Earlier this month, The National Bureau of Economic Research issued the working paper Family Violence and Football: The Effect of Unexpected Emotional Cues on Violent Behavior by University of California, San Diego professor Gordan Dahl and University of California, Berkeley professor David Card. While both Dahl and Card are esteemed researchers in economics (both have fascinating lists of past and future research), I do not believe that their understanding of family and domestic violence is very strong. As those who have experienced or worked with survivors of intimate violence know, abusers do not follow patterns or trends. The behavior of an abusive person is controlled by one thing: the abusive person.
While this research may have the best intentions—to help law enforcement, courts, and even the partners of abusive people put a pattern to the behavior and prevent or prove violent outbursts, what it actually does is misconstrue and minimize intimate violence. To illustrate this point, here are essays from The Washington Post, The New York Times (1, 2) and the Charleston (WV) Gazette.
Before you read the articles themselves, first scroll down to the comments section (normally I would never recommend doing this, but that's for a later discussion): does it seem like this is a place to joke about harming one's partner? The comments on this Austin American-Statesman post were especially vile. These articles do not raise awareness of intimate violence so much as solidify myths that professionals in the field have been trying so hard to end. Let's put our Myth-detection goggles on and have at them.
Myth #1: Violence is caused by factors out of the abuser's control.
Truth: The abuser causes violence every time. Abusers make a choice to hurt and control their partners and families. Anger, weather, football outcomes, alcohol, drugs, etc. are not causes, though they may seem to be linked.
Myth #2: There is a pattern to abuse.
Truth: Abusers want to control their partners. If their partners could see a pattern in their abuse, they would be able to gain some control. Abusers know this, and their violence is not due to anything except for their choosing to employ it. It could be a bad football game or an empty ice cube tray. Or it could be nothing.
Myth #3: Abuse happens more often when emotions are high.
Truth: Intimate violence is not about emotions. In fact, abusers are about control, and that includes their emotions. While yelling and explosive behaviors can be a part of abuse, cool and deliberate behaviors are also just as much a part of abuse.
Myth #4: Intimate violence is due to the actions of both partners, or a family code.
Truth: Abusers want to stay in control, and will use whatever tactics necessary—including aggravating their partners and family members to behave in the manner they see fit. Abusers make the rules and use coercion to ensure that they maintain control.
Myth #5: Abusers like violent sports, movies, and activities. Especially football.
Truth: There is no "type" that tends more towards intimate violence than any other. That's a pretty simple truth. And for the record, they don't even necessarily like football.
