women. This typology ignores male victims of extreme IPV. The current study addresses this omission by describing 190 male callers to the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men. All callers experienced physical abuse from their female partners, and a substantial minority feared their wives' violence and were stalked. Over 90% experienced controlling behaviors, and several men reported frustrating experiences with the domestic violence system. Callers' reports indicated that their female abusers had a history of trauma, alcohol/drug problems, mental illness, and homicidal and suicidal ideations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Responding to violence against women: Social science contributions to legal solutions

Violence against women represents a serious problem in America. Not only does intimate partner violence represent a significant threat to women, but it also counts among its victims, children living in the violent household. By its very nature, intimate partner or domestic violence may be approached as either a legal or a social problem. However, there is a shortage of legal approaches that have been informed by sound social science research. One promising framework for developing such integrated responses to intimate partner violence is therapeutic jurisprudence, which encourages legal professionals to work closely with social scientists to develop system responses based on empirical data. Such an approach contrasts sharply with the current practice of developing law based on assumptions, which frequently reflect traditional paternalistic and sexist attitudes toward women. This paper begins by examining the current theories and scientific knowledge on domestic violence with particular emphasis on the supporting data. A theoretical framework for conceptualizing domestic violence characterized as patriarchal terrorism as distinct from common couple violence is examined and offered as a means of explaining inconsistencies in research findings. Following a review of current legal responses to domestic violence, the paper concludes by outlining alternative strategies and recommendations for future efforts that are supported by current theory and research.

Characteristics of Callers to the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men

Intimate partner violence (IPV) by women against men has been the subject of much debate. Feminists typically argue that IPV is committed only by men against women. Others argue that violence is a human problem and women also commit much IPV. To resolve these debates, IPV has been classified into two categories: common couple violence captured by population-based studies, and patriarchal terrorism, captured by studies of battered women. This typology ignores male victims of extreme IPV. The current study addresses this omission by describing 190 male callers to the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men. All callers experienced physical abuse from their female partners, and a substantial minority feared their wives’ violence and were stalked. Over 90% experienced controlling behaviors, and several men reported frustrating experiences with the domestic violence system. Callers’ reports indicated that their female abusers had a history of trauma, alcohol/drug problems, mental illness, and homicidal and suicidal ideations.

Evaluating the Efficacy of Protection Orders for Victims of Domestic Violence

The purpose of this study is to gauge the efficacy of protection orders for victims of domestic violence. The theoretical basis for this analysis is Johnson's (1995) theory that there exist two distinct forms of domestic violence: “common couple violence,” which consists of low-grade, mild abuse that is equally perpetrated by both men and women, and “patriarchal terrorism,” which involves severe mental and physical abuse that is used primarily by men to control their female partners. Based on Johnson's theory, it is hypothesized that protection orders will be less effective for women who experience patriarchal terrorism than for women who experience common couple violence. The results of this analysis indicate that the primary independent variable, that is, whether a woman experiences common couple violence or patriarchal terrorism, is not a good predictor of protection order violation. However, several secondary independent variables were found to be significant, including victim's race and employment status, as well as the couple's living arrangements at the time of the protection order.

Physical aggression and control in heterosexual relationships: the effect of sampling.

This study investigated the proposition by Johnson (1995) that there are distinct patterns of physical aggression within relationships, characterized as common couple violence and patriarchal terrorism. The present samples comprised students (N = 113), women from a domestic violence refuge (N = 44), and male prisoners (N = 108). Participants completed measures of physical aggression, controlling behavior, fear of injuries, and injuries. Reports of these measures were entered into a Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA). With the exception of self-reported use of controlling behavior, the variables showed univariately significant differences between the groups. The DFA produced two significant functions which together correctly classified 75% of cases. These results support the view that there are distinct patterns of aggressive relationships corresponding to those identified by Johnson (1995).

Patriarchal Terrorism or Common Couple Violence: Attorneys' Views of Prosecuting and Defending Woman Batterers

In the last two decades, most states in the United States have passed laws to protect battered women and to enhance their access to the criminal justice system. Preliminary examinations suggest that the reforms have had a limited success on abused women's use of the law. This study examines the ways in which prosecuting and defense attorneys perceive and describe the dynamics of battering as they play out in court, and presents attorneys' views of prosecuting, defending and adjudicating cases of violence against women. Attorneys' views on the defenses commonly used in court and other issues of concern to reformers of domestic violence laws are also discussed. The study suggests that attorneys' accounts portray the woman-battering cases which reach the justice system as ‘common couple violence’ rather than ‘patriarchal terrorism’. Results indicate that the legal profession, charged with the prosecution and adjudication of domestic violence, resorts to gender stereotypes to excuse, minimize or tolerate violence against women. Similarly, legal professionals evaluate relevant criminal justice policy according to men's views of battering. The implications of the results for combating woman battering through law reform are discussed.

