Researching Gender Violence Feminist Methodology in Action [1st ed] 9781843926689, 1843926687, 1843920409, 1843920417

Citation preview

Researching Gender Violence Feminist m ethodology in action

WILLAN PUBLISHING

Tina Skinner, Marianne Hester and Ellen M alos

Contents

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

Researching G e n d e r Violence Feminist m ethodology in action

e d ite d by

T in a Skinner, M a ria n n e H e s t e r and Ellen M a lo s

WILLAN PUBLISHING

P o licin g, E th ic s a n d H u m a n R ig h ts

Published by Willan Publishing Culmcott House Mill Street, Uffculme Cullompton, Devon EX15 3AT, UK Tel: +44(0)1884 840337 Fax: +44(0)1884 840251 e-mail: [email protected] Published simultaneously in the USA and Canada by Willan Publishing c /o ISBS, 920 NE 58th Ave, Suite 300 Portland, Oregon 97213-3644, USA Tel: +001(0)503 287 3093 Fax: +001(0)503 280 8832 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.isbs.com © 2005 the editors and contributors All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting copying in the UK issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. First published 2005 ISBN 1-84392-040-9 Paperback 1-84392-041-7 Hardback

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Project management by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock, Devon Typeset by GCS, Leighton Buzzard, Beds Printed and bound by T.J. International, Padstow, Cornwall

C o n te n ts

Contents

Preface Notes on contributors 1

M ethodology, fem inism and gender violence Tina Skinner, M arianne H ester and Ellen M alos

2

Fem inist quantitative m ethodology: evaluating policing of dom estic violence Sue Griffiths and Jalna Hanm er

3

Researching people in power: practice, analysis and action Tina Skinner

4

Researching Asian children's experiences of domestic violence: the significance of cultural com petence and shared ethnicities of participants in the research process Umme Imam with Parveen A khtar

5

Conducting social research w ith young people: ethical considerations M elanie M cCarnj

vii ix 1

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44

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6

7

8

9

10

11

Comparison and collaboration: researching young people's experiences and perceptions of violence in the family across China and the UK Marianne Hester and Geetanjali Gangoli Researching women political prisoners in Northern Ireland: ethnographic problems and negotiations Mary Corcoran

125

Listening to women's voices: the participation of domestic violence survivors in services Gill Hague and Audrey Mullender

146

Researching violent fathers Lynne Harne

167

Balls and permissions: theorising the links between football and domestic violence Jill Radford and Eve Hudson

190

In memoriam: Sue Lees (1941-2002), her life, research and influence Jill Radford and Nicole Westmorland

211

Index

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225

Preface

Preface

Since its birth in 1985, the British Sociological Association's Violence Against Women Study Group (VAWSG - the Group) has produced five edited volumes of members' work including this current collection (Hanmer and Maynard 1987; Hanmer et al. 1989; Hester et al. 1996; Radford et al. 2000). Our 20th anniversary text, Researching Gender Violence, however, is the first book that concentrates primarily on methodology. The focus of the Group since its inception has been the diverse experiences of women and child survivors of male violence. We have sought explanations, critically assessed service/state responses, and developed strategies for change in relation to the many manifestations of male violence and the consequent needs of women and children. The Group continues to be proudly and powerfully feminist; we have never worried about being 'cool' or following the crowd! In previous works, the political ethos of the group was described as radical (and materialist) feminist (see for example, Hester et al. 1996; Radford et al. 2000). However, the exact nature of our feminism is perhaps no longer so clear-cut. Whilst radical feminism continues to be very important within the work of the Group, and has a strong presence in this current volume, other influences are also apparent. The editors of this book, for example, include a socialist feminist, a radical/m aterialist feminist and a feminist who refuses to add a prefix to her feminism. Despite these differences, we have happily worked together to bring you this book. Although the Group may not have a unified political ethos, what we can safely say is that members all recognise the need to produce high quality research aimed at making women's, young people's and children's lives safer and better. vii

R esearching G e n d e r V iolence

B ib lio g ra p h y Hanmer, J. London: Hanmer, London:

and Maynard, M. (eds) (1987) Women, Violence and Social Control. Macmillan. Radford, J. and Stanko, E. (1989) Women, Policing and M ale Violence. Routledge.

