Social workers and other helpers are deeply and regularly involved in the lives of women who are abused by those they love. Our communities have developed both rudimentary and sophisticated systems responding to every aspect of woman abuse. Theorists have written about woman abuse most effectively from a feminist perspective, although there are sociological, psychological, and anthropological analyses, among others, as well. Dr Heather Fraser has analysed a wide range of published texts and women's personal stories that have helped her address important questions about love and abuse and the presence of both in women's lives. Additionally, she analyses and reports on a series of discussions held with men who shared their ideas and feelings about love, abuse, gender, and relationships. Some questions addressed in the book include: How is love represented in Anglo-American cultures? Does power infiltrate women's love relationships? Do women interact with dominant stories about love? What can social workers and other health and welfare professionals learn from the love stories that individual women narrate, especially those subjected to abuse, coercion, and brutality? And, how might social workers and others develop projects that facilitate intimate, non-violent relationships" The book is filled with new perspectives on the topic of love, a phenomenon that is difficult to define and extremely challenging to study, especially for scholars in the field of social work, where love in all its manifestations is central to understandings and practice.
