uk domestic violence perpetrator programmes: doing and ... · •dvpps subject to more intense...
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UK Domestic Violence Perpetrator
Programmes: Doing and Undoing
Gender
Funded by: the Economic and
Social Research Council
[grant reference ES/HO38086/1]
and the Northern Rock Foundation
[grant reference 20080739]
Dr. Julia Downes (Open University)
Prof. Liz Kelly (Child and Woman
Abuse Studies Unit)
Prof. Nicole Westmarland (Durham
University)
The story so far
• Widespread skepticism, from multiple directions, about
the ability for men who use violence to change.
• DVPPs subject to more intense scrutiny than other
responses.
• Internationally, research shows mixed results.
• Limited research in the UK – particularly Scotland - is
fairly positive.
• UK specific model – both inside and outside the CJS.
Istanbul convention
State parties should –
•‘Set up or support programmes aimed at teaching
perpetrators of domestic violence to adopt non-violent
behaviours.’
•‘Shall ensure that the safety of, and support for, the
human rights of victims are of primary concern and that,
where appropriate, these programmes are set up and
implemented in close coordination with specialist services
for victims.’
Project Mirabal
• Broad and long programme of research.
• Main aim – to understand what DVPPs contribute to
coordinated community approaches to domestic
violence.
• Other benefits
• Today 1. brief overview of main findings 2. focus on gender analysis
What counts as success?
1. An improved relationship between men on programmes and their
partners/ex-partners which is underpinned by respect and
effective communication.
2. For partners/ex-partners to have an expanded ‘space for action’
which empowers through restoring their voice and ability to make
choices, whilst improving their well being.
3. Safety and freedom from violence and abuse for women and
children.
4. Safe, positive and shared parenting.
5. Enhanced awareness of self and others for men on programmes,
including an understanding of the impact that domestic violence
has had on their partner and children.
6. For children, safer, healthier childhoods in which they feel heard
and cared about.
Research design
Longitudinal telephone survey (quantitative)
• 100 women whose partners or ex-partners had attended a
programme
• Women whose partners or ex-partners had not attended a
programme
• Before the programme to 12 months after the start date.
• 5 interviews covering 6 time points.
Longitudinal in-depth interviews (qualitative)
• 64 men on programmes
48 partners or ex partners of men on programmes
• 2 interviews near the start and the end of the programme
For the majority of women whose partners and
ex-partners attended a DVPP, the physical and
sexual violence stopped completely.
94
87
54
50
59
29
30
23
7
2
2
10
0
0
Punched or kicked walls or furniture, slammed doors, smashed things or stamped around
Slapped you, pushed you, or thrown something at you
Punched, kicked, burnt, or beaten you
Tried to strangle, choke, drown, or smother you
Threatened to kill you or someone close to you
Used a weapon against you
Made you do something sexual that you did not want to do
Physical and sexual violence (% yes)
12 months Baseline
Whilst the use of harassment and abuse also
showed strong and consistent decreases, it
remained in the lives of around half the women.
68
34
64
91
69
90
28
7
9
48
27
41
Harassed you using letters, emails, texts or phone calls
Followed you or waited outside your home or workplace
Deliberately interfered with or damaged your property
Insulted you or made you feel bad about yourself
Belittled or humiliated you in front of other people.
Did things that scared or intimidated you
Harassment and other abusive acts (% yes)
12 months Baseline
Expanded space for action
65
80
68
56
50
62
55
57
64
49
96
91
15
48
31
12
47
22
16
13
21
10
75
65
Tries to prevent me seeing or contacting my friends/family
Insists on knowing where I am or what I am doing
Is suspicious that I have been with another man/someone else
Tries to prevent me participating in activities or groups outside the home
Tries to use money/finances to control me
Tries to look at my messages and contacts
Prescribes or criticises the way housework is done
Tells me to change the way I dress or my appearance
Tries to restrict where I go
Makes the final decision about whether people can visit/stay in the house
I feel like I have to be very careful around DVP if he is in a bad mood
I feel afraid of how DVP would react if I got a new partner
Space for action (%)
Month 12 Baseline
Self-perceived safety
32
39
21
8 6
13
30
51
Not safe at all A little unsafe Somewhat safe Very safe
Figure 6. How safe do you feel? (%)
Baseline 12 months
Domestic violence as a
gendered project • Coercive control
“The main means used to establish control is the micro-
regulation of everyday behaviours associated with
stereotypic female roles, such as how women dress,
cook, clean, socialize, care for their children, or perform
sexually. This is accomplished by exploiting the
benefits women derive from their newfound equality”
(Stark 2007, p. 5)
Domestic violence and the
constitution of masculinities • Hegemonic masculinity (Hearn 1998; Dobash et al
2000; Messerschmidt 1993, 1997, 2000)
• Denial, minimisation and blame of violence with
condemnation of other’s use of violence (Hearn 1998;
Dobash et al 2000; Cavanagh et al 2001; Anderson &
Umberson 2001; Gadd 2002)
• Ambivalent social and cultural attitudes about men’s
violence against women and girls (Burton & Kitzinger
1998; Lombard 2011)
• Self-protective, self-affirming and defensive functions of
violence (Gadd 2002, 2003, 2012; Gadd & Farrall
2004)
Research methods
• Interview schedule
1: Introduction and gender
2: Adapted critical incident technique
3: Programme specific
• Gender questions
Can you tell me what being a woman means to you,
for example what is and is not expected of you?