N o t e s o n c o n t r ib u t o r s

N o t e s on co ntributors

Parveen Akhtar is the Asian Issues Worker at Diva, Newcastle Domestic Violence Forum. She has been involved in community development work with black communities in Newcastle for over 25 years and has been involved in the development and management of a range of black projects. Mary Corcoran is lecturer in the sociology of crime and punishment at the University of Bath. Her forthcoming book Out o f Order: the Political Imprisonment o f Women in Northern Ireland, 1972-1999 will be published by Willan in 2005. G eetanjali G angoli works at the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, and co-ordinates the Violence Against Women Research Group at the School. Her research profile includes feminist responses to violence and law in India, young people's experiences of domestic violence in China and the UK, and domestic violence and ethnic minority women in the UK. She has also been a volunteer with the Forum Against Oppression of Women in Mumbai, India. Sue G riffiths teaches criminology and research methods at Sunderland University. Much of her research work has been around policing and domestic violence and she is currently working with Liz Kelly on rape trials and sexual history. She is an active member of the feminist campaign group Justice for Women. G ill Hague is the Director of the Violence Against Women Research Group, University of Bristol, and founder member with Ellen Malos in 1990 of its predecessor Domestic Violence Research Group. She has been an activist against domestic violence for 30 years and is committed to the national and international movement against violence against women. Her very many publications include the popular Domestic

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Violence: Action fo r Change with Ellen Malos (New Clarion Press, third edition, 2004) and Is Anyone Listening: Accountability and women survivors o f domestic violence (Routledge, 2003). Jalna Hanm er is Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Sunderland and Associate Director of the International Centre for the Study of Violence and Abuse. She has researched and published on domestic violence since the early 1980s and is currently a partner in the European Co-ordination Action on Human Rights Violations. Her publications include Home Truths about Domestic Violence: Feminist influences on policy and practice - A reader (co-editor, Routledge 2000). Lynne Harne has been a feminist activist and researcher for many years. She has recently worked as a Press Officer for the Rape Crisis Federation and currently teaches family and social policy at the University of Westminster and domestic violence practitioner courses at the University of Teesside. She is also an associate member of Bristol University Violence Against Women Research Group. M arianne Hester is Professor of Gender, Violence and International Policy and a member of the Violence Against Women Research Group, at the University of Bristol. For 25 years she has been researching various aspects of violence against women and children in the UK, Denmark and China. In recent years her work has focused on agency approaches to domestic violence, attrition through the criminal justice system, links between domestic violence and child abuse including child contact, and street prostitution. She was for many years involved in Rape Crisis and is patron of South Tyneside Women's Aid. Eve Hudson, after working in the field of domestic violence locally and nationally for over 15 years, entered academia as a mature student. On gaining a first class honours degree in anthropology she went on to gain her PhD, which examined developments in health in relation to domestic violence. After a period working as a researcher with the University of Newcastle, Eve is now Senior Manager with a women's refuge in Middlesbrough - a position allowing her to draw on her theoretical and practical experiences. Umme Imam is a Lecturer in the School of Applied Social Studies at the University of Durham. For over 20 years she has been actively involved in supporting women and children living with domestic violence and in

