Michael P. Johnson speaks at Refuge conference


Mon 29 Oct 2012

US academic Michael P. Johnson was interviewed on Radio New Zealand on Sunday morning - listen here. Professor Michael P. Johnson is Emeritus ...

US academic Michael P. Johnson was interviewed on Radio New Zealand on Sunday morning - listen here.

Professor Michael P. Johnson is Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Women’s Studies and African and African American Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. He was in New Zealand to present at the Women's Refuge conference held in Blenheim on 26-27 October.

Michael Johnson argues that there are different types of violence within relationships and that these can be differentiated and should be treated differently. Women's Refuge writes:

"The two main categories are coercive controlling violence and situational couple violence. The first is predominantly male violence against women and includes a pattern of emotionally abusive intimidation, coercion and control coupled with physical violence. This is probably the pattern that comes to mind for most people when they hear terms such as domestic violence, wife beating, battering or spousal abuse. He says that this kind of violence must be considered as a major risk factor for continued or increased violence in a relationship.

He argues that situational couple violence is the most common type of physical aggression in relationships and is perpetrated by both men and women. Professor Johnson describes this kind of violence in his research as resulting from arguments between partners that escalate into physical violence. One or both partners can have a poor ability to manage conflict or to control their anger." Read more here.

Comment on the work on typologies includes the following:

Wangman, J. (2011). Different types of intimate partner violence: An exploration of the literature. Issues Paper 22: Australian Domestic & Family Violence Clearinghouse.