Domestic violence at the crossroads: violence against poor women and women of colour. Women’s Studies Quarterly 32

Abstract

Abstract All too often research on domestic violence has been presented as a "one size fits all" approach. This is inadequate to the experiences and needs of diverse groups of women who are abused. Instead, this article looks at the recent research using a race, class, gender, sexuality intersectional analysis and structural framework to understand the lived experiences and contexts of domestic violence for marginalized women in the U.S., the relationship of battering in the family to violence against women (and men) by larger systems of socially structured inequality in poor and racialized communities, and the availability of resources to diverse groups of women to fight this oppression. While culture is key in explaining violence against women, it is important to not make "culture" the scapegoat in an analysis of violence against women nor to downplay the strengths of different cultures available to battered women. It is argued that only by understanding the structural systems of social inequality through which different cultures operate that we can work toward safety for all women and children