Medicine and patriarchal violence: the social construction of a "private" event
Stark, E.; Flitcraft, A.; Frazier, W.
International Journal of Health Services Planning Administration Evaluation 9(3): 461-493
1979
ISSN/ISBN: 0020-7314 PMID: 468440 DOI: 10.2190/ktlu-ccu7-bmnq-v2kyDocument Number: 499667
A pilot study of 481 women who used the emergency service of a large metropolitan hospital in the US shows that battering includes a history of self-abuse and psychosocial problems, as well as repeated and escalating physical injury. In addition, although the number of battered women using the service is 10 times higher than medical personnel identify, the pattern of abuse that constitutes battering emerges only after its initial effects are presented and in conjunction with specific medical interventions and referrals. In this paper, the pattern of abuse associated with battering is described and the contribution of the medical system and of broader social forces to its emergence is evaluated. In a series of reviews, final analysis showed an alignment process, what might be termed "the socialization of medical perception," which marks the medical construction of battering as social and which was observed, at various stages, in the medical histories of battered women.