ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ways in which concepts of privacy permit, encourage, and reinforce violence against women, focusing on the complex interrelationship between notions of "public" and "private" in our social understandings of woman-abuse. It begins with a brief overview of the meanings of "public" and "private" in American family life. The chapter also explores current legal reform efforts on behalf of battered women and examines the persistence of denial of battering as a "public" issue. It addresses shifting parameters of "public" and "private" in reform efforts on woman-abuse. The chapter focuses on to Griswold and argues for the development of affirmative conceptions of privacy linked to autonomy to enhance battered women's empowerment. It is important to remember that the litigation in Griswold emerged from a struggle for women's rights. The rationale of privacy legitimates and supports violence against women; woman-abuse reveals the violence of privacy.
