Typologies of intimate partner abuse: Theory and practice

There is much interest in and increasing debate about the idea of different types of intimate partner violence. Michael Johnson introduced his intimate partner violence typology in 1995, differentiating between ‘intimate partner terrorism’ and ‘common couple violence’. Johnson, collaborating with various other scholars, has since, and incrementally, revised his typology resulting in the current five categories (situational couple violence, coercive controlling violence, violent resistance, mutual violent control, and separation-instigated violence). Ellen Pence and Shamita Das Dasgupta also developed an intimate partner violence typology, which broadly concurs with Johnson’s. Typologies of violence seem to offer a plausible explanation for the decades-long debate on gender symmetry in intimate partner violence; but the stakes are high if the typology is flawed or erroneously applied.

This seminar, with Emeritus Professor Michael Johnson, Dr Shamita Das Dasgupta, Dr Jane Wangmann and Dr Rae Kaspiew, explores the theory and practice of typologies of intimate partner violence, including a critique and reflections on practice in the Australian context.