Voldsramte migrantkvinder - Om køn, kultur og mandlig afmagt

Abstract

This article deals with the battered immigrant women's plight on leaving her batterer, especially when having no knowledge of Danish and no residence permit in her own right. Her encounter with the social welfare system and the police for aid and support may turn out to be a difficult task as - in spite of the law - individual social workers and police officers still deny a battered woman her rights. I argue that this is caused by an alliance between patriarchy and psychotherapy, the former presupposing the subordination of women,and the latter defining male violence as en expression of powerlessness. These ideas along with the notion that if a battered woman does not leave her batterer she is suffering from the battered woman's syndrome and is psycologically paralysed are devastating to a battered women who attempts to get away from a violent man.