GENDER-ROLE SOCIALIZATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON BATTERERS, VICTIMS, AND MILITARY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: A MILITARY CHAPLAIN'S APPROACH TO PROVIDE PASTORAL CARE, COMMUNITY ACTION, AND CONGREGATIONAL OUTREACH

GENDER-ROLE SOCIALIZATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON BATTERERS,
VICTIMS, AND MILITARY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: A MILITARY

CHAPLAIN’S APPROACH TO PROVIDE PASTORAL CARE,
COMMUNITY ACTION, AND CONGREGATIONAL
OUTREACH

By
Eugene R. Anthony III

Thesis



Submitted to the Faculty of the


Graduate School of Vanderbilt University



in partial fulfillment of the requirements




for the degree of





MASTER OF ARTS





in





Religion




May, 2007




Nashville, Tennessee

Approved:
Professor James P. Byrd
Professor Barbara J. McClure

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RELIGION

GENDER-ROLE SOCIALIZATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON BATTERERS,
VICTIMS, AND MILITARY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: A MILITARY CHAPLAIN’S
APPROACH TO PROVIDE PASTORAL CARE, COMMUNITY ACTION, AND
CONGREGATIONAL OUTREACH


EUGENE R. ANTHONY III

Thesis under the direction of Professor James P. Byrd

This project is concerned with exploring how gender socialization affects males,
females, and causes gender-conflict on masculinity. I apply a pastoral care approach for
treating perpetrators of military domestic violence from my faith tradition, which is The
United Methodist Church’s doctrines and its resolutions. Throughout my research, I
learned that pastors must actively preach from the pulpit about their church’s stances on
marital rape, battering, and the cycle of violence against women, while educating parents
to be flexible with gender-role socialization. In this research, I suggest pastoral care
techniques, for all faith based traditions, that will provide a congregational support
network to help the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions.




Approved____________________________ Date_________________________

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To my wonderful mother and father, Eugene and Bette Anthony, who have always loved
and supported me
and
To my beloved wife, Frances, who is my devoted partner for life
I dedicate this work to the enduring memory of Mr. Jack F. Crutcher and to the future
U.S. Naval officers from NROTC Vanderbilt University











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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS




Because my dream is to be a Navy Chaplain, I am especially grateful to the
Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University for admitting me to this
prestigious, top ten graduate program in the United States. It has been my honor to learn
from the most outstanding professors that I have had in my life.
I would especially like to thank my advisor, Dr. James P. Byrd, for his continued
support and advice during my tenure at Vanderbilt University. I extend a special debt of
gratitude to my primary reader, who is Dr. Barbara J. McClure. I also want to thank my
other two favorite teachers and mentors, who are Dr. Evon Flesberg and Dr. Mark Justad.
Dr. Flesberg, because of your pastoral counseling class, I have changed the direction of
my life and career. I hope to bring the same enthusiasm and caring to my sailors, as a
Navy Chaplain, which you brought to our class. Dr. Justad, you have shown me to never
take gender at face value, and to always challenge the way I view the world through my
masculinity and maleness. This project could not have been accomplished without the
spiritual guidance and support of Reverend John R. Cooper, who is my pastor at The First
United Methodist Church in Ripley, TN. You are my spiritual role model and also my
friend. Lastly, thanks to LCDR Laura Bender from the Naval Chaplains School and
Heather McAfoose from The Fleet & Family Support Center in Newport, Rhode Island,
for their advice and supporting materials that aided my research tremendously. I would
not have such a polished gem without the tireless efforts of Liz Leis in the Graduate
School.

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Nobody has been more important to me in pursuit of this project than the
members of my family. I would like to thank my parents whose love, support, and
guidance are with me always in this life. They are my inspiration and the best parents a
man could ever have. Finally, I wish to thank my beautiful and loving wife, Frances.
God put an angel on Earth just for me and thank you for your listening ear and support
during this project from start to finish. The hardest, but I hope the most rewarding job in
the Navy is that of a Navy wife.

















