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A person who hits a partner within a domestic relationship rarely admits it was about power and control. A person who abuses a partner also is not likely to acknowledge believing domestic abuse myths. However, Jay Peters, lecturer II and child welfare specialist at the University of Maine’s School of Social Work and Bureau of Child and Family Services, is determined to prove there is a correlation between those who abuse and those who believe abuse myths, he said.
The issue of domestic abuse is overwhelmingly one of men hitting women, which is why Peters said he was interested primarily in the attitudes American society has about women attacked by men. Still, he acknowledged that domestic abuse does occur when the roles are reversed, and women abuse men.
In fact, Peters found through a survey sent to 4,000 faculty, staff and students at UMaine that there are rarely differences in methods of abusing partners when it is a man hitting a woman or a woman hitting a man. This surprised Peters, he said.
It is hard to believe anything related to domestic abuse could surprise Peters, as he spent eight years in South Bronx, NY working with battered women before coming to UMaine approximately five years ago. It was in New York that Peters found his passion for understanding why women are most often battered and why the general population seems to believe abuse myths, he said.
The top three myths people tend to believe about domestic violence are: “She did something to cause him to be violent; she must be OK with or want the violence, because otherwise she’d just leave;” and “It’s no big deal and not really serious since it has only happened a few times or since it doesn’t happen often,” Peters said. The messages these myths send are alarming and dangerous, as they are excuses for violent behavior, according to Peters.
“What they say is that no crime occurred here. It says this is a personal problem; it’s not something society needs to spend time, money and effort on,” Peters said. “That’s what really interested me – these myths really trivialized what I see as a real social problem.”
Despite knowing the correlation between believing abuse myths and having conservative views of women, there is not yet enough evidence to prove that those who believe the myths are more likely to be violent, Peters said. Peters said his research at UMaine shows there is at least some correlation, which he expected to find, he said.
About 550 people responded to the survey Peters sent via FirstClass at UMaine; 65 percent were female and 35 percent were male. The survey included reading three short newspaper articles. The first was about a woman who was murdered by her husband. The second was about a woman who was shot by a man randomly at a grocery store. The third was about embezzlement.
The research found that the men who believed the myths (also listed within the survey) had the same response to all three articles. To the contrary, men who did not believe the myths were more emotionally affected by the first article of a woman who was murdered by her husband.
This research proves that men who believe that the woman was “asking for it” or she had “done something to make her husband beat her” are more likely to have less of an emotional response to the first article of a woman being murdered by her husband, Peters said. The act of abuse would appear less serious to men who believe the myths, according to Peters.
“Over and over again you hear people not understanding domestic violence, because she knows the perpetrator so it shouldn’t be a crime,” Peters said. “The myths perpetuate that misunderstanding.”
The excuses, in forms of myths, stem from thousands of years of conservative views of women and what women’s roles in society should be, according to Peters.
“These are ways we restrict freedom of women, and the domestic violence myths are just part of the whole package,” Peters said. “This is no accident. This is a whole view of relationships between men and women.”
Researching the underlying views that encourage the myths is most important in dispelling them and preventing domestic violence, Peters said. This means understanding the correlation between abuse and conservative views of women, according to Peters.
“Where do we get our ideas about women? It’s everywhere. It is part of our culture. It’s really part of our patriarchal culture,” Peters said. “The myths create an environment in which it’s OK for domestic violence to continue.”
Changing the environment where these myths survive is part of the key to preventing domestic abuse, according to Peters.
“If we can make people aware that these myths are just that – that they’re false beliefs – then we, as a society, may be able to support battered women,” Peters said.
Bangor Daily News