What do you think it means to be a man, for
example what is expected or not expected of them?
What kind of woman do you think [name of partner/
ex-partner] wanted you to be?
Qualitative Interview Sample
• Self-selected volunteer sample 11 DVPPs
• 112 participants: 64 men and 48 women took part in
the first interview
• Sample attrition 36 (56%) men and 26 (54%) women
completed the second interview
• Relationship status: 44% still in the relationship and
56% had separated.
• Children: 92% participants had children
• Ethnicity: 88% self-identified as White with 5% as
Asian, 5% Mixed, 1% Black and 1% refused.
• Age: 64% between 30-49.
Talking about gender
• 56 participants spoke about gender equality (41 men
and 15 women)
• 18 participants referred to gender inequality in their
lives (11 women and 7 men)
• Distance self from out-dated masculine roles:
“I don’t see myself like a lot of my friends, who – aim to
be men – manly men. I don’t feel I need to have to do
that, I just feel I need to be human, and so I don’t have
put myself into a gender role […] I’m not your typical,
go down the pub sort of guy and go and watch the
football, or go and swill beer all night, I’m not into that
category really.” (Gregory)
To protect and provide
“I believe what’s expected of a man is that he’s supposed
to be masculine, take care of his family, protect his
family.” (Roger)
“I expected him to have a typical role as a man like to
treat his kids nicely and just to keep us secure and safe, I
think that’s what I solely expected of him, the one thing
that I wanted from him.” (Gina)
“Expected of me in a family sense I suppose would be to
look after your family, provide for your family […] From a
society point of view… probably about being strong, not
showing weakness.”(Todd)
Failing masculinities
“I didn’t know what [ex-partner] wanted from me because
I believe… believe… I still believe that I made mistakes…
but the good things that I did far outweighed the bad
things that I did and I just never seemed to be able to
make her happy which put pressure on me cos I was
constantly thinking ‘Why am I not making you happy?
Why am I not good enough?” (Brendan)
Harms of the hegemonic
project
“My boys have never seen me cry or be upset before any
of this happened… never… and they have seen [his ex-
partner] cry and be upset which may or may not be
healthy but actually they know that she has the full range
of emotions… whereas for me I would… if I was ever in
that situation feel as though I ought to turn round, walk
away, swallow hard and not let them see that.” (Evan)
Men’s resistance to change
“I would like to get away from the word “control” and I
would say more leadership qualities? So I would like to
say that I would like to lead people in the right direction,
rather than control them and force them and manipulate
them, and I think that would be from – especially from
running a business. I try to lead people down the right
paths of – by teaching them and helping them rather than
trying to control them. I would say that – that’s the type
of person that I more am than a – a control freak person.
I don’t try to insist that you have to do this my way or that
you don’t do it any way. This would be the right way to
do the things if you would try – try it. That’s what I’d
rather say.” (Gregory)
Failing femininities
“I love being a woman... I’ve always been quite a
feminist […] I’m proud to be a woman… and I love the
fact that I have a daughter and I want to empower her as
well. […] being a mum has taught me an awful lot about
myself... and about my strengths... and a huge facet of
myself that I didn’t know existed.” (Lindsay)
“if it was a girlfriend of mine I’d expect her to be feminine,
act like a woman not like a man. ‘Cos you get some
women that are full of tattoos, pissed up every day in the
pub, act more like blokes than they do women.” (Todd)
Gendered micromanagement
“I just wanted her to be basically – a mother to my son
and then like stay at home, do the house tidying, do
the shopping, and then basically – basically look after
me”. (Fred)
“I feel that I’m expected to do things as a woman,
whether I like it or not […] just have to be - you’re
meant to be feminine, you’re not meant to be ill, you’re
meant to wash and clean and – and just be a typical
1950s housewife”. (Alice)
Gendered micromanagement
“I mean like he wanted me to perform when he wanted [me]
to, he wanted me to stay at home with the kids and not have
any life outside him. I wasn’t allowed to… an example is
say if I got my hair done… which was so, so rare… then he
would want to know why ‘Why have you got your hair done?
