Policing Male Violence — Policing Women

Abstract

This chapter, based on existing literature concerning women and violence and the Wandsworth Violence Against Women — Women Speak Out Survey, examines the nature and extent of men’s violence to women and the police response. Its starting point is the recognition that men’s violence to women is a political issue, expressing the basic power relations of patriarchy by maintaining and reproducing men’s dominance and women’s subordination. It argues that by formulating the problem of men’s violence in the context of the social control of women by men, we are able to see its contribution to the general policing of women and to understand why, with certain crucial exceptions, women have not been the object of formal policing by the State. This mode of analysis also provides insights as to why the State’s concern with containing violence has not included the day-to-day forms of violence which women routinely experience from men. Locating the problem in a theoretical context is crucial in terms of exploring effective interventions, for example in unpacking some of the contradictions around calling for State support (such as reforms of police practices and the legal system generally) in relation to combating men’s violence.