Dangerous Exits Book Report

Dangerous exits: Escaping abusive relationships in rural America

Introduction

“A key objective of this book is to give voice to a marginalized group of women who, for the most part, have suffered in silence” (DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 2002). The book Dangerous Exits: Escaping abusive relationships in rural America, gives insight to the hushed topic of intimate partner violence and specifically women experiencing violence from attempting to leave their partner. Women are constantly advised to end relationships that turn violent, but this act could potentially put them at greater risk for further victimization. The authors take on a feminist approach to try and decipher this phenomenon of “a war against women”. More specifically, there has

It is never fair to ask “Why will she not she leave?”. A victim can be defined as “an individual who has been confronted, attacked or violated by a perceived predator, resulting in short or long term physical and/ or mental injuries as a result.” (Burgess, Regehr & Roberts, 2012, p. 10). All of the women were victims to ongoing abuse by their partners and were at constant risk for revictimization. This further grasps the term of intimate partner violence which overarches what type of situations, these women were exposed to (Burgess et al., 2012, p. 290) The power and control wheel, a tool used when trying to educate victims of IPV, is symbolically represented throughout the book by demonstrating how these abusers keep control of their partners. This wheel details eight forms of violence that abusers commonly use to keep control over their partner, that include, using male privilege and coercion and threats to maintain dominance (Burgess et al., 2012, p. 300). Victimology also studies, the effects such patterns of abuse have on an individual, such as learned helplessness and PTSD (Burgess et al., 2012, p. 300). Furthermore, it is grounded in the approaches and steps of action to take in order to help victims of trauma and