N o t e s o n c o n t r ib u t o r s

the developm ent and m anagem ent of a range of specialist projects for black w om en in the N orth-East. Her research interest in violence against w om en and children grew out of this com m unity developm ent work. M elan ie M cCarry is an ESRC Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and a mem ber of the Violence Against Women Research Group at the University of Bristol. She has been involved in various w om en's organisations in Glasgow and Bristol; and as a fem inist researcher and activist is com m itted to ending violence against women and children. Ellen M alos has been active in the w om en's m ovem ent since the late 1960s and has worked with W om en's Aid since the early 1970s. A founder of the Dom estic Violence Research Group at the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol, she has published w idely on women and domestic violence. Now retired, she is an honorary Senior Bristol University Research Fellow. A udrey M u llen d er is Professor of Social Work and currently Principal of Ruskin College, Oxford. Until recently she was the Director of the Centre for the Study of Safety and W ellbeing at the University of Warwick. Audrey has a long history of w orking on dom estic violence and has published w idely on the issue, including key work on the im pacts on children. Jill Radford is Professor of Crim inology and W om en's Studies at the University of Teesside. As w ell as being engaged in teaching and research, in the UK and internationally, she retains a degree of sanity through a continued involvem ent in fem inist activism and has been a mem ber of steering groups and m anagem ent com m ittees for M iddlesbrough Refuge, Cleveland Rape Crisis Centre, W om en's Support N etw ork and My Sister's Place, a one-stop dom estic violence advice centre. Tina S k in n er is a Lecturer in sociology at the University of Bath. She has trained practitioners on issues concerning sexual and dom estic violence in both the UK and Ukraine. Her m ost recent academ ic research is a study of young rape survivors' experiences of the crim inal justice system and support service provision, some of the findings of which are published in a Hom e O ffice report entitled Providing Counselling, Support and Information to Survivors o f Rape: An Evaluation o f the 'STAR' Young Persons' Project (with Helen Taylor).

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Nicole Westmarland is a Research Associate in the area of gender, violence and abuse at the University of Bristol. She is also finishing her PhD at the University of York on the impact of human rights on rape laws. Her activism work includes involvement in the Truth About Rape Campaign and work with Tyneside Rape Crisis.

This book is dedicated to loved ones who have now passed, Florence Skinner, Ted Skinner, Eva H olden, Bill Holden and 'M iggy' - and to a life that is ju st beginning, Freya Eve Skinner-Sm ith (born 16th A ugust 2004).

M e t h o d o lo g y , f e m in is m a nd g e n d e r v io le n c e

Ch apter I

M e th o d o lo g y , fem inism and ge n d e r violence

Tina Skinner, M a rian ne H ester and Ellen M alo s

In this edited collection m em bers of the British Sociological A ssociation's Violence Against W omen Study Group (the Group) draw on their experience to address key m ethodological questions and challenges that have arisen from the recent proliferation of research projects and governm ent-funded initiatives on gender violence. This chapter provides the backdrop for this debate to unfold; paying particular attention to the changing contexts in which the Group now undertakes its research. There are three contexts that we felt were im portant to outline, address and review. The first is the developm ent of law, policy and practice aimed at im proving conditions for survivors. In this section we briefly highlight some of the im portant m om ents of the 1970s and 80s, before outlining the shifting set upon which politics and research around gender violence w as played through the 1990s, including the Group's optim ism as New Labour cam e into power in 1997 and w hether that budding potential has been fulfilled into the early 21st century. This leads to the second context, and a discussion of how governm ent-sponsored research initiatives by the Econom ic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Violence Research Program m e and the H om e O ffice Crim e Reduction Program m e on Violence Against Women have impacted on feminist research in this field. The m ost substantial portion of this chapter is, however, dedicated to a reassessm ent of 'fem inist m ethodology' in an attem pt to ensure the continued high quality of feminist research on gender violence, and maintain and enhance its ability to shape debate and instigate positive change for survivors in the future.

