Fathers as objects, fathers as subjects: domestic violence, childhood and masculinities

Callaghan, J., Alexander, J., Fellin, L. and Sixsmith, J. (2015) Fathers as objects, fathers as subjects: domestic violence, childhood and masculinities. Paper presented to: British Psychological Society Psychology of Women Section (POWS) Annual Conference 2015, Windsor, 08-10 July 2015. (Unpublished)

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Abstract:

In a recent review of the literature on domestic violence and childhood (Callaghan, 2015) it has become clear that, in a literature that tends to presume a male perpetrator and female victim of DV, men are largely absent. Literature focuses on damaged childhoods and deficient mothers, but the male perpetrator (most typically the father, or a father figure) is positioned as simply a violent object, with relatively little engagement with him as a conscious subject, and little theorisation of the continuing role of The Father in children’s lives, particularly in the lives of male children. In this paper, based on interviews with 100 children who have lived with domestic violence, as well as group based therapeutic work with young people, we explore how boys negotiate the complexities of positioning themselves as masculine subjects, within a context where masculinity itself is (re)produced as highly problematic. We draw on Messerchmidt’s (2000) concept of ‘masculinity challenges’ to explore how boys and young men work with fraught constructions of masculinities and masculine embodiment, in their recovery from the experience of domestic violence.

Subjects:

H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ755.7 Parents. Parenthood > HQ756 Fatherhood
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ1088 Men
H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV6001 Criminology > HV6251 Crimes and offences > HV6626 Family violence

Creators:

Callaghan, J., Alexander, J., Fellin, L. and Sixsmith, J.

Funders or Sponsors:

European Commission (Daphne III)

Grant Reference Number:

Just/2012/DAP-AG-3461

Projects:

Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies (UNARS)

Northamptonshire and East Midlands:

Health
Social Issues

Date:

9 July 2015

Date Type:

Presentation

Event Title:

British Psychological Society Psychology of Women Section (POWS) Annual Conference 2015

Event Dates:

08-10 July 2015

Event Location:

Windsor

Event Type:

Conference

Language:

English

Status:

Unpublished

Refereed:

Yes