Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia.
J Interpers Violence. 2013 Mar;28(4):685-717. doi: 10.1177/0886260512455864. Epub 2012 Aug 27.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread, ongoing, and complex global social problem, whose victims continue to be largely women. Women often prefer to rely on friends and family for IPV help, yet when informal support is unavailable they remain hesitant to contact formal services, particularly legal support for many reasons. This study applies a sociological lens by framing the IPV and legal help-seeking experiences of rural Australian women gained from 36 in-depth face-to-face interviews as socially contextualized interactions. Findings reveal police and court responses reflect broader social inequalities and rurality exacerbates concerns such as anonymity and lack of service. Cultural differences and power imbalances between survivors and formal support providers are manifested to inform future research seeking to improve survivors' willingness to engage and satisfaction with formal services. Finally, the important role police and the criminal justice system play in de-stigmatizing IPV and legitimating its unacceptability is argued a crucial, yet unrecognized, key to social change.
亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）是一个普遍存在、持续存在且复杂的全球社会问题，其受害者主要仍是女性。女性通常更愿意依靠朋友和家人寻求 IPV 帮助，但当非正式支持不可用时，出于多种原因，她们仍然不愿联系正式服务，尤其是法律支持。本研究通过将从 36 次深入的面对面访谈中获得的澳大利亚农村女性的 IPV 和寻求法律帮助的经历作为社会背景化的互动，从社会学的角度进行了分析。研究结果表明，警察和法院的反应反映了更广泛的社会不平等，农村地区加剧了一些问题，如匿名性和缺乏服务。文化差异和幸存者与正式支持提供者之间的权力失衡表现出来，以告知未来寻求提高幸存者对正式服务的参与意愿和满意度的研究。最后，有人认为，警察和刑事司法系统在消除 IPV 的污名化和使人们认识到其不可接受性方面发挥的重要作用，是社会变革的一个关键但尚未得到认可的关键。
