ABSTRACT
Intimate partner violence (IPV), also known as domestic violence or abuse, spousal abuse, and wife abuse, was originally identified as a social problem in the 1970s by feminist activists. Early on, the focus was on physical violence of wives, with feminists and scholars assuming that domestic violence was a manifestation of the patriarchal rights of husbands to physically abuse their wives. But over time, it became clear that it was not only married women who were abused, and concern broadened to include unmarried women – dating, separated and divorced – as well as women and men in same-sex relationships. In addition, importantly, the focus broadened to include emotional or psychological abuse in addition to physical and sexual abuse. IPV is a very costly problem for American society, estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be $8.3 billion annually, approximately half of which goes for “direct medical and mental health care services” (National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2003, p. 2).
