Community Respect amp Equality Summit Family and Domestic Violence Interrupting attitudes and actions that support abuse and violence in families Tori Cooke RUAH Manager Justice and Family Services ID: 769877
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Community, Respect & Equality SummitFamily and Domestic Violence Interrupting attitudes and actions that support abuse and violence in familiesTori CookeRUAH Manager, Justice and Family ServicesPrincipal Consultant: Pandora Enterprise (C) V Cooke all material in this presentation not to be used without the written permission of the author
Social, political, cultural and community environments that support gender inequalities Individual perpetrator attitudes, beliefs and behaviours System responses that lack cohesionPeer group validationVictim blamingSocial silencing
“By uncovering the unconscious rules of the power game and the methods by which it attains legitimacy, we are certainly in a position to bring about some basic changes.” Alice Miller (1983:159)
Situational Crime Prevention Situational crime prevention is a criminological model that focuses attention on aspects of the “immediate environment that encourage or permit crime to occur”Social environment interacts with offenders in a way that “initiates and shapes” behaviourOffenders exploit facilitating conditions Sources: (Smallbone & Wortley, 2016, Gibbs, 2010)
Situational Crime Prevention Rational choice theory (opportunity and rewards) Environment around the offender supports negative attitudes and actions Focus on changing the environmental elements that support abusive attitudes
FDV Context: Dynamic of oppression
Establishing control Abusers begin a process of psychological and emotional connection. Seductive and charming.Once this connection is established, behaviours associated with isolation, belittling, controlling and distorting victim perception begin.The pattern of control and coercion needs to overcome victim resistance (Wade et al, 2008) which means the abusive behaviours need to be sustained over time to maintain control.
Sustainment of control Strategies used by abusers including escalation, withdrawal, reality distortion and kindness (Biderman,1956).Abusive behaviours are framed by abusers as the fault of the victim, other family members, or other stressors in the abusers lifeThe needs of the abuser become the central focus point of the entire family (this can include extended family, community and service providers)
Social attitudesIt takes two Love conquers allYou can rise above itBe glad you have a roof over your headA woman is better at nurturing, taking care of familyThink of the childrenTake it with a grain of salt (he didn’t mean it)Keep trying, never give upMarriage is foreverHe needs help
Humiliation and degradation Put downs in front of friends and familyDifficult to challenge – things become worseVictim blaming Demonstration of power and superiority in public settings
Social Environment © Cooke, 2014
Offender responses Blame shift – creating uncertainty Deflection of issue – reduces focus of attention on his behaviour Creates helplessness – environment sees him as victim Uses formal processes to create alternate story (family court) Minimisation – reduces issue of harm to ‘its not what you think’ or ‘its okay now’
Victim responses Placatory and compliance strategies (Biderman 1957, Wade 2008, Stark 2007) Withdrawal – disassociation (Herman, 1992) Attempts to nurture/rescue Self blame – loss of ability to trust self Resistance (Wade, 2008) Tries to reason and discuss Feels hopeful, feels relief, happy Confusion & despair
If abuse is a choice then change is possible: Men using abuse – also don’t use abuse (this means change is not only possible but inevitable in the right circumstances) Men with misogynistic attitudes – may not use abuse but will support & protect men’s abuse Men choosing abuse are not ‘helpless’ but need to be connected to better choices and better intentions Consistent bystander interruptions by those around them reduces the environmental opportunity provided by social sanctioning
Interruption as a bystander concept
Interrupt/ion - definitions “an occasion when someone or something stops something from happening for a short period”“a time during which something interrupts a process or activity”“something that someone says or does that stops someone else when they are speaking or concentrating on something”
What are we interrupting? Attitudes, values and actions that support violence and abuse against women and children: Gendered ideas about roles and responsibilities of men and women Gendered ideas about of power, experience and knowledge Emerging attitudes and actions that are abusive and saturated in gendered ideas about power
Professional Continuum
How will this behaviour be interrupted?PaulProjects that build skills within families in their communications with young people and adults that are showing early signs of using abuse Exposing communities to new ways of understanding and confronting the issues – key focus is on patterns of coercive control (rather than focused on specific incidents) Workforce development strategies focusing on coercive control (not just the DVIR!)
Statutory Interruption
Outcomes
Questions?