Suzanne Swan, Ph.D.

swansc@mailbox.sc.edu

Up to 25% of women may be sexually assaulted during college (Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2000; Mohler-Kuo, Dowdall, Koss, & Wechsler, 2004), and one in three female and male college students have experienced physical aggression from dating partners (White & Koss, 1991). College men also experience sexual coercion; one study found that 21% of college men reported experiencing some form of unwanted sexual contact (Larimer et al., 1999). While most students neither participate in nor condone violence, many respond passively to a campus culture that may tacitly support violence, as evidenced by violent media images, jokes trivializing violence against women, and sexual harassment. Growing awareness that all members of the campus community can play a significant role in ending dating and sexual violence has led to an increase in violence prevention interventions at a number of colleges. However, very few of these programs have been empirically evaluated.

1. The vast majority (85-94%) of men do not engage in violence (Kilmartin, 2007)

2. Non-violent men and women can have a powerful influence on the culture and environment that perpetuates dating and sexual violence

If our campus is like most others, we know that about 1 in 4 women are sexually assaulted and 1 in 3 couples experience dating violence. We do not know exactly how much violence happens on the USC campus, but we do know there is a steady stream of students using the victim services of the Office of Sexual Health & Violence Prevention, the Student Health Center, and the Counseling Center every semester. How do those of us in the majority, who do not use violence and do not want it happening on our campus, make a difference? Simply put, we have to SPEAK UP. We have to speak up when someone makes a joke about rape or violence. We need to make sure our drunk friend makes it home from the party safely. We need to speak up if it looks like someone slipped something into someone's drink. We need to support someone who is a victim of violence, and offer to help instead of blaming them for what happened to them. We need to speak up if we see a couple fighting, whether that means contacting a Resident Mentor, calling the police, or just asking them if everything is okay. We need to let our friends know about the violence happening on our campus, and encourage them to SPEAK UP, too.

How many of us in the non-violent majority have to SPEAK UP to change the campus culture that supports violence, and create a new culture that promotes safety and intolerance for violence? We cannot know the exact number, but we do know this: if most of us choose inaction and indifference, then the violence will surely continue. If we do not speak up, at the end of this semester, more of our friends, classmates, roommates, and family members will have been devastated by violence. But if we do SPEAK UP, we CAN make a difference!

Why study women's violence?

Women's violence is an issue that is not well understood. Discourse on women's intimate partner violence, both in the popular media and among domestic violence researchers and advocates, is often highly polarized. As one example, a long-standing controversy among scholars of domestic violence concerns the role of gender in intimate partner aggression, referred to as the "gender symmetry" debate. Proponents of the gender symmetry approach argue that women are really just as violent as men towards their intimate partners, and refer to the consistent finding that women and men self-report very similar rates of physical aggression towards their partners (e.g., Straus, 2004). Proponents of this view dispute the feminist theory that patriarchal ideology, which encourages men to control their partners, is the root cause of domestic violence, and argue instead that the use of violence to achieve power and control over one's partner is essentially the same phenomenon for women and men.

On the other side, those who disagree with the gender symmetry explanation argue that there are qualitative, essential differences between men's and women's violence against partners. Simply extending male models to women's violence against intimate partners is misguided, because women's motives for using violence, the context for their use of violence, and the types and patterns of violence used are often very different from men (Dasgupta, 1999; Feder & Henning, 2005; Hamberger, 2005; Miller, 2005; Swan & Snow, 2003; 2006).

It is true that numerous studies have found that women self-report as much perpetration of physical violence against their partners as men (Archer, 2000). However, these studies examined only physical violence, not sexual violence, coercive control, or injury (Archer, 2000). Dr. Swan's research with women who used violence against partners found that, while women committed comparable levels of physical and emotional aggression as their male partners committed against them, partners committed more sexual aggression, more coercive control, and injured the women more often than the women did these things to their partners (Swan, Gambone, Caldwell, Sullivan, & Snow, 2008; Swan & Snow, 2003). Furthermore, her studies found that over 90% of the women who used violence against their partners were also victims of violence from their partners. And, studies indicate that experiencing intimate partner violence affects men and women differently. Women who experience partner aggression, compared to men, exhibit greater depression and substance use; are more likely to develop psychiatric disorders; and are more likely to take time off from work and use mental health and criminal justice services (Swan, Gambone, Caldwell, Sullivan, & Snow, 2008).

The goal of Dr. Swan's research in this area is to develop a theoretical framework of women's violence against male intimate partners by placing the occurrence of women's violence in a broader social and relational context.

For more information, see Dr. Swan's published papers in this area (see links below).