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TABLE OF CONTENTS










Page
DEDICATION......................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………..iii
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………..vii
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………viii
Chapter
I. EXPLORING THE EXERCISE OF POWER AND CONTROL IN
MILITARY AND NON-MILITARY MARRIAGES..………………………1


Definition of a Battered Woman…………………………………………..1
Characteristics of a Batterer in the Culture at Large……………………....2
What Is Military Domestic Violence? An Introduction to the
Deployment-Separation Theory…………………………………………...6
Definition of Military Domestic Violence………………………………...6
Military Families as a Subculture in U.S. Society……………………...…7
The Department of Defense (DoD) and Chief of Naval Operations


(CNO) Responses for Prevention of Domestic Violence in the U.S.
Military and U.S. Navy…………………………………………………..10
The Deployment-Separation Theory—Stressors That May
Contribute to Wife Battering in the U.S. Navy……………………...…...12


II.
(SUB) CULTURAL AND SOCIETAL ELEMENTS THAT
CONTRIBUTE TO WIFE BATTERING IN THE U.S. NAVY………...17



The Effects of Gender Socialization and Gender-Role Conflict


on Batterers……………………………………………………………..17


Gender-Role Socialization and It’s Effects on Military Domestic


Violence………………………………………………………………...22




III. HOW CAN PASTORS AND CHAPLAINS MITIGATE MILITARY
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? A MILITARY CHAPLAIN’S PASTORAL
RESPONSE………………………………………………………………..26

Pastoral Care for Perpetuators of Domestic


Violence………………………………………………………………...27

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Pastoral Care for Perpetuators of Military Domestic


Violence………………………………………………………………...30


IV. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………....34

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………..37





















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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure








Page
1. Power and Control Wheel………………………………………………...39
2. Common Military Acronyms……………………………………..............40
3. CNO’s Administrative Message……………………………………..……42
4. Military Power and Control Wheel……………………………………..…45

















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INTRODUCTION



Although numerous studies, articles, and books have been written about battered
women and the trauma that they have experienced within the domestic, family life cycle,
precious little research has addressed the causes of male military batterer’s outbursts,
which I will argue is gender socialization and secular influences. Therefore, I provide
pastoral care techniques and solutions for de-toxifying harmful, hyper-masculine
behavior. I will explore how gender socialization affects males, victims, and contributes
to military domestic violence. I will also apply a pastoral care approach for treating
perpetrator’s that display violent tendencies towards women, which is The United
Methodist Church’s doctrines and resolutions. For my introductory quotations following
each chapter title, I will be using the text from the Holman Christian Standard Bible
(affectionately known as The Sailor’s Bible), which is a new English translation of God’s
word. The purpose of each quotation is to stimulate interest in each chapter’s material,
while providing a platform of discussion on how each quote relates to the text. As a
future Navy Chaplain, providing pastoral care for military, male batterers and their
victims will almost certainly occur, and the purpose of my paper is to address techniques
for providing pastoral responses for the abusers and not just the victims. Otherwise, the
cycle of abuse and violence will continue.
My paper will be divided into four distinct chapters: Chapter I will focus on
providing a working definition of a battered woman, provide general characteristics of
batterers, and directly address the problem of violence against women in the culture at
large, violence against women in the military as a subculture, and the gap between how

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military domestic violence perpetrators treat the “enemy” and how they treat the “non-
enemy.” Chapter II will explore (sub) cultural and social elements that contribute to
military domestic violence. These elements include the valorization and socialization of
machismo/maleness, (sub) cultural degradation of women and its roots, and male,
military valorization of violence as a means to resolving gender conflict, while
maintaining a sense of self-esteem. Chapter III will focus on a pastor’s and military
Chaplain’s pastoral response to civilian and military domestic violence. I will provide
religious/theological resources from my faith tradition, which is The United Methodist
Church, refer to various Naval resources, and explore ways to “stand in the gap” referred
to in Chapter I. Chapter IV is my conclusion and summary of additional thoughts. My
thesis is that pastors/chaplains must provide pastoral care for batterers in their churches,
who commit military and non-military domestic violence, along with ensuring care for
their victims, actively preach from the pulpit about their church’s stances on marital rape,
battering, and violence towards women, while educating parents to be flexible with
gender-role socialization. Otherwise, the cycle of violence will continue indefinitely.



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