“Violence against Women” and the Research Works

In the 1990s, “violence against women” came to the fore of attention and society's attempts to deal with the phenomenon were still in the stage of infancy. What criticisms did researchers and others in the profession who dealt with violence against women face? And how did they, who participated by conducting research on the issue of violence as human rights abuse, respond to those criticisms? I revisit the answers to the above questions by reflecting on my own experience and response to the issue, and by reviewing subsequent research efforts in related disciplines. In particular, the sense that I share with victims a common interest and awareness toward the issue undermines, or even hides the power relationship between victims and people in the professions. There is a danger that this exposes victims to even more severe exploitations. Attention is brought to the following four preconditions for research on “violence against women.” They are, namely, a relationship in which mutual trust exists between researcher and victim, respect for power and independence of victims, questioning of social structures that lead to an unequal researcher-victim power relationship, and the effort to create an environment in which victims can speak out without fear.