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D e fin itio n s

Before we em bark on the main discussion points for this chapter, we wish to say a word about definitions. D efinitions are not only im portant in that they help us to understand what is going on, they are also crucial in research on gender violence and violence against women that attem pts to compare across countries or agencies. The 1993 United Nations World Conference on Human Rights defined violence against wom en as 'any act of gender-based violence' resulting or likely to result in harm to wom en, and occurring in the family, within the general community, and perpetrated or condoned by the State. This includes, for instance, domestic violence, rape and trafficking. W hereas domestic violence and rape are relatively non-contentious in being defined as 'violence against w om en' or 'gender violence', there has been m uch debate as to w hether trafficking should be sim ilarly defined. We would want to include both prostitution and trafficking as activities where violence against w om en is endemic. W hat is particularly useful about the UN definition is that it links different violences against women, which is im portant to understanding how such violence continues to reflect and also serves to m aintain structural gender inequalities. We have to recognise, however, that definitions are related to specific tim e/ space locations (Hester 2004). Thus in different countries and at different times there may be a focus on only certain forms of violence as 'violence against w om en'. For exam ple, until recently the focus in the UK w as domestic violence. Ironically, this narrow em phasis has resulted largely from the success of w om en's groups and others in placing dom estic violence on the policy agenda and in forcing change in practice by the police and other governm ental and non-statutory bodies and agencies. In order to create that change it was im perative that dom estic violence was focused upon and cam paigned on as a 'single issue', even if dom estic violence is not separate from and indeed overlaps with other violences against women (Kelly and Regan 2000; Hester and Westmarland 2004). The unintended consequence, however, is that it has been more difficult to argue that resources should also be aimed at the 'other' forms of violence against wom en, though this is gradually changing. There has also been a broadening of perspectives in research over time from using 'violence against w om en' as the inclusive term to using the term 'gender violence'. Gender violence includes all types of vio­ lence against women in the UN definition but is not confined to violence against wom en; thus recognising violence against children, young people or lesbian and gay people. The significance in using the term lies 2

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in the assertion that the violence is in some way influenced by or influences gender relations. The term gender violence therefore in­ cludes: heterosexual and same sex domestic violence (physical, sexual, economic and psychological); rape and sexual assault; sexual harassment; prostitution and trafficking; politicised sexual and physical forms of torture and rape in war, civil, communal and inter-ethnic conflict; and violence where women may be the perpetrators but their involvement is still mediated by gender (see for example Corcoran, Chapter 7). This shift is one of the changing contexts in which research by the Group is now placed. Other contextual changes are discussed below.

C h a n g in g contexts I Haw, policy and practice

Key developments in relation to violence against women during the 1970s and 80s included the growth of the refuge movement (especially Women's Aid) and movements against rape (especially Rape Crisis); and the growing visibility of sexual violence and domestic violence in public and media campaigns. There were changes in laws relating to sexual violence and to homelessness; the introduction of new rules on the questioning of rape victims about their sexual history; civil protection in cases of domestic violence; and changes in police policy and practice. These legal and policy changes were important in terms of principle even though they sometimes proved disappointing in practice. By the 1990s, central government and statutory agencies had begun to play a more direct role, particularly at a local level and in relation to domestic violence, where there was a policy of multi-agency inter­ vention. There was significant new legislation from the mid-90s, especially a strengthening of Civil Protection Orders for Domestic Violence (Part 4, Family Law Act 1996); and the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act with its wider focus and innovative approach to the relationship between civil and criminal justice. Both were developed under the then Conservative government, although any claim they might have to an overall policy and 'mainstreaming' of violence against women was counteracted by the failure to institute, for example, a multi-agency approach at governmental level. This was exemplified by the 1996 Housing Act, which in its original form would have had a catastrophic effect on the provision of safe alternative social housing for women and children escaping domestic violence (Malos 2000, 2003). 3

