ABSTRACT
Throughout the 1970s growing feminist, and also public, awareness about the issue of male violence against women, violence specifically directed at women by men, prompted the need for explanation of this phenomenon. Domestic violence and rape were some of the earliest concerns. Evidence from women made it obvious that these experiences were very widespread (Katyachild et al. 1985; Jeffreys 1976; Hanmer 1978; London Rape Action Group 1985). ‘First wave’ feminists had also taken up the issue of male violence, as did women in even earlier periods, but their knowledge and experience of this had largely been lost.2 The rediscovery of the issue of male violence against women brought to the fore some very important questions about male-female relations, including the role of male violence and, more recently, sexuality, in the social control of women (Edwards 1987; Kelly 1988; Jeffreys 1990).
