Broken, Battered, and Bruised: Exploring the Complexities of Intimate Partner Violence, Gender Inequality, and Injustice

Author: Lauren LeVine, Graduating PPL Fourth Year, Class of 2024

This paper addresses the intricacies of intimate partner violence (IPV)  in relation to gender equality and justice. Although research, victim advocacy, and legal approaches have improved over the course of United States history, IPV remains an epidemic within the United States, largely perpetuated and sustained through cultural practices and de facto functions of the legal system. Why is this still such a pervasive problem, and why aren’t better approaches being implemented? Fundamentally, IPV is about dominance of men over women to maintain power and control. Intimate partner violence is a cyclical crime born from injustice and inequality between men and women to reproduce and perpetuate more suffusive forms of greater injustice and inequality. To work toward ideal forms of justice and equality between men and women, community coordinated cultural and legal changes are vital in properly addressing IPV. Moreover, approaches centering support for victims, but shifting focus toward perpetrators, are necessary for aligning theory with the practice of cultivating further equality and justice. These recommendations are proven best practices to not only stop IPV cycles before they begin, but to rectify cycles of abuse and their effects after they have already occurred.

Key words: Intimate Partner Violence, Gender Inequality

---

Below you will find a copy of Lauren's full PPL Senior Thesis:

LeVine Thesis 2024.pdf

Download PDF • 491KB