Intersectionality: Impact on Violence Against Women

When a push is made for social change, the consequences of change are generally result in policies that appear to protect and ensure equilibrium, fair treatment, protection, etc. This is what occurred as a result of the Violence Against Women Movement in the United States with the passing of the VAWA. It was a policy created to criminalize violence against women in an effort to show that men and women areequally deserving of human rights and to protect women. However, the revictimization consequences of these policies are rarely acknowledged or addressed. Re-victimization occurs when policy is created without paying enough attention to the intersectionality- or the interworking of cultural factors that led to the social norm now being challenged. In the case of violence against women, most of these laws do not adequately address the intersectionality involving these women and ultimately end up revictimising these women (Lombardo, 2016).

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is the understanding that social categories/identities- such as gender, race, nationality, disability, class, etc -are all connected together forming their own web of discrimination (Atrey, 2019). It is the idea that individuals are different and will experience situations uniquely from others depending upon which social categories belong in. As it pertains to violence against women, intersectionality is not saying that one sub group does not experience violence, it is saying that the weight and experience of violence is felt differently depending on the social category of the victim (Lombardo, 2016). For example women of all social standing can experience violence, but a woman of independent wealth will be impacted differently from violence than than a woman who is financially dependent upon her abuser.

Intersectionality sets the platform for understanding how it is that some policies, put in place to protect victims of violence, really just re-victimize women in another social category of their intersectionality. Laws have to consider these unique cultures and categories that impact the meaning associated with violence and reporting violence to best protect women of all backgrounds and protect all categories of their identity (Roskin-Frazee, 2020).

Gender- One Category of Intersectionality

Gender is one area of intersectionality. Gender is being addressed in intersectionality because people often strongly determine their identity by this social category and violence against women is gendered based violence. Not only are these women battling gender based violence in their relationship, they have to fight cultural gender stereotypes in the courtroom.

As it stands in the United States, without great bodily injury and/or witnesses willing to testify to the act of violence against a woman, gender stereotypes are used in court to discredit the victim and essentially justify the violence. It is often described in court as “he said, she said’’ where the defense paints the victim in such negative lighting that the jury will find the defendant “not guilty.” (Boucek, 2016). It is gender bias because the common characteristics used to discredit the victim of domestic violence are those cultural stigmas against women such as- crazy, emotional, hormonal, etc- but, if roles were reversed in the man saying rugged, cold, stoic- would not be detrimental or discrediting (Jewkess & Morrel, 2018).

This defense practice not only re-victimizes the woman but also harms her identity/intersectionality of being a woman.

Allowing this, grants her perpetrator permission to continue the ill placed sexist stereotype and continue the cultural stigma that a “true victim” should act, behave in a certain way. It puts the woman back in the same powerless position, but changes the environment from private household matters to matters of the court, with little to no different outcome.

The legislative policies failed to protect women’s gender intersectional identity, because they failed to address the sexism that caused the violence to be normal and accepted in the first place. (McQueeney, 2016). Women need protection from legal batter within the court room. This can be done because there is legislative policy in place to protect rape victims. These policies are referred to as rape shield laws (Purdy, 2019). These same shield laws need to be extended to victims of domestic violence.

Class

Class is another category of intersectionality. Class refers to an individual’s socioeconomic status. It's being addressed in intersectionality and women’s violence for multiple reasons.

The first reason is that when victims of violence need assistance although they have options, these options come with red tape and obstacles- both in legal assistance and program assistance. There is a cultural stigma surrounding victims seeking assistance that “beggars can’t be choosers” in regards to these policies put in place to combat violence against women (Robinson, 2018). This displays the the deep cultural stigma that female victims of violence and women of lower socioeconomic standing are disregarded. This contempt of women and people of a certain class illustrate what allowed violence against women to be accepted by society. It harms the intersectionality of class because it gives them no choice while also degrading the class the victim identifies in, causing harm to this area of identity. Furthermore it re-victimizes them as if they do not have a choice, like they did not have a choice when they were victims of violence, but are now victims of the government.

One area where victims need control is in charging the perpatrator of the violence. Most states do not give the victim the option to charge the perpetrator with domestic violence or to not charge, rather they have adopted mandatory domestic violence charges (Coker, 2016). Although this appears that it would help decrease female vulnerability, it increases violence against and the vulnerability of women (Robinson, 2018). Studies show that the violence against the woman is in fact worse once the perpetrator is released from jail (Coker, 2016). Although many states combat this by issuing an emergency protective order, this is a piece of paper. Furthermore, many female victims of violence are underemployed or unemployed and rely greatly on their partner/perpetrator of the violence to support them financially. Criminalizing the perpetrator and throwing them in jail a does not account for the financial burden that they cannot afford to live apart nor does it account for the emotional burden that comes with sudden financial insecurity. It further increases the financial burden with jail fees, bond, and other fees associated with incarceration, and the hours that were potentially missed from work (Robinson, 2018).

Although the legislative policies intended the punishment to fall upon the perpetrators of violence, it often falls directly and unintentionally upon the victim. This is because the laws did not take into account the social identity of the victims. The burden will impact victims differently depending upon their socioeconomic status, however it still can have negative implications for this category of their intersectional identity.

Race

Race is another identifying category of intersectionality. Race is the way in which to categorize people based on distinct physical traits (Deckery, Holliday, Hameeduddin, Shah, Miller, Dantzler & Goodmark, 2019). It needs to be addressed in intersectionality of violence against women.

Violence against women is a sexist and class issue (Deborah & Joanne, 2003). In the name it unfairly targets women. However, it also appears to have racial implications as well. Isom (2018), found that women who were young, poor, or women of color were more likely to experience violence.

One stigma that needs to be acknowledged and addressed is that a woman cannot be a true victim if she fights back (Potter, 2008). In fact, many judges will lesson the sentence of the perpetrator if the victim defends herself (Sage Publications, 2012). This may be racially charged discrimination, as a study by Sullivan, Cavanaugh, Ufner, Swan, and Snow (2009) found that black women are more likely to fight back then their white counterparts.

Conclusion

All women, regardless or race, ethnicity, or class are at risk of experiencing violence. However, it would be inappropriate to ignore the research that shows that poor, young women, and minority women are at a a greater risk of experiencing violence. Understanding these risks and intersectionality of domestic violence can help others understand how violence may impact a woman differently or even be viewed differently in the eyes of the court.

Psychologists need to take more active participation in the issue. A major way is that psychologists need to get involved with the court system. They need to be key witnesses to explain that the ramifications of experiencing abuse are not lessened if a woman defends herself by fighting back. This would help make the cost of violence not worth the reward and assist with social exchange theory. Furthermore, implementing psychological interventions at court, has a second benefit. It could prevent violent offenders of domestic violence from walking out on the precedent of “first time offenders’’ and keep them in jail until trial for the safety of the victim (Johnson, 2005). They also need to push for programs and policies that encourage the young, the poor, and minorities to come forward and report the violence that is happening.

References

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