Citation

Backe EL, Bosire E, Mendenhall E. Violence Against Women 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/10778012211034206

PMID

34766522

Abstract

The intersecting issues of intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol abuse in South Africa are often characterized as "disasters." Ethnographic research among women in Soweto demonstrates the different manifestations of IPV, perceptions of abuse, and coping mechanisms to manage harmful domestic relationships.

FINDINGS suggest a consistent relationship between excessive drinking patterns and IPV-most significantly, physical and emotional abuse-while indicating that domestic violence measures should include questions about stress. The authors also argue against pathologizing the relationship between IPV and alcohol abuse, to instead center the structured, sedimented ways that violence within the home has become a "normalized" disaster.

Language: en

Keywords

South Africa; intimate partner violence; gender-based violence; alcohol abuse