Woman Battering as a Social Problem: The Denial of Injury

Woman battering is conceptualised in various ways within the academic literature. Such theoretical accounts, often axiomatic rather than explicitly argued, have emerged co-extensively with the designation of woman battering as a contemporary social problem. There is, nevertheless, an ideological consistency between these theoretical accounts and the social responses to the 'problem'. This situation implies specific consequences for policy development and service delivery in the area of woman battering: the physical injury incurred by women within abusive relationships is often denied. Instead, the experience is often construed in terms of individual social welfare.