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What is behind that closed door?------ Intimate Partner Violence during Pregnancy in China

Yang, Xiaojie LU (2011) SIMT19 20111
Master of Science in Social Studies of Gender
Abstract
The aim of this thesis is to examine intimate partner violence (IPV) towards pregnant
women, with the ambition of fulfilling the gap of available knowledge about this complex
subject area, in the Chinese context.
The specific objects are: 1) to assess the risk factors and forms associated with
intimate partner violence during pregnancy 2) to explore the social dynamics and gender
power relations that underline intimate partner violence during pregnancy by exploring
the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of survivors and professionals about violence
during pregnancy, connection of domestic violence and coping strategies of domestic
violence survivors. It was a qualitative study involving 8 semi-structured ... (More)
The aim of this thesis is to examine intimate partner violence (IPV) towards pregnant
women, with the ambition of fulfilling the gap of available knowledge about this complex
subject area, in the Chinese context.
The specific objects are: 1) to assess the risk factors and forms associated with
intimate partner violence during pregnancy 2) to explore the social dynamics and gender
power relations that underline intimate partner violence during pregnancy by exploring
the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of survivors and professionals about violence
during pregnancy, connection of domestic violence and coping strategies of domestic
violence survivors. It was a qualitative study involving 8 semi-structured interviews and
2011. Data was analyzed by narrative analysis.
The results indicated the complexity of the issue of IPV during pregnancy from the viewpoints of both professionals and women. The women who had been subjected to
violence described their complicated lives as "living in hell where their partners turned
into perpetrators". None of the four women left the violent relationships during
pregnancy because of multiple reasons. Struggling to find a way to go, these women
floundered between hope and despair. Professionals viewed pregnancy as a potential
trigger for conflicts and violence. What is more, professional analysed IPV during
pregnancy from multifarious perspectives under Chinese specific social and cultural
context.
The findings of research support feminist theory that intimate partner violence during
pregnancy is a result from unequal gender power within patriarchal society. Additionally,
the findings can be explained by the ecological model of gender-based violence by
illustrating how the meaning of violence is constructed through the interaction of events
and circumstances operating at different levels. The traumatic bonding theory and
Landenburger’s coping theory are suitable to apply to intimate partner violence during
pregnancy in a degree. The findings also show positive perspectives of women’s
reactions which is contrary to the argument by Landenburger’s coping theory, and
therefore not suitable to be used to study IPV during pregnancy. More importantly, it also
contributes to break the stereotype that survivors are passive victims. Finally, the experience in this paper might be transcended single cultural context to be common to
women in other countries in the world. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Yang, Xiaojie LU
supervisor
organization
course
SIMT19 20111
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
IPV, pregnancy, feminist perspective, ecological theory, traumatic bonding theory, Landenburger’s coping strategies
language
English
id
2155743
date added to LUP
2011-10-06 08:04:28
date last changed
2022-07-27 03:40:40
@misc{2155743,
  abstract     = {{The aim of this thesis is to  examine intimate partner violence (IPV) towards pregnant 
women, with the ambition of fulfilling the gap of available knowledge about this complex 
subject area, in the Chinese context. 
      The specific objects are: 1) to assess the risk factors and forms  associated  with 
intimate partner violence during pregnancy 2) to explore the social dynamics and gender 
power relations that underline intimate partner violence during pregnancy by exploring 
the perceptions, attitudes and experiences of survivors and professionals about violence 
during pregnancy, connection of domestic violence and coping strategies  of domestic 
violence survivors. It was a qualitative study involving 8 semi-structured  interviews and 
2011. Data was analyzed by narrative analysis.  
      The  results indicated  the complexity of the issue of IPV during pregnancy from the viewpoints of both professionals and women. The women who had been subjected to 
violence described their complicated lives as "living in hell where their partners turned 
into perpetrators". None of the four women left the violent relationships during 
pregnancy because of multiple  reasons. Struggling to find a way to go, these women 
floundered  between hope and despair.  Professionals  viewed pregnancy  as a potential 
trigger for conflicts and violence. What is more, professional analysed IPV during 
pregnancy from  multifarious  perspectives  under Chinese specific social and cultural 
context.  
      The findings of research support feminist theory that intimate partner violence during 
pregnancy is a result from unequal gender power within patriarchal society. Additionally, 
the findings  can  be explained by  the ecological model of gender-based violence by 
illustrating how the meaning of violence is constructed through the interaction of events 
and circumstances operating at different levels.  The traumatic bonding theory and 
Landenburger’s  coping theory are  suitable to apply to intimate partner violence during 
pregnancy in a degree. The findings also show positive perspectives of  women’s 
reactions which is contrary to the argument by  Landenburger’s  coping theory, and 
therefore not suitable to be used to study IPV during pregnancy. More importantly, it also 
contributes  to break the stereotype that survivors are passive victims. Finally,  the experience in this paper might be transcended single cultural context to be common to 
women in other countries in the world.}},
  author       = {{Yang, Xiaojie}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{What is behind that closed door?------ Intimate Partner Violence during Pregnancy in China}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}