Men and Masculinity (PSYC 589/WGST 430)
Women and their Bodies in Health & Disease (WGST 113)
Undergraduate Social Psychology (PSYC 430)
Graduate Social Psychology (PSYC 770)
Relationship Violence (WOST 796B/PSYC 841A)

	Caldwell, J.C., Swan, S.C., Allen, C.T., Sullivan, T.P., & Snow, D.L. (in press). Why I hit him: Women's reasons for intimate partner violence. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, & Trauma.
	Fields, A.M., Swan, S.C., & Kloos, B.R. (in press). "What it means to be a woman": Ambivalent sexism in female college students' experiences and attitudes. Sex Roles.
	Sullivan, T.P., Titus, J.A., Holt, L.J., Swan, S.C., Fisher, B.S., & Snow, D.L. (2009). Does the inclusion criterion of women’s aggression as opposed to their victimization result in samples that differ on key dimensions of intimate partner violence? Violence Against Women.
	Swan, S.C., Caldwell, J.E., Sullivan, T.P., & Snow, D.L. (2009). Women's use of violence with male intimate partners. In E. Stark and E. Buzawa (Eds.), Violence against women in families and relationships. Volume 3: Criminal Justice and the Law, pp 47-67. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Perspectives.
	Sullivan, T.P., Cavanaugh, C.E., Ufner, M.J., Swan, S.C., & Snow, D.L. (2009). Relationships among women's use of aggression, their victimization, and substance use problems: A test of the moderating effects of race/ethnicity. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, & Trauma, 18, 646-666.
	Walley-Jean, J.C., & Swan, S.C. (in press). Motivations and justifications for partner aggression in a sample of African-American college women. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, & Trauma.
	Swan, S.C., & Sullivan, T.P. (2009). The resource utilization of women who use violence in intimate relationships. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24, 940-958.
	Allen, C.T., Swan, S.C., & Raghavan, C. (2008). Gender symmetry, sexism and intimate partner violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Online First, published on October 22, 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2008 from http://jiv.sagepub.com/pap.dtl.
	Swan, S.C., Gambone, L.J., Caldwell, J.E., Sullivan, T.P., & Snow, D.L. (2008). A review of research on women's use of violence with male intimate partners. Violence and Victims, 23, 301-314.
	Swan, S. C., & Snow, D. L. (2006). The development of a theory of women's use of violence in intimate relationships. Violence Against Women, 12, 1026-1045.
	Snow, D.L., Sullivan, T.P., Swan, S.C., Tate, D.C., & Klien, I. (2006). The role of coping and problem drinking in men's abuse of female partners: Test of a path model. Violence and Victims, 21, 267-285.
	Sullivan, T.P., Meese, K.J., Swan, S.C., Mazure, C.M., & Snow, D.L. (2005). Precursors and correlates of women's violence: Child abuse traumatization, victimization of women, avoidance coping and psychological symptoms. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29, 290-301.
	Swan, S.C., Gambone, L.J., Fields, A.M., & Sullivan, T.P., & Snow, D.L. (2005). Women who use violence in intimate relationships: The role of anger, victimization, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Violence and Victims, 20, 267-285.
	Raghavan, C., Swan, S. C., Snow, D.L., & Mazure, C.M. (2005). The mediational role of relationship efficacy and resource utilization in the link between physical and psychological abuse and relationship termination. Violence Against Women, 11, 65-88.
	Snow, D. L., Swan, S. C., Raghavan, C., Connell, C., & Klein, I. (2003). The relationship of work stressors, coping, and social support to psychological symptoms among female secretarial employees. Work and Stress, 17, 241-263.
	Swan, S. C., & Snow, D. L. (2003). Behavioral and psychological differences among abused women who use violence in intimate relationships. Violence Against Women, 9, 75-109.
	Hanson, T., Hesselbrock, M., Tworkowski, S., & Swan, S. C. (2002). The prevalence and management of trauma in the public domain: An agency and clinician perspective. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, 29, 365-380.
	Swan, S. C., & Snow, D. L. (2002). A typology of women’s use of violence in intimate relationships. Violence Against Women, 8, 286-319.
	Snow, D.L., Swan, S.C., & Wilton, L. (2002). A workplace coping skills intervention to prevent alcohol abuse. In J.B. Bennett and W.E.K.Lehman (Eds.), Preventing workplace substance abuse: Beyond drug testing to wellness. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
	Easton, C., Swan, S. C., & Sinha, R. (2000a). Motivation to change substance use among domestic violence offenders. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 19, 15.
	Easton, C., Swan, S. C., & Sinha, R. (2000b). Prevalence of family violence in clients entering substance abuse treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 18, 23-28.
	Cortina, L. M., Swan, S. C., Fitzgerald, L. F., & Waldo, C. (1998). Sexual harassment and assault: Chilling the climate for women in academia. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 22, 419-441.
	Schneider, K. T., Swan, S. C., & Fitzgerald, L. F. (1997). Job-related and psychological effects of sexual harassment in the workplace: Empirical evidence from two organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 401-415.
	Swan, S. C. & Wyer, R. S. (1997). Gender stereotypes and social identity: How being in the minority affects judgments of self and others. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 1265-1276.
	Fitzgerald, L. F., Swan, S. C., & Magley, V. J. (1997). But was it really sexual harassment? Legal, behavioral, and psychological definitions of the workplace victimization of women. In W. O'Donohue (Ed.), Sexual harassment: Theory, research, and treatment. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
	Fitzgerald, L. F., Swan, S. C., & Fischer, K. (1995). Why didn’t she just report him? The psychological and legal implications of women’s responses to sexual harassment. Journal of Social Issues, 51, 117-138.
	Wyer, R. S., Swan, S. C., & Gruenfeld, D. H. (1995). Impression formation in informal conversations. Social Cognition, 13, 243-272.