| Domestic abuse is a psychosocial phenomenon that can occur within the context of any romantic relationship, with anyone capable of being abusive towards his or her romantic partner. However, much of the research and social services concerning domestic violence and its offenders is geared towards male offenders. Recently, psychosocial research recognized that women are capable of engaging in abusive behaviors towards their romantic partner. The problem that psychosocial researchers confront with regard to female domestic violence offenders is that the current feminist theory framework used to explain domestic violence offenders is limited to a misogynistic viewpoint and therefore lacks the ability to fully understand the phenomenon of female domestic violence offenders and their abusive behaviors towards their romantic partner. Domestic violence offender treatment modalities hold the belief that aggression is used exploitatively against a romantic partner, and that it is possible that the female offenders may not have their needs met in this kind of treatment modality. The purpose of the proposed descriptive phenomenological study was to apply feminist theory as a theoretical lens to examine its congruency (or incongruency) with how female domestic violence offenders in court-mandated domestic abuse treatment centers in California viewed their abusive behaviors, including how they viewed their victims, how they described what prompted their abusive behavior, and how they justified their abusive behavior. The experiences of female domestic violence offenders recruited from the Marjaree Mason Center (a domestic violence service provider in the Central Valley Region of California) were examined through in-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews that focused on their own unique experiences with domestic abuse behaviors. |
