Gender asymmetry in common couple violence

In companion studies I examine the acceptability of two forms of "common co uple violence" that vary in severity. According to Johnson (1995), common c ouple violence is enacted equally by both men and women, is therefore gende r symmetrical, and can be distinguished from patriarchal terrorism. which o ften includes frequent and systematic violence enacted by men in the contro l and domination of women. The 160 randomly selected respondents in Study 1 (representative of a midsize northeastern American university) were asked whether they would be likely to hit their partner, and whether they would e xpect to be hit, in any one of 10 situations common to a dating relationshi p. Contrary to the expectations of gender symmetry, 83% of the women indica ted they would be at least somewhat likely to hit their partner in any one situation compared to 53% of the men. Men were also more likely to report e xpecting to be hit (70%) than women (50%). Interactions of gender with dating status or year in school cannot account for these findings; however, women and men differ in their motivations. Alt hough most men enact violence for reasons similar to women-because they are angry or confused-a sizable minority of men invoke violence because of str ong feelings like love or hate. Study 2 queried 97 randomly selected studen ts about their willingness to use a more serious form of violence (i.e., be ating up their partner). Findings were similar to Study 1 with one exceptio n. In most instances, women report a greater expectation of being beaten.