Challenging the Orthodoxy: Towards a Feminist Theory and Practice

MacLeod, Mary; Saraga, Esther

doi:10.1057/fr.1988.3

Cited by 61 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This approach locates power and the abuse of power in the family system rather than seeing it as a function of gender. The work of MacLeod & Saraga (1988) on the sexual abuse of children challenged this analysis, and it is from the feminist contribution to the awareness and understanding of sexual abuse that feminist approaches to the whole spectrum of child abuse and child protection practice are emerging. However, as Featherstone (1996) notes, the issue for women's abuse of their own children is`anxiety provoking' for feminists and is only just beginning to be confronted by feminist writers (see, for example, Lawrence 1992).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestic violence and child abuse: developing social work practice

Stanley

1997

Child & Family Social Work

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This paper takes as its starting point the report produced by the Social Services Inspectorate (1995), entitled Domestic Violence and Social Care, which seeks to alert social workers to the links between domestic violence and child abuse and urges the profession to respond more effectively to these two interconnected forms of violence. Having examined the research findings which provide evidence for these links, the theoretical and service delivery contexts in which these two forms of violence have been studied and conceptualized by the social work profession, both in the United Kingdom and in the United States, are identified. Studies of the social work response to domestic violence are discussed and some of the difficulties experienced by social workers in responding effectively to the needs of families where both forms of violence are experienced are considered. In particular, the issues of ‘invisible’ men and ‘trapped’ women and children are explored. It is argued that effective social work intervention which challenges these stereotypes will require additional resources and the article concludes with a consideration of whether the Messages from Research report might herald a shift in the approach to child protection that would promote the allocation of resources to this area of work.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestic violence and child abuse: developing social work practice

Stanley

1997

Child & Family Social Work

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“…A collection of articles appeared in Feminist Review in 1988 following the`discovery' of child sexual abuse; these brought together the concerns of feminists writing at that time. In one of these articles, McLeod & Saraga (1988) observed that the actual perpetrators of child sexual abuse were rarely discussed. The focus of concern was on the children who were being abused and the family context of the abuse.…”

Section: T H E D E V E L O P M E N T O F F E M I N I S T T H E O R Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The labels`academic' and`practitioner' are not intended to suggest that material emerges exclusively from one source or the other. A number of practitioners write for an academic setting and a number of academics have considerable practice experience (for example Finkelhor 1984;Finkelhor et al 1986;Wyre 1987;McLeod & Saraga 1988;Salter 1988Salter , 1995. However, we intend to draw a distinction between material which is more discursive in nature and material which focuses on the day-to-day practicalities of working with perpetrators of child sexual abuse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the gap: feminist theory and practice reality in work with the perpetrators of child sexual abuse

Lancaster

Lumb

1999

Child & Family Social Work

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Child sexual abuse has been a focus of concern for feminist writers for over a decade, and social work and probation practitioners are spending an increasing amount of time undertaking intervention with men who sexually abuse children. This paper uses a review of feminist literature which identifies three contested areas in the feminist discussion: theory, power and the fixity of gender, and discusses whether these debates are reflected in any way in the interventions being undertaken with men who sexually abuse children. The conclusion reached is of a distance between theory which draws on a radical patriarchal analysis of child sexual abuse and the practice of those who attempt to work with the perpetrators of such abuse. Although some workers frame their intervention in terms of a patriarchal understanding of society and of the nature of power within this – to this extent following a radical feminist approach – there is a sense in which practitioners’ use of feminist theory is only partial. Thus feminist theory is often presented as unitary and there is a sense in which practitioners who say they are espousing feminism are not in touch with the subtleties of feminist analysis revealed in the literature review. In addition, the logic of the radical feminist perspective is not followed through in practice as there is evidence of a sensitivity to difference which may be aligning practitioners with a post‐modern/post‐structural interpretation of men’s sexual violence towards children.

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“…Psychoanalytic theory has always had a great deal to say about seduction and incest, recognising the trauma and the confusion in the mind of the child as well as the damage to the child's development. MacLeod and Saraga (1988), while acknowledging this, question the traditional therapeutic understanding that in the course of treatment the patient must experience the delusion that the therapist is repeating the seduction. They feel that working with the transference and the emphasis on the patient being responsible for gaining insight and meaning may provide overwhelming stumbling blocks to a sufferer's capacity to use psychotherapy.…”

Section: What Happens In the Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However the debate on statistical findings can fulfil a need to rationalise and categorise, and so divert from the issues about why so much sexual abuse takes place and how it can be prevented. A recognition of the high levels of incidence of child sexual abuse also arouses a deep collective anxiety about the family (Macleod and Saraga 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychotherapy with Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

Gardner

1990

Brit J Psychotherapy

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ABSTRACT. This paper explores issues raised in psychotherapeutic work with adult survivors of child sexual abuse. An analysis is made of the long‐term psychological effects of the trauma and the psychic dilemma as experienced by the patient. Four themes relevant to the therapist are explored: the problems raised by the seduction theory, the dangers of interpreting the patient's experience as fantasy, the potential abuse of power and control, and the implications of the gender of the therapist.

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Challenging the Orthodoxy: Towards a Feminist Theory and Practice

Cited by 61 publications

References 8 publications

Domestic violence and child abuse: developing social work practice

Domestic violence and child abuse: developing social work practice

Bridging the gap: feminist theory and practice reality in work with the perpetrators of child sexual abuse

Psychotherapy with Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

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