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With the election of the New Labour governm ent in 1997, it could be argued that some issues concerning gender violence have gradually moved towards the 'm ainstream '. Prior to the election, the Labour Party had issued a docum ent, Supporting Women, which promised new policies and practice aimed at developing an overall intervention strategy on violence against wom en. New Labour then came into power and produced a prom ising policy docum ent, Freedom from Fear (W omen's Unit 1999). Despite a som ew hat stronger em phasis on dom estic violence than on other areas of violence against women mem bers of the Group were fairly optim istic about its potential for change (see Radford et al. 2000). However, this em phasis by state and related agencies on violence against w om en - and in particular domestic violence - as a crime has had both positive and negative consequences. On the one hand, it can be seen as part of the success of pressure from w om en's organisations and fem inists that violence against w om en should be taken seriously. The shift has also been reflected in an increasing num ber of initiatives by the Hom e Office, police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). For instance, there has been concern to deal with attrition of rape and dom estic violence cases through the criminal justice system , thus m aking 'crim inalising more effective'. The Hom e Office coined the term 'justice gap' to describe the difference betw een the num ber of offences reported to the police and the num ber of offenders who are sentenced for these offences; and Narrozving the Justice Gap (Justice Gap Taskforce 2002) provided a fram ew ork for action. There have also been new Guidelines for the CPS on dealing with dom estic violence (CPS 2001), and recent them atic reviews by the police and Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorates addressing attrition in domestic violence and rape cases (HM CPSI and FIMIC 2002; HMIC and HM CPSI 2004). One especially positive area has been the first m ajor funding by governm ent of projects related to violence against wom en, through the Crim e Reduction Program me (CRP), even if the funding was relatively short term (up to three years). The funding followed in the wake of the Crim e and Disorder Act (1998). The Program m e included financing work on dom estic violence, rape and sexual assault, as well as prostitution. Altogether £250 million was spent by the Hom e Office on the CRP. O f this, £6.3 m illion was allocated in June 2000 to local agencies and m ulti-agency partnerships to develop and im plem ent local strategies for reducing dom estic violence, rape and sexual assault by known perpetrators. Thirty-four projects in total were funded, mostly related to domestic violence, and a small num ber to rape and sexual 4

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assault (including adults, young people and children). In December 2000 the Home Office awarded a further £850,000 to fund 11 multi­ agency projects which aimed to reduce the number of young people and women involved in street prostitution,1 to reduce crime and disorder associated with street-based prostitution and to find out which interventions helped women to exit prostitution (Hester and Westmarland 2004).2 While emphasising policing and criminal justice approaches, these projects also involved many and varied ways of enabling disclosure, outreach, support and advocacy. On the other hand, and less optimistically, there is the possibility/ danger that criminal justice responses have become over emphasised thus sidelining equally crucial aspects such as the support and advocacy work that has for so long been central to work with women and children experiencing m en's violence and abuse. For example, the development of Community Safety Units following the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act has allowed some local authorities to re-focus their work on only the crime-related aspects, and, effectively, sidelined any 'non-crim e' domestic violence work which may have been developed in MultiAgency Forums or by other multi-service initiatives - such as the projects funded by the Home Office itself through the Crime Reduction Project (see above). Moreover, CSUs have in some areas replaced Domestic Violence Units in the police, but without any guarantee that the new CSUs will include work on violence against women. In other areas, such as West Yorkshire, the police service has made local decisions to remove rape and sexual assault from centralised specialist policing units to be passed back to divisions who have limited if any training or experience to work with these issues. In this instance, both support for women and the ability for the police to investigate the crime effectively have been put in jeopardy. There has also been a tendency for the government to establish policy documents and consultations that seem to promise a wider range of action than actual legislation delivers. This is exemplified by the consultation which proceeded the Domestic Violence Bill (2003). This consultation discussed a wide range of issues, but the White Paper that resulted was extremely limited by comparison. It focused only on further criminalisation of domestic violence (e.g. making common assault an arrestable offence). But the White Paper did not take the opportunity to create a statutory base for support, nor to include vital issues such as recognising post-separation domestic violence in the context of child contact. Thus it was based on a narrow 'punishment' agenda that appeared to take it for granted that the safety of women and children will inevitably follow. 5

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Other changes have been welcomed, but their actual effects in practice have yet to be seen. For example, the Sexual Offenders Act 2003 has further decriminalised young people involved in prostitution, and redefined the term 'consent' in rape cases, but we await interpretation for the impact this will actually have in case law. The Children Bill is aimed at creating multi-agency structures for dealing with child protection/care, which is also potentially positive. The worry from our perspective is that the structures being suggested would parallel those involving domestic violence, but may not necessarily intersect with these. Thus all the good work to link Domestic Violence Forums and Area Child Protection Committees could easily be lost. Contributors in the previous volume in this series (Radford et al. 2000) pointed to the changing political context - and most particularly the hopes engendered by the election of the New Labour Government in 1997 as 'opening new doors to collaborative working with state agencies' (ibid.: 4) both in terms of research and practice. This was indeed the case. It was also noted that caution and strategic thinking would be necessary if this was to happen 'without losing sight of feminist visions and understandings' (ibid.). If anything this analysis has been strengthened in the intervening period.

