and social assistance agencies, to help female victims
of abusive men. These early shelters did, however,
provide essential services to women and their chil-
dren, who would otherwise have had no place of
sanctuary to escape their violent home situations.
During the 1980’s, U.S. organizations devoted to
sheltering and representing the interests of battered
women increased in number. Most were still operat-
ing according to feminist principles, but this gradu-
ally changed as the decade progressed. Shelter staffs
also became increasingly professionalized, with for-
mal educational qualifications. Higher levels of staff
training were necessary both for shelter staff and for
others who worked with abused women. In many
states, police and court workers were provided with
specialized instruction to help them better under-
stand domestic violence and to increase the effective-
ness of their work with abused women and children.
Community awareness of the impact of domestic
violence also increased during the 1980’s, with media
attention focused on the behavior of public figures,
such as Mike Tyson, and with the publication ofThe
Color Purple(1982), by Alice Walker. Increased public
consideration of the issue meant that, in some states
and court jurisdictions, dramatic modifications were
made to legal codes and to police practice manuals.
These changes afforded abused women increased
levels of legal protection. They did little, however, to
ensure consistent treatment of women across jurisdic-
tions, and individual state legislatures, police depart-
ments, and courts continued to differ dramatically in
their responses to domestic violence.
Impact Domestic violence, most commonly in-
flicted by men on women and children, has been a
tremendous challenge both for American families
and for the police, courts, and social services. While
family abuse received greater recognition during
the 1980’s and government agencies intervened to a
greater degree than had been the case during the
previous decade, there were still many aspects of
abuse that remained unrecognized. These included
same-sex domestic violence, violence directed against
immigrant women, and the ethnic dimensions of
the problem.
Subsequent Events In 1995, Congress passed the
Violence Against Women Act, ensuring major
changes in legal responses to family violence and
funding a variety of interventions.
Further Reading
Dobash, R. Emerson, and Russell P. Dobash.Violence
Against Wives.New York: Free Press, 1979. Makes
the powerful argument, which received increas-
ing acceptance during the 1980’s, that family vio-
lence results from the unequal, patriarchal struc-
ture of society.
Raymond, Chris. “Campaign Alerts Physicians to
Identify, Assist Victims of Domestic Violence.”
JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Associa-
tion261, no. 7 (February 17, 1989): 963-964. Ex-
presses a recognition by the medical establish-
ment that hurt women should be questioned
about the cause of their injuries and provided
with support and options for escaping violence.
Schneider, Elizabeth M.Battered Women and Feminist
Lawmaking.New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 2000. Extensive coverage of domestic vio-
lence and U.S. law, from the point of view of femi-
nist theory.
Sokoloff, Natalie J., with Christina Pratt, eds.Domes-
tic Violence at the Margins: Readings on Race, Class,
Gender, and Culture.New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers
University Press, 2005. Comprehensive collection
of essays covering the effects of domestic violence
on minority populations in the United States.
Sullivan, Cris M., and Tameka Gillum. “Shelters and
Other Community-Based Services for Battered
Women and Their Children.” InSourcebook on Vio-
lence Against Women, edited by Clare M. Renzetti,
Jeffrey L. Edleson, and Raquel Kennedy Bergen.
Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2001. History of the
American shelter movement and other organiza-
tions providing services to battered women.
Summers, Randal W., and Allan M. Hoffman.
“United States.” InDomestic Violence: A Global View,
edited by Randal W. Summers and Allan M. Hoff-
man. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.
Catalogs the U.S. government’s response to do-
mestic violence, and also includes legal defini-
tions, cultural trends, victim and perpetrator char-
acteristics, and the effects of abuse on children.
Compares these statistics to those of other na-
tions.
Susan J. WurtzburgSee also Color Purple, The; Crime; Feminism; Mar-
riage and divorce; Rape; Tyson, Mike; Women’s
rights.296 Domestic violence The Eighties in America