“Peace Begins At Home”: Domestic Prisoners of War (DPoW) Issue Committee Goals

by Margo Schulter
DPoW Committee

June 2023

“Peace begins at home” is the theme and motto of a new issue committee formed in the WILPF US section for survivors of domestic abuse and all WILPF members who want to join with us in sisterhood and allyship.

The new committee was authorized by the WILPF US Board on June 20, 2022. Since then it has been growing and developing its mission, offering a presentation to the general membership of WILPF US last October. Currently the focus is on the situation of domestic abuse in the United States, to set our own national house in order, so to speak; but we welcome an international comparing of notes at some point when it may be most helpful and informative for our international organization.

At the Intersection of Nonviolence and Feminism

The DPoW Committee grew out of the struggles of survivors of domestic abuse to rebuild their lives, and their experience giving a new meaning to the truth that “peace begins at home.” Ironically, literal prisoners of war treated according to the Geneva Conventions live under conditions that might seem idyllic to domestic abuse survivors, including children. The Geneva Convention calls for prisoners of war to be “humanely treated” at all times, and to be “protected , particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.” Neither of these conditions exist in situations of domestic abuse.

For domestic abuse survivors, a hostage crisis might provide a closer if grimmer analogy. The Stockholm Syndrome refers to the curious attachment that some hostages experience toward their captors, but sadly an analogous bond between domestic abuser and abused can hinder a survivor from escaping a dangerous as well as degrading home environment.

As favored by the international program of WILPF, DPoW takes an intersectional perspective on domestic abuse, taking into account how patriarchal oppression interacts with factors of race, class, and disability. Thus we follow bell hooks in not underestimating sexism as a source of oppression, while George Friday, a member of the committee, is focusing on how racism affects Black women survivors.

Two Tasks: Network-building and Legal Reform

As DPoW sees it, survivors face two obstacles: the lack of adequate supports; and patriarchal laws that engage in victim-blaming, inflicting new injuries on survivors by often stigmatizing them and criminalizing them when they engage in desperate acts of self-defense. This situation is comparable to that faced by sexual assault survivors before the feminist wave of rape law reform that swept the US in the 1970's and 1980's.

That is why two of our goals are to build networks among survivors and allies, and to advocate for legal reform.

Our Ethos: “The Survivor Is the Expert”

While DPoW welcomes all WILPF US members, the group is knit together by a shared understanding that survivors are the experts on domestic abuse, and they own their unique stories.

At the DPoW presentation in October, a moving moment brought this lesson home when a survivor found it difficult to begin her presentation because recounting her chosen topic triggered recollections of the abuse she had endured. It is a costly expertise that survivors gain, and forming a circle of learning and action around this expertise is the purpose of the committee.

An Invitation to Knowledge and Action

After less than a year of official recognition as an issue committee in WILPF US, DPoW invites interested members of our section to join our dynamic sisterhood. We are seeking to gain a more complete picture of domestic abuse in the US, not limited to the prevailing patriarchal patterns: we recognize that men are among abuse survivors, as are women in lesbian relationships. Domestic abuse in the LGBT community is one area of our inquiry. One of our general goals is to be a catalyst in mobilizing our branches to support legal reform and also to help build support networks.

An important theme in peacework is how “militarized masculinities” affect everyday life. Focusing on this intersection between feminism, nonviolence, and the dangerous and degrading conditions that some of our members and others face at home is the paramount purpose of DPoW. The work of our committee is central to the values that have inspired and found actualization in the 108-year quest of WILPF for peace in the wider world.