Conservative think tank launches attack on gendered analysis of ...

Think tank paper seeks to challenge our understanding of domestic violence as a gendered crime.

Heather Harvey, from the women?s charity Eaves, explains why we should beware a new interpretation of domestic violence from the Centre for Social Justice.

The paper, ?Beyond Violence?, published this summer by a leading Conservative think tank, seeks to challenge our understanding of domestic violence (DV) as a gendered crime.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) was established by Conservative MP and secretary for the department of work and pensions, Iain Duncan Smith.

In the paper, the CSJ endorses the suggestion that 89 per cent?of DV is what can be termed ?situational couple violence?, which occurs between two mutually abusive partners within a dysfunctional relationship.

It states only 7 per cent?of DV is ?coercive and controlling?.

By suggesting that only 7 per cent?of DV is ?real DV? as we understand it, the position taken by the CSJ is reminiscent of the notion of ?real rape? and ?less-than real rape? promoted recently, most notably by Republican politician Todd Akin and by people commenting on the rape cases of Roman Polanski and Julian Assange.

The CSJ suggests a new crime should be framed to deal with the 7 per cent?of ?real DV?.

The remaining 89 per cent?of ?situational couple violence?, which they describe as a being driven by ?hot, emotional issues?, can, according to the CSJ,?be dealt with by relationship counselling.

Eaves work closely with women who have suffered domestic violence. We believe this paper represents a cynical, ideological attempt to degender DV and to reduce the government?s obligations to respect and protect women?s human rights.

The CSJ paper seeks to provide the rationale for a further reduction in funding for DV services.

But language which recasts DV into an issue of relationship and behaviour management attempts to reduce police responsibility for what accounts currently for a quarter of violent crime.

By minimising the seriousness of DV, the CSJ tries to reduce women?s right to refuge and their recognition as a priority group for accommodation.

If the analysis and the recommendations of this paper are accepted, we risk returning to a time where DV was regarded as a private matter between individuals rather than a matter for which the state has a responsibility to address adequately.

Here are some of the worrying excerpts from the paper:

?We do not address forms of domestic abuse specific to ethnic, sexual orientation, age, immigrant or other groups.?

?This report looks at the root causes of domestic abuse and provides solutions grounded in evidence rather than ideology. We avoid overly simplistic narratives that ascribe all the blame for domestic abuse to male desire to control and subjugate women.?

?While power, control and patriarchy are explanatory factors in many contexts of domestic abuse, there are many others that are also significant, including poverty, substance misuse, psychological vulnerabilities rooted in people?s past experience and the dynamics that play out between two people in a relationship.?

?A woman?s level of depression can also have some bearing on men?s violent behaviour.?

?In many areas of social policy people are treated as individuals and the importance of interpersonal connections is lost. Domestic abuse is a problem with a relationship and solutions lie within this and other relationships.?

?Current policy and practice is dominated by the important but insufficient goals of punishing perpetrators and ensuring safety for victims.?

Here are some quotes from the list of recommendations made by the paper:

?The Home Office and/or the Ministry of Justice should pilot a number of restorative justice programmes specific to domestic abuse.?

?We recommend that local authorities and other commissioners of domestic abuse services do not neglect any particular group of victim in their commissioning?.In practice this could mean giving priority to universal services rather than to those which, for example, work only with a particular minority ethnic community. This may involve ?.mergers. (One criterion for evaluating refuges could be how well they meet the needs of diverse victims).?

?Perpetrators? programs should have at least two streams ? one for perpetrators involved in strategic, controlling abuse and the other for those with more ?hot emotional? reasons behind their behaviour. Funding should be redirected from ?traditional? approaches?.

Click here to read a full copy of the ?Beyond Violence? paper.

Source: http://www.womensviewsonnews.org/2012/10/conservative-think-tank-launches-attack-on-gendered-analysis-of-domestic-violence/

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