ABSTRACT
Although social scientists understand that humans and their circumstances are inherently messy and that there will always be individuals, couples, and situations that do not fit into major identified patterns, this fundamental understanding can sometimes be lost in the translation to practice. Thus, a central concern of women’s advocates is that research differentiating among types of intimate partner violence will lead to the reification or misapplication of typologies and that battering will, as a result, be missed-with potentially lethal results.
