A left realist approach to antifeminist fathers’ rights groups

Abstract

Despite earlier critiques of left realists' failure to adequately address feminist concerns, recent left realist theorizing and empirical research have made valuable contributions to the understanding of woman abuse and other forms of gendered violence. Left realism has further potential to contribute to the criminological understanding of woman abuse and its contributing socioeconomic and cultural contexts. This article describes left realists' early efforts to include gender in analyses of crime. It then summarizes feminist critiques of left realism and reviews the work that has responded to them. Drawing upon two prominent strands of feminist left realist theorizing about violence and gender, the paper proposes a preliminary left realist theory of antifeminist fathers' rights group activism. It then outlines a provisional research agenda on antifeminist fathers' rights groups, and proposes short and long term policies and practices to enhance the safety of abused mothers and their children following divorce or separation.

Masculinizing Care? Gender, Ethics of Care, and Fathers’ Rights Groups

“…During the research, this branch, along with others, split from the original Fathers 4 Justice and was renamed the “Real Fathers For Justice.” As this was due to disagreement over methods and personal differences, rather than a change of aims/membership, I refer to the group as (R)F4J. Mirroring average demographics of FRGs (see Crowley 2013; Dragiewicz 2010), all participants selfidentified as “White British,” most had a professional occupation/background and ages ranged from early thirties to mid-sixties. It would be essentialist to make simplistic claims about how gender interacts with race, class, and other identities based on participants’ selfidentified characteristics.…”

The New Politics of Fatherhood

“…Mirroring average demographics of FRGs (see Dragiewicz, 2010), all participants self-identified as "White British", most had a professional occupation/background, and ages ranged from early-30s to mid-60s. It would be essentialist to make simplistic claims about how gender interacts with race, class and other identities based on participants' self-identified characteristics.…”

“…FRGs such as the Australian "Black Shirts" directly ally themselves with the men's rights movement . FRGs also frequently repeat broader men's rights claims that society is dominated by feminism and that this leads to men's inequality Boyd and Young, 2007;Dragiewicz, 2010). Some FRGs object to accusations that they are anti-feminist and/or anti-women and claim to take a gender-neutral approach.…”

Antifeminism and backlash

“…A growing interdisciplinary literature analyses antifeminist backlash (Chunn, Boyd & Lessard, 2007;Cudd, 2002;Faludi, 1991;Newson, 1991;Oakley & Mitchell, 1997;Roman & Eyre, 1997;Rossi, 2004;Storrs, 2007;Walby, 1993). Because violence against women and family law are core backlash issues, criminology has been a key location of antifeminist activism and one of the primary sites of research on it (Boyd, 2004;Burman, 2016;Caringella, 2009;Chesney-Lind, 2006;Chesney-Lind & Irwin, 2007;Chesney-Lind & Jones, 2010;DeKeseredy, 1999DeKeseredy, , 2011DeKeseredy & Dragiewicz, 2007;DeKeseredy & Schwartz, 2005;Dragiewicz, 2000Dragiewicz, , 2008Dragiewicz, , 2010Dragiewicz, , 2011Girard, 2009;Hacker, 2016;Halperin-Kaddari & Freeman, 2016 ;Koss & Cleveland, 1997;Mann, 2008Mann, , 2016Menzies, 2007;Minaker & Snider, 1996;Rosen, Dragiewicz & Gibbs, 2009). Central tactics of antifeminist backlash include: efforts to reverse the changes wrought by feminism; blaming feminism for social problems; claims that feminism has "gone too far"; and attacks on women's authority.…”