Acts of Psychological Aggression against a Partner and Their Relation to Physical Assault and Gender

The overall positive association between aggression and physical assault is well known. We used an item analysis to assess whether specific acts of aggression are more closely associated with physical assault than others. Male and female undergraduates (n = 374) completed an early version of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales about a courtship relationship. Results indicated that all items were associated with physical assault for both men and women. Only certain items reflecting malicious intent, such as destroying the property of one @ threatening to hit one's and some name calling, discriminated between the presence of minor and severe violence. Some associations were stronger for males than for females, indicating that males may be more likely to engage in multiple forms of These findings have implications for defining a battering syndrome. Key Words: gender partner psychological aggression. Psychological aggression has been an understudied component of violence, perhaps because it has more normative support than physical assault (Vissing, Straus, Gelles, & Harrop, 1991). Numerous clinical analyses, however, indicate that aggression, which includes verbal and other attacks that do not directly involve assaulting another's body, is an important component of battering (e.g., NiCarthy, 1987; Pence & Paymar, 1993; Walker, 1984) and may be even more damaging than physical assaults in the long run (Berger, Fischer, & Rose, 1994). Nonetheless, there are only a few studies that have quantitatively examined aggression, and some of these have looked at abuse in isolation from other forms of that may be occurring in the same relationship (e.g., Kasian & Painter, 1992; Stets, 1991). Those who have examined the correlation between physical and aggression have consistently demonstrated that higher levels of aggression are associated with higher levels of physical assault (Murphy & O'Leary, 1989; Stets, 1990; Straus, 1974; Tolman, 1995). To date, however, this association has been examined only in the aggregate. That is, only overall levels of aggression have been correlated with overall levels of physical assault. Although this is an essential first step in any study of the occurrence of multiple forms of abuse, these studies do not examine important differences in the nature of the association between degrees of and physical The Issue of Gender Parity in Partner Violence Research In particular, past research of this type has led to a major controversy: Is there gender parity in the perpetration of (cf. Johnson, 1995; Straus, 1990a). Many studies of physical assault, especially those using community and student samples, have not found gender differences in rates of assault (e.g., Stets & Straus, 1990). Previous research on aggression has also suggested that rates of inflicting this form of abuse are comparable for mates and females in intimate relationships (e.g., Stets, 1991; Straus & Sweet, 1992). Stets found this to be true even at the item level of measurement. Although there is one published exception to this pattern (Kasian & Painter, 1992, found more verbal abuse by males than females), these studies still contrast sharply with clinical and arrest reports of aggression perpetrated primarily by males (Koss et al., 1994). The issue of gender parity has been the driving force behind recent theoretical moves to reexamine what is meant by or battering. Johnson (1995) has suggested that may consist of two fairly distinct phenomena. He calls the kind of primarily found in community surveys common couple violence and the severe abuse described in more clinical analyses patriarchal terrorism. …

Gender asymmetry in common couple violence

AbstractIn companion studies I examine the acceptability of two forms of “common couple violence” that vary in seventy. According to Johnson (1995), common couple violence is enacted equally by both men and women, is therefore gender symmetrical, and can be distinguished from patriarchal terrorism, which often includes frequent and systematic violence enacted by men in the control and domination of women. The 160 randomly selected respondents in Study 1 (representative of a midsize northeastern American university) were asked whether they would be likely to hit their partner, and whether they would expect to be hit, in any one of 10 situations common to a dating relationship. Contrary to the expectations of gender symmetry, 83% of the women indicated they would be at least somewhat likely to hit their partner in any one situation compared to 53% of the men. Men were also more likely to report expecting to be hit (70%) than women (50%). Interactions of gender with dating status or year in school cannot account for these findings: however, women and men differ in their motivations. Although most men enact violence for reasons similar to women—because they are angry or contused—a sizable minority of men invoke violence because of strong feelings like love or hate. Study 2 queried 97 randomly selected students about their willingness to use a more serious form of violence (i.e., beating up their partner). Findings were similar to Study 1 with one exception. In most instances, women report a greater expectation of being beaten.

