Trauma, Emotion and the Construction of ‘Deserving’ Victimhood in 1970s Britain: How Early Public Recognition of Intimate Partner Violence Harmed Victims

Abstract

This article explores the crucial role of battered women's emotions – both those emotions that were considered legible (like fear) and those that were less immediately understandable (like shame, self-doubt and confusion) – in public responses to intimate partner violence in 1970s Britain. I argue that the status of domestic violence as a real and urgent problem in the years leading up to its criminalization hinged on the identification of innocent female victims whose emotional responses were seen as reliably pointing to unwarranted abuse.