ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the link between woman battering and child abuse from a feminist perspective. Viewing child abuse through the prism of woman battering reveals that both problems originate in conflicts over gender identity and male authority. While a feminist approach to woman battering has gained some currency in mainstream thinking, feminists have had comparatively little impact on how child abuse is understood or managed. The problem goes beyond faulty assumptions and misguided policies and treatment strategies. In fact, law, social service practice, and psychological theory hold women “responsible” for child abuse even when a male assailant is clearly identified and is also battering the mother. Men are equally invisible in programs for abusing parents. Starting with images of appropriate gender behavior such as mother-child bonding, interventions proceed as if noncompliance with these norms reflects a character deficit that puts mother and child at risk.
