Gender violence and legally engendered selves

S. E. Merry

doi:10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962526

Gender violence and legally engendered selves

S. E. Merry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The collaboration of feminist activists and the law provides new possibilities for protecting women from male violence. It offers new gender identities to both women and men. Battered women are offered legally endowed selves while men encounter the criminalization of violent behavior viewed as "natural' to men. By endowing women with autonomous selves who can choose to stay or leave a violent man, but by failing to provide the economic means to leave such men, the discourse of the courts reconstructs women who fail to leave as undeserving of help. The study focuses on a violence control program in a small town in Hawai'i during a period of rapid social and economic change which has opened a space for new legal initiatives against domestic violence. -from Author

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	49-73
Number of pages	25
Journal	Identities
Volume	2
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962526
State	Published - 1995

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cultural Studies
Anthropology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

Access to Document

10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962526

Cite this

@article{f708110e72804f0dbf69f490ff4d3fdf,

title = "Gender violence and legally engendered selves",

abstract = "The collaboration of feminist activists and the law provides new possibilities for protecting women from male violence. It offers new gender identities to both women and men. Battered women are offered legally endowed selves while men encounter the criminalization of violent behavior viewed as {"}natural' to men. By endowing women with autonomous selves who can choose to stay or leave a violent man, but by failing to provide the economic means to leave such men, the discourse of the courts reconstructs women who fail to leave as undeserving of help. The study focuses on a violence control program in a small town in Hawai'i during a period of rapid social and economic change which has opened a space for new legal initiatives against domestic violence. -from Author",

author = "Merry, {S. E.}",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements: Research for this paper hasbeen generously supported by twogrants from theAnthropology and the Law and Society Programs of the National Science Foundation, 1991— #SES-9023397 and 1994 #SBR-9320009, and by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. I am grateful for the help of my research assistants: Marilyn Brown, Joy Adapon, Tami",

year = "1995",

doi = "10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962526",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "2",

pages = "49--73",

journal = "Identities",

issn = "1070-289X",

publisher = "Routledge",

number = "1-2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Gender violence and legally engendered selves

AU - Merry, S. E.

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgements: Research for this paper hasbeen generously supported by twogrants from theAnthropology and the Law and Society Programs of the National Science Foundation, 1991— #SES-9023397 and 1994 #SBR-9320009, and by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities. I am grateful for the help of my research assistants: Marilyn Brown, Joy Adapon, Tami

PY - 1995

Y1 - 1995

N2 - The collaboration of feminist activists and the law provides new possibilities for protecting women from male violence. It offers new gender identities to both women and men. Battered women are offered legally endowed selves while men encounter the criminalization of violent behavior viewed as "natural' to men. By endowing women with autonomous selves who can choose to stay or leave a violent man, but by failing to provide the economic means to leave such men, the discourse of the courts reconstructs women who fail to leave as undeserving of help. The study focuses on a violence control program in a small town in Hawai'i during a period of rapid social and economic change which has opened a space for new legal initiatives against domestic violence. -from Author

AB - The collaboration of feminist activists and the law provides new possibilities for protecting women from male violence. It offers new gender identities to both women and men. Battered women are offered legally endowed selves while men encounter the criminalization of violent behavior viewed as "natural' to men. By endowing women with autonomous selves who can choose to stay or leave a violent man, but by failing to provide the economic means to leave such men, the discourse of the courts reconstructs women who fail to leave as undeserving of help. The study focuses on a violence control program in a small town in Hawai'i during a period of rapid social and economic change which has opened a space for new legal initiatives against domestic violence. -from Author

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0029531150&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0029531150&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962526

DO - 10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962526

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:0029531150

SN - 1070-289X

VL - 2

SP - 49

EP - 73

JO - Identities

JF - Identities

IS - 1-2

ER -

Gender violence and legally engendered selves

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this