Who’ve you got your hair done for?’ But when we’d be
going somewhere together - or say for our wedding - he
wanted me to look gorgeous, perfect and he’d throw money
at me to be able to do these things, so it was when it suited
him. He wanted me to be like a… like a doll for him
basically and he wanted me to do what he wanted… say
when his family were around I had to keep up this pretence
that I was the perfect wife… I think he just wanted someone
that he could like… press the ‘off’ button on.” (Holly)
Gendered micromanagement
“it was quite – quite intense, because it sort of
progressed and I just found myself getting smaller as a
person, and didn’t want to speak any more, I was walking
around on eggshells, and I was going within myself and
being withdrawn, and depressed” (Adele)
“I know in my relationship I was…being a woman…I
was seen as a lower class of person, and I was
expected to do the housework and have that role
of…you know, domesticated. And I think in that
relationship I did believe that I should be like that” (Lily)
Safety work
“I make choices walking on eggshells, really, and I’m very
picky and choosy with what information I give him […] I totally
have to think five steps ahead. And it could go one of many
ways: it would either be financial or it would be ‘It’s OK for you,
you have school holidays off, I have to work’, they’re the next
set of circumstances I often get if I do something with the kids
in the school holidays. Or it – it would be ‘I don’t get those
opportunities, it’s not fair’ […] ‘Well you don’t wanna do it with
me, you’d rather do it with your kids, wouldn’t you?’ And that’s
the kind of thing I get, which again I was kind of expecting that.
[…] But I have to justify: ‘Oh, you know, it would be so much
different with you because – because’. I have to like minimise
what I do with my kids, and maximise how much better it
would be to do it with him.” (Alice)
Undoing gender
• Recognising harm
“Controlling behaviour… it’d be getting my own way, it’d be
badgering her to come round to my way of thinking... getting
everything, if you like, on my terms... and if I don’t get things
on my terms that’s when you start sulking and shouting...
putting pressure on the other person to come round to your
way of thinking”.
“if she was arguing with me now I’d stop and think why. The
thing is she’s trying to get the point across to me. Now I
wouldn’t argue back and it’s like I’ve got to stop and think and
ask ‘Why is she arguing? Why is she shouting?’ which then
changes my point of view or my thinking.” (Todd)
Undoing gender
• Doing own emotional work
“If I look back on my previous relationships, if I didn’t hear from
my partner or something, then I’d start – I’ll start panicking and
then I’ll start accusing them of stuff, but now I step aside and
just let them have their own space, and, then I just wait till they
contact me when they’ve got the time to do it”. (Fred)
“I feel relaxed, I don’t feel like he’s putting stuff on me, I don’t
feel like he’s sucking the life out of me basically. He’s not like –
he’s his own entity, he doesn’t need me to prop him up and –
coz I really didn’t need a needy man – and he’s quite decisive
in things that he wants to do and not do and I like that, coz
he’s independent.” (Amy)
Expanded space for action
“But as a woman – just to go out and have the
expectation to go out, have fun with your friends, enjoy
life, the simple things in life […] Feel like you belong.
Feel like that you’re important […] And I’m – I’m getting
that now, and I really appreciate that … when it does
hit you it’s just lovely, it’s just that feeling of
satisfaction, that you’re getting something out of life
rather than just doing everything for everybody else
[…], it’s just enjoying that freedom I suppose.” (Matilda)
Expanded space for action
“It has opened me up as a person. I feel more
comfortable around men and women and I’m more open,
my heart is more open, I feel good within myself […] I still
want the love and togetherness. [New partner] has three
children and I can see now that she has got her children
and she has got to do things with her children and I
accept it more now. I’m not like me, me, me, I’m more
like them and we’re all together. It’s more of a together
thing rather than ‘I need this, I need that’, there’s none of
that anymore.” (Dexter)
Conclusion
• Rich empirical data to flesh out how and why gender
matters in lived experiences of domestic violence in
contemporary Britain
• Domestic violence as a gendered project
• Undoing gender: counter-hegemonic gender project
experienced as positive change
• Insights are useful in development of more effective
interventions
• Critiques of ‘real men’ stereotypes mobilised in violence
against women campaigns (Salter 2015)
Publications
An electronic copy of the final report and other Project
Mirabal publications are available at:
www.dur.ac.uk/criva/projectmirabal
Dr. Julia Downes
The Open University
http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/main/staff/people-
profile.php?name=Julia_Downes