C h a n g in g contexts 2: recent research initiatives on gender violence The H o m e Office Crime Reduction Programme

Prior to the Crime Reduction Programme initiatives outlined above, the Home Office had commissioned independent reviews to assess the existing knowledge base regarding 'what works' in reducing violence against women, in particular domestic violence (Taylor-Brown 2001). These reviews indicated the scarcity in the UK of an existing evidence base regarding best practice. The Home Office provided further funding for all of the 45 projects on violence against women and prostitution (discussed above) to be independently evaluated, with the aim of producing a new body of knowledge concerning 'what works' in tackling violence against women. Overviews of the evaluations were also commissioned by the Home Office (Hester and Westmarland 2004; Hester and Westmarland, forthcoming). Given the emphasis on research methodology in this volume, it is important to say something here about the evaluation approaches used in relation to the CRP projects.

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Evaluation is based on com parison and seeks to find out the extent to which any im provem ents noted may be directly attributable to interventions used. The 'purest' form of evaluation, the experim ental approach involving random controlled trials (RCT), was deemed neither ethical nor possible in relation to the CRP domestic violence, rape or prostitution projects. In relation to the dom estic violence and rape projects, it was not appropriate to w ithhold from half the women in contact with interventions the services that had been put in place to m axim ise safety or to provide other support. In relation to the projects concerning street prostitution it was not only difficult to gain access to the w om en who were involved w ith the project, but gaining access to a separate sam ple of women w ithout project workers as gatekeepers would have been particularly difficult (this was also true of rape and dom estic violence), and may possibly have been dangerous for the evaluators. Instead, other forms of com parison were used in both sets of evaluations involving various degrees of quasi-experim ental design, using a baseline to m easure changes over time from before the start to the end of the evaluation period, and by com paring one intervention or one context with another. Generally, 'realistic' and action-oriented evaluation approaches (Pawson and Tilley 1997) were used, with much of the data obtained via collaborative w orking with the projects rather than a distinct ev alu ator/p roject approach. W here possible, the dif­ ferent CRP project areas were com pared. The key aim of the evaluations o f all the projects was to identify 'w hat w orked' via an assessm ent of project design, im plem entation, delivery, im pact and cost. To this effect the evaluations took into account wherever possible the inputs, outputs, outcom es and processes involved. This involved the gathering of both quantifiable and qualitative data so as to increase the validity and reliability of the findings, with a general em phasis on qualitative approaches. However, in all the CRP gender violence initiatives, including prostitution, the evaluations were by no m eans straightforw ard, and the level of data was not consistent across projects. There were a num ber of reasons for this, which are im portant to consider in any future evaluations related to work on gender violence. The extent to which evaluators were able to access data from projects or crucial agencies such as the police, or were able to establish sam ples of project staff, service users and other key actors, varied considerably between projects and betw een evaluations. Problem s also arose regarding data sharing, often related to concerns by projects and other agencies about the

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implications of the Data Protection Act 2000, however erroneous.3 Data sharing was particularly a problem with regard to the areas of domestic violence and rape (see for example Skinner and Taylor, 2004). By contrast, in relation to the projects on street prostitution it was easier to obtain detailed police data, probably because it was the women involved in prostitution who were identified on the police database rather than the male clients using them. It was also often difficult to track data between project and agency databases, and therefore difficult to see what had happened to individuals as a result of their contact with the projects. Nonetheless, it was possible to draw some valuable lessons for practice: in relation to women and young people wanting to exit from street prostitution; with regard to tackling domestic violence; and effectively working with cases of rape and sexual assault (Hester and Westmarland 2004; Hester and Westmarland forthcoming; Kelly et al. forthcoming; Lovett et al. 2004; Regan et al. 2004; Skinner and Taylor 2004). The E S R C Violence Research Programme

