Interviewer: 'Are women and girls ever responsible for the domestic violence they encounter?' Student: 'No, well, unless they did something really, really bad …'

Tools

Lee, D. ORCID: 0000-0001-9971-3542, Allwood, R., Weinstein, M. and Sullivan, K., 2015. Interviewer: 'Are women and girls ever responsible for the domestic violence they encounter?' Student: 'No, well, unless they did something really, really bad …'. Journal of Gender Studies. ISSN 0958-9236

Preview

Text
221887_3159.pdf
Download (870kB) | Preview

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2015.1070711

Abstract

Research shows the ‘gendered nature’ of domestic violence, with Women’s Aid (a UK-based charity) estimating that 1 in 4 women are affected (2014). This paper reports on a project - funded by Comic Relief, completed by Nottinghamshire Domestic Violence Forum (now known as Equation) and evaluated by Nottingham Trent University. The project adopts a Whole School Approach in seeking to prevent domestic violence. Students at three secondary schools attended between one and five blocks of work, and special events. There is evidence of positive developments - with young people showing understanding of domestic violence as well as the margins between healthy and unhealthy relationships. However, not all students could reply ‘never’ to the question of ‘are women and girls to blame for the domestic violence they experience?’, remarking that if the woman had done something ‘really, really bad’ then violence might be justified. We argue that young people’s uncertainties need to be situated within the gender-unequal socio-contexts of contemporary society, and further call for a WSA to domestic violence prevention to be a compulsory part of the UK national curriculum.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

Journal of Gender Studies

Creators:

Lee, D., Allwood, R., Weinstein, M. and Sullivan, K.

Publisher:

Routledge

Place of Publication:

Abingdon

Date:

2015