Citation

Orchowski LM. Psychol. Women Q. 2010; 34(2): 268-269.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Society for the Psychology of Women, Division 35, American Psychological Association, Publisher SAGE Publications)

DOI

10.1111/j.1471-6402.2010.01571.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Reviews the book, "Backs Against the Wall: Battered Women’s Resistance Strategies" edited by Kathy A. McCloskey & Marilyn H. Sitaker (2009). Inspired by the increasingly strident claims from some social science scholars that women are as violent as men, the contributors to Backs Against the Wall contest the allegation of gender parity in intimate partner violence (IPV) by putting women’s violence and aggression back into a social context. This work clearly frames battered women’s use of violence in abusive relationships as simply one tactic used to resist their own abuse. Readers from various disciplines will appreciate the variety of research methods represented in this collection, which includes critical yet nonrepetitive syntheses of the literature, ethnographic research, and first person case study examples. Overall, this collection is rife with up-to-date references as well as comprehensive and careful reviews of IPV literature that make the text a valuable resource and a captivating, thought-provoking read for scholars and students alike. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)