Word: steinmetz
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Straus and two colleagues, Richard Gelles of the University of Rhode Island and Susanne Steinmetz of the University of Delaware, began what they believe is the first national survey of all types of family violence. They picked their subjects from every walk of life and all parts of the country; 2,143 family members were interviewed. Out of this study, which will be published in the fall as an eleven-chapter book titled Behind Closed Doors: A Survey of Family Violence in America (Doubleday), they offer a dismal statistical portrait of American family life. Highlights...
...Steinmetz is the author of a book on family fighting called The Cycle of Violence. Extrapolating from her studies of domestic quarreling in Delaware's New Castle County, she estimates that each year at least 250,000 American husbands are severely thrashed by their wives. University of New Hampshire Sociologist Murray Straus projects an equally grim picture of this battle of the sexes. On the basis of his 1976 national survey of violence in 2,143 representative American families, he concludes that about 2 million husbands and about the same number of wives commit at least one serious attack...
...both Steinmetz and Straus point out that women are as prone as men to use violence on their mates. Whatever the result, most battered wives-and husbands-fight back. But about 600,000 husbands and 600,000 wives do not retaliate...
Some of the pummeled husbands are too old or sick to defend themselves, but most are able bodied. One type of victim is the baffled he-man who is afraid of unleashing his own violence. Says Steinmetz: "There is a feeling among beaten men: 'If I ever let go I would kill her.' " Another type is the passive, dependent man who has sought out a strong wife to shield him from worldly problems. Barbara Star, a professor of social work at the University of Southern California, finds that battered spouses are usually people who feel overwhelmed by life...
...part of the domestic routine. Says Family Therapist Norman Paul of Boston: "They think their wives' violence is part of family life. They have come to accept it." Paralyzed by shame and guilt, they are reluctant to seek help from anyone-family, friends, counselors or the cops. Explains Steinmetz: "Police are a symbol of manhood, and it is simply too much to approach a policeman and say, The little woman has just beaten...