A Stress and Coping Approach to Intervention with Abused Women

Physical abuse, especially severe, chronic abuse, a significant source of stress for women who experience it. A combination of external and internal factors can inhibit women from ending abuse in an intimate relationship. Counseling can be useful in addressing internal barriers. An ecological model of intervention presented based on the Lazarus and Folkman (1984) conceptualization of stress and coping. The model also recognizes the stages abused women may experience in their appraisal of the abuse experience. The proposed model includes attention to an orientation to practice with this client group, engagement in treatment, assessment, intervention strategies, and evaluation of effectiveness. Although an increasing amount of attention has been devoted to the problem of woman battering in recent years, there has been a rather limited focus on therapeutic work with abused women. This, in part, derives from the reservations of many in the battered women's movement regarding therapy with women who have been abused. This ambivalence appears to be grounded in four factors. The first a concern that providing counseling for battered women implies preexisting deficits that contributed to their being abused, which in turn can lead to victim blaming (Dutton, 1992). Another concern related to negative experiences with mental health providers reported by many battered women who have sought counseling, only to be held responsible for their own abuse or simply not be helped (Hamilton & Coates, 1993; McShane, 1979; Ross & Glisson, 1991; Saunders & Size, 1986). The third issue concerns the power imbalance inherent in most therapeutic relationships, risking the perpetuation of powerlessness in abused women (New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, N.D.). Finally, and perhaps most important, the belief that what battered women need most of all not therapy but rather other resources that will permit them to terminate abusive relationships if they wish to (Sullivan, 1991). An alternative view of counseling for abused women maintains that the process of being abused, especially if the abuse has been chronic or severe, often results in a variety of consequences that compromise a woman's ability to effectively address abuse while still in a relationship or to recover from the effects of abuse and move on with her life. Some of these adverse consequences may serve as barriers to women being able to terminate abusive relationships. Assumptions and Definition A recent conceptualization by Johnson (1995), based on data from the 1985 Second National Family Violence Survey and other qualitative data, has identified two different types of domestic violence or abuse: common couple violence and patriarchal terrorism. The two are said to differ in terms of the nature, severity, and chronicity of abuse, as well as the gender of perpetrator and victim. Common couple violence tends to be used by both men and women, occurs with relatively low frequency in a relationship, tends not to be physically injurious, and does not show a pattern of escalation. In contrast, patriarchal terrorism tends to be perpetrated by men toward women, shows a pattern of escalation in frequency and severity over time, includes not only physical violence but also subordination, threats, isolation, and other control tactics, (p. 284) and is rooted deeply in the patriarchal traditions of the Western (Johnson, 1995, p. 286). Woman abuse as discussed in this paper synonymous with patriarchal terrorism and defined as a pattern of behaviors that can be physical (e.g., punching), emotional or psychological (e.g., ignoring), verbal (e.g., ridiculing), or sexual (e.g., coerced intercourse) that are intended to control or demean a woman by her partner. It assumed that each woman who experiences domestic abuse the unique product of many factors including her age, cultural background, experiences in her family of origin, economic circumstances, sexual orientation, intelligence, and so forth. …

Patriarchal Terrorism and Common Couple Violence: Two Forms of Violence against Women

This article tackles two distinct types of couple violence occurring within families in the US and other Western countries. A review of data from a large sample survey and of qualitative and quantitative data collected from womens shelters indicates that some families suffer from occasional display of violence from either husbands or wives (common couple violence) while other families are terrorized by systematic male violence (patriarchal terrorism). Findings of national survey also reveal the incidences of spouse abuse perpetrated by either the husband or the wife in contrast to the reports received in shelter homes with high incidence of women abuse. The differences in the gender pattern of violence between the national surveys and the statistics collected by public agencies are due to their nonoverlapping of variables. Further discussed are per couple frequency patterns of behavior in terms of escalation and reciprocity and initiation of violence. Arguments are presented regarding the validity of two radically different descriptions of the nature of couple violence in the US. Finally the study emphasized that the difference between common couple violence and patriarchal terrorism is important due to its implications for the establishment of public policy the development of educational programs and intervention strategies and the development of theories of interpersonal violence.