Respect
– and male perpetrators -
Policy And Practice Issues
Whilst advocating
Male Perpetrator Courses RESPECT follows the feminist paradigm which
says that only men are abusers and only women, are victims. Male
violence is (somehow) different from female violence because it
is not supported by global attitudes of men to women. Male violence
is all about PATRIARCHY.
To this, with regard to current-day Britain, where 85% plus of men
never, ever, abuse a partner we would say: Ask the victims how it
is different!
Definition
of Domestic Abuse
“Domestic violence is a continuum of behaviour ranging from
verbal abuse, through threats and intimidation, manipulative behaviour,
physical and sexual assault, to rape and even homicide. A key factor
in this type of violence is the pattern of coercive use of power
and control by the perpetrator over the victim/survivor.”(Relate
Domestic Violence Policy, p. 1)
Moral Basis of
Respect
Respect makes it absolutely clear that it has one overriding principle
– the interests of women and children are paramount:
“The core focus
of interventions with domestic violence perpetrators is always
the safety of women and children.” (Respect p. 16)
“The main principles
upon which information is shared should be:
· increasing
the safety of women and children” (Respect p. 17)
“The primary
aim in working with perpetrators of domestic violence is to increase
the safety of women and children. Every intervention and decision
should be made with this in mind.” (Respect pp. 24)
Inadequate Knowledge
Base
The briefest of studies of Respects’ document gives good reason
for those trained in, psychological, counselling or sociological
theories to feel considerable disquiet. In their definition of DA,
Respect includes a theoretical explanation of DA. They say: “Violent
and abusive behaviour is used in an effort to control the partner
based on the perpetrator’s sense of entitlement.” By
accident or design, Respect’s inclusion of an explanation
within a definition closes down all other explanations and theoretical
positions. As a consequence, when they attempt to outline their
understanding of the causes of DA they have already excluded all
theories other than their own.
The result is the following
extremely limited understanding of causation of DA restricted to
the notion of ‘entitlement: “It is a direct consequence
of the inequalities in relationships between men and women, rooted
in the patriarchal traditions that encourage men to believe that
they are entitled to power and control over their partners.”
(1.2)
The next step in the
argument is a classical example of circular thinking. It says: “From
this perspective, men’s violence is defined as learned and
intentional behaviour rather than the consequence of individual
pathology, stress, substance use or a ‘dysfunctional’
relationship. Violence often involves an attempt by men to get what
they see as rightfully theirs. A man using violence does so to impose
his will regardless of the wishes of the other person.”
Having pre-defined DA
in terms of ‘entitlement’ Respect then proceeds to eliminate
all other causal factors. So the following is rejected: individual
pathology, experience of abuse as a child, dysfunctional relationships,
substance abuse, etc. This is very important because the treatment
or therapeutic intervention to be used is directly related to the
cause of the problem being worked with. So people working exclusively
under a narrow view of causation are at great risk of making unhelpful
interventions – and this in an area of activity where lives
may be at stake.
Counselling Couples
Respect reject all couple work with perpetrators:
“Couples work, anger management and mediation are not appropriate
settings in which to address men's abusive behaviour towards women.”
(Website)
Male Perpetrators
Much of the work on male perpetrator programmes is based on the
Duluth programme as developed in the USA. There is available substantial
criticism of this programme and the relevance of its applicability
to the UK
Another approach is provided by ‘Temper’ an organization
that takes a different approach and uses many Relate trained people.
We should take seriously the programme on offer from Temper well
as their very articulate understanding of the issues surrounding
working with male perpetrators
