Ellen Pence and her contribution to domestic violence - Research Paper Example

Ellen Pence Introduction This lion-hearted woman died on January 06, Ellen Pence was the first advocate for battered women. She has been struggling with cancer for a long time, but she could not deal with it to the end…In our hearts the image of this woman inspires us and her intentions to change the society are deeply rooted in our world. She shed light on the way of social attitude towards domestic violence. She contributed much into improvement of dealing with violence. Ellen Pence was born in 1948 and died on January 6, 2012.

She was a scholar and a social activist. Her main ideas were implemented and developed not only in the context of science and theoretical development, but also were the basis for creation of future practical solutions in the field of domestic violence. She was a co-founder of the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project and she collaborated with 50 states in the U.S. and more than 17 countries all over the world. She played a leading role in the support of battered women and at the same time she made a great contribution into ethnography development.

Pence vs Domestic Violence The Duluth Model developed by Pence is considered to be an important contribution to dealing with violence cases. She engaged the police and she was greatly interested in community involvement into the violence problem solving. She earned her Ph.D in the Toronto University. She developed an institutionalized ethnography, an approach that enabled her to organize community groups for the problems analysis in the context of domestic violence. Moreover, Ellen Pence is a founder of the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project in Duluth, Minnesota.

Once she said in her interview: "Domestic violence against men is just not a social problem." (Mullender 1996). This is rather intriguing claim, because a problem of battering is a serious dangerous condition in the society. There is no difference which of the partners is the abuser and which one is a victim. Women are physically weaker and, as a rule, they are unable to resist to violence. A problem of domestic violence can be solved in case of a holistic approach to the problem. Both women and men should be focused on their actions and prevent a possible occurrence of battering in the family (Puffer, Pence, Graverson, Wolfe, Pate, Clegg 2008).

Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs is a relevant basis to eradicate violence from the society. "Duluth Model" is focused on the communities and it helps people to deal with violence both nationally and internationally. Violence in the lives of women and children can be solved once community leaders are focused on preventive strategies against domestic violence (Dobash& Dobash 1992). The Safety Audit process is a community used tool for measurement of community intervention in domestic violence cases.

It is necessary to focus on the way community deals with the issues of violence. There is no doubt that very often communities cannot provide enough help to women. Desperate women have no place to go and return back to their violent husbands. Thus, we can claim that Ellen Pence created a reliable foundation for implementation of the Duluth Model. The countries around the world are interested in anti-violence research and policy development. Very often we forget the name of Ellen Pence or do not know it at all, but millions have remembered the “power and control wheel” (Weisz 2000).

We can refer to the Appendix I. There is an evident powerful visual representation of the intriguing nature of the abusive men inexplicable behaviors. A man is usually terrorizing and abusing a woman in the family thus trying to show his physical, emotional and psychological dominance over a woman. Lundy Bancroft once claimed: "Abusers do not abuse because they are angry. They become angry in order to behave abusively" (Cook 1997). Thus, abuse is used by men to show their dominance above women in different aspects of their lives.

  Conclusion Therefore, it is appropriate to create a response to abuse and violence at different levels. Thus, “Coordinated Community Response” is one of possible solutions of the home violence problem. Representatives of different occupations very often deal with the abusers. As a rule, they emphasize that men abusing their women do not receive a response from their victims. Human services, courts and the police, as well as public awareness of this problem should be taken into account, as Ellen Pence claimed.

Though Ellen helped battered women, she also wanted to help men to deal with tier aggressive moods and intentions of battering. References Cook, P. W. (1997). Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence. Westport, CT: Praeger. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Dobash, R. E., & Dobash, R. P. (1992). Women, Violence, and Social Change. New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Mullender, A. (1996). Rethinking Domestic Violence: The Social Work and Probation Response. New York: Routledge.

Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Puffer, K. A., Pence, K. G., Graverson, T. M., Wolfe, M., Pate, E., & Clegg, S. (2008). Religious Doubt and Identity Formation: Salient Predictors of Adolescent Religious Doubt. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 36(4), 270+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Weisz, A. N., Msw. (2000). Coordinating Community Responses to Domestic Violence: Lessons from Duluth and Beyond. Violence and Victims, 15(3), 351+. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Appendix A P Power and Control Wheel by Ellen Pence.