Reforming by Re-Norming: How the Legal System Has the Potential to Change a Toxic Culture of Domestic Violence

Abstract

Regressive societal norms and gender-based biases, both explicit and implicit, have compounded over time to form a cultural realm of tolerance toward domestic violence. This Article examines how the law has contributed to the development of this culture, and more importantly, how the law can be utilized to transform a toxic culture of intimate partner violence. The law can be a positive agent of change, and its powers should be marshaled to effectuate change in attitudes and norms towards domestic violence. By importing the social norms theory of psychology and theories of re-norming and implicit biases, we may work to detoxify society’s treatment and tolerance of intimate partner violence.

Keywords: intimate partner violence, culture, domestic violence, gendered norms, implicit bias, toxic masculinity, social norms, re-norming, law