ABSTRACT
Through research, the historian has the possibility to transmit a targeted message to readers and 'to invite them to ponder their values'. Bennett argues along the same lines, and emphasizes the importance of feminist historical research. In this way feminism offers a route along which the objective of equality can be attained. Feminist violence research led to the Swedish Penal Code adopting the ideas of gender specificity, abuse of power in intimate relationships, and the peculiar nature of repeated intimate-partner violence. Physical intimate-partner violence and rape are the most visible forms of gender-based violence, but for historical reasons, many other acts of gender-based violence are still not reproached by the law – including control, various forms of psychological abuse, and coercion into sexual acts in a relationship. Gender-based violence as a whole is a very complex and many-sided issue that involves countless fraught judicial, social and criminal policy challenges everywhere.
