Why don't you just talk to him?: the politics of domestic abuse

Calling attention to domestic abuse as a political problem, this book seeks to challenge Enlightenment notions of intimacy that profoundly mistake the nature of control and abuse. In turn, the anti-Enlightenment aspects of intimacy are rooted in tensions and contradictions of American society, which often assume that communication and egalitarian practices (such as mediation) preclude destructive tendencies and hostility. The book explores how Enlightenment ideals continue to deny or obscure hierarchy, coercive control, and violence even while they make these dynamics possible

Calling attention to domestic abuse as a political problem, this book seeks to challenge Enlightenment notions of intimacy that profoundly mistake the nature of control and abuse. In turn, the anti-Enlightenment aspects of intimacy are rooted in tensions and contradictions of American society, which often assume that communication and egalitarian practices (such as mediation) preclude destructive tendencies and hostility. The book explores how Enlightenment ideals continue to deny or obscure hierarchy, coercive control, and violence even while they make these dynamics possible.

In contemporary times, US domestic policy is fragmented but has unifying factors, including a shift to communicative strategies that aim to keep families intact and urge counseling, batterer intervention programs, and/or legal mediation. This book demonstrates how these strategies obfuscate contradictory tendencies, preserving power hierarchies and often making abusive situations worse.