What’s in a Name? The Negative Implications of Gender Neutrality in the Intimate Partner Violence Prevention and Intervention Literature

Sinnott, Teila; Artz, Sibylle

doi:10.1007/s12147-016-9166-5

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Women and victim-survivors are routinely responsibilized for DVA no more so than when their families come to the attention of children's social care (Featherstone & Fraser, 2012;Humphreys & Absler, 2011;Olszowy et al, 2020). With this, is a persistent focus on mothering (Featherstone & Peckover, 2007;Hester, 2011), preserving a construction of women as primarily responsible for child safeguarding and welfare (Lapierre, 2009), which is bolstered by gendered discourses of parenthood (Sinnott & Artz, 2016). This construction perpetuates a practice pattern in which focus on the victim-survivor is regarded "the only solution" (CQC et al, 2017, p. 5), with far too little intervention directed at the abusing parent and reinforcing a culture of motherblame (Strega et al, 2008).…”

Section: Mothers and The Children's Social Care Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered Discourses of Responsibility and Domestic Abuse Victim-Blame in the English Children’s Social Care System

Wild

2022

J Fam Viol

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Purpose This paper foregrounds the experiences of mothers involved with England’s children’s social care system when experiencing domestic abuse. It reports on data from a survivor-led study on domestic violence and/or abuse (DVA), involving women victim-survivors and domestic abuse practitioners. It aimed to understand how dominant discourses governing child protection work with families in which there is a perpetrator of DVA, might be revised to shift a tendency to hold mothers (solely) responsible for the protection of children as well as for their partners’ abuse. Methods The study advances a discourse analysis of interview and focus group data, substantiating how children’s social care practices produce the routine responsibilisation of the non-abusing parent, usually the mother, with limited focus on the abusing parent, usually the father. Results The paper exposes the gendered discourses of mother-victim-blame and responsibility patterning children’s social care responses to domestic abuse, which together intensify adult and child victim-survivor material harm and hamper child protection work. Also in evidence are the enduring traumatic consequences of the court-ordered removal of children. Conclusion The paper has implications for policy and practice, asserting that shifting responsibility away from mothers requires the ongoing interrogation of normative understandings of gender relations and gender-role stereotypes as they manifest in families. Fathers’ accountability should be constructed on a structural as well as individual level, which in the case of DVA and the family, incorporates efforts to enable perpetrators of DVA to cultivate an individual sense of responsibility and accountability, as standard practice.

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Section: Mothers and The Children's Social Care Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered Discourses of Responsibility and Domestic Abuse Victim-Blame in the English Children’s Social Care System

Wild

2022

J Fam Viol

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“…The parenting surveillance that takes place in social service settings has been noted to disproportionally sanction marginalised mothers [ 24 ], where increased scrutiny and additional “protection” of their children is justified due to them being deemed “threatening” or “unruly” [ 25 ]. Within the construction of women as being primarily responsible for child welfare and safeguarding, reinforced by gendered discourses of parenting [ 26 ], the focus on victims of domestic abuse (i.e., the mother) rather than the perpetrator leads to mothers being viewed as “unprotective” [ 27 ]. The surveillance of victims of domestic abuse is thus justified by blaming them for “failure” to prevent the violence and being unable to protect their children from an abusive home [ 28 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“They Tarred Me with the Same Brush”: Navigating Stigma in the Context of Child Removal

McGrath

Lhussier

Crossley

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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Child removals are increasing in England and Wales. Family court involvement is particularly common among women with multiple disadvantages, and the rates are higher in economically marginalised areas. This article aims to explore women’s narratives of child removal within life stories of homelessness and examines how stigma, power and State surveillance manifest in their experiences. Data drawn from qualitative interviews with 14 mothers in the north-east of England who had experienced the removal of their children through the family courts are explored within the wider context of a neoliberal political agenda of “troubled families”, and in particular, “deviant mothers”. The participants describe how stigma structured their interactions with social services. Despite the known poor outcomes associated with child removal for both mothers and children, professional involvement often tapers off afterwards, with little support for mothers. Drawing on women’s accounts, we seek to illuminate their experiences of child removal and enhance our understanding of how stigma plays out in statutory settings, further entrenching social exclusion and ultimately increasing health inequalities.

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Perceptions of Men Who Have Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence on Creating a Transition to Fatherhood Program

Carlson

Casey

2018

J Fam Viol

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What’s in a Name? The Negative Implications of Gender Neutrality in the Intimate Partner Violence Prevention and Intervention Literature

Cited by 3 publications

References 28 publications

Gendered Discourses of Responsibility and Domestic Abuse Victim-Blame in the English Children’s Social Care System

Gendered Discourses of Responsibility and Domestic Abuse Victim-Blame in the English Children’s Social Care System

“They Tarred Me with the Same Brush”: Navigating Stigma in the Context of Child Removal

Perceptions of Men Who Have Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence on Creating a Transition to Fatherhood Program

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