Losing the “Gender” in Gender-Based Violence: The Missteps of Research on Dating and Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

A multitude of quantitative and qualitative research studies as well as volumes of health and criminal justice data from across the globe clearly demonstrate that male intimate partner violence (IPV) against women and girls is an issue of tremendous public health and human rights significance worldwide (i.e., the health and freedom of girls and women are affected at the population level; Amnesty International, 2004; Garcia-Moreno, Jansen, Ellsberg, Heise, & Watts, 2006; Rand, 2008; World Health Organization [WHO], 2003). However, there is continuing discord as to the basic frameworks used across studies and programs for understanding and addressing IPV, including dating violence, as a public health issue, particularly regarding the gendered basis of the problem (Reed, 2008; Swan & Snow, 2006). Multiple recent U.S. public health studies have discussed “mutual aggression” or “female perpetration” of IPV (e.g., Carney, Buttell, & Dutton, 2006; Romans, Forte, Cohen, Du Mont, & Hyman, 2007; Straus, 2007; Straus & Ramirez, 2007; Whitaker, Haileyesus, Swahn, & Saltzman, 2007), disregarding the gender-based framework at the