Inheritance with no Testament

Based on a research addressing the transformations of the struggle against domestic violence in France and in the United States, this article shows how feminist ideas and practices that help to understand the phenomenon of domestic violence are spread, used, transformed, and sometimes rejected by non-profit organizations that inherited from the 1970s’ feminist movements. This feminist heritage takes different forms in France and in the United States. Firstly, it is rooted in the mental health professional sector in the United States, and in social work in France. Moreover, the relationship to the feminist movements differs according to institutional and political contexts, both on a national and local level. If a feminist identity is “avoided” in the United States, it’s clearly highlighted in France. However, on both sides of the Atlantic, the issue of men remains a conflicting point in the organizations.