Another major area of funding for research into gender violence and interpersonal violence more generally during the later 1990s and early 2000s was the ESRC Violence Research Programme (VRP). The VRP was commissioned in 1997, with a focus on developing understanding of interpersonal violence and how such violence might be prevented. This was the first time the ESRC had a programme specifically focusing on this issue, although there had been some studies of gender violence in earlier programmes. The original proposal for the VRP was jointly developed by academics and practitioners working in the area, including a number of key researchers and practitioners. As we have already indicated, the 1990s was a period which saw renewed discussion within the academic community and wider public arena of issues such as domestic violence as well as violence between peers as major social problems. There was an increasing emphasis on criminalisation within the private sphere, and attempts to change practice within the criminal justice and other sectors. There was, at the same time, a general lack of theorising with regard to interpersonal violence, especially in disciplines other than psychology. The VRP was in this sense timely, and constructed to overcome some of the 'theory gap' as well as feeding into the ongoing policy and practitioner developments. The overall aim of the Programme was to enhance understanding of the causes of various forms of violence to the person and to increase knowledge about how violence might be

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prevented, reduced or eliminated. Professor Betsy Stanko, who has contributed to earlier volumes in this series (see for example Hester et al. 1996) was appointed Director of the Programme in March 1997. Twenty research projects were commissioned for the programme. These included at least six projects related to gender violence: one on violence against women involved in prostitution; three regarding domestic violence, related to pregnancy, housing, and abused women's perspectives (see Hague and Mullender, Chapter 8); one on violence by and towards girls; and one on homicide (see for further discussion Stanko and Lee 2003). The VRP also produced Taking Stock, What do we know about interpersonal violence? (www.rhul.ac.uk/sociopoliticalscience/vrp/realhom e.hm l), which provided an overview of UK-based knowledge about interpersonal violence. The first edition was published in 1998 at the time of the VRP launch, and reprinted in 2002 with findings arising from the projects. The advantages of such research, as with that funded by independent charitable trusts and other independent funders, is that it is less tailored to government priorities, quantitative outcome measures and pre­ formulated indicators of success, giving researchers more freedom to develop their own approaches and methodologies. Both the CRP and the ESRC programmes have impacted greatly upon the amount of, type and methodologies utilised in research on gender violence. Now that these programmes have completed or are near completion, it is an appropriate juncture to begin to reflect on what one might call 'feminist methodology' linked to gender violence, and to reassess key characteristics and principles associated with feminist research in this field.

M ethodology, fem inism and gender violence

A book concerned with 'feminist methodology' must at some point address two key classic academic questions: (i) what is methodology and (ii) is there such a thing as a 'feminist methodology'? Methodology is not simply a posh way of saying method. There is, however, no single unified definition of the term. For example, for Ramazanoglu (with Holland 2002) methodology is a complex political process concerned with establishing the contested connections between epistemology (questions about what can be known, and the interrelationship between knowledge, experience and reality), theory (ideas about how things work), ontology (categorisation and classification of these ideas and

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how they fit together); as well as reflections on the validity, ethics and accountability of the knowledge that is produced. Harvey (1990) goes beyond this in his definition, to add the effects of one's epistemology and theory on the choice of method for data collection (e.g. surveys, interviews). Yet Ramazanoglu (with Holland 2002:154) suggest that 'the interaction of your process of investigation and techniques of data production with your theory, ontology and epistemology' should be termed research design not methodology. W hilst we agree in general with Ramazanoglu's definition, like Harvey (1990) we maintain that the choice of method is influenced by one's epistemological and theoretical position, and is thus of methodological concern (see for further discussion Oakley 2000). This is not, however, to suggest that a particular epistemological or theoretical position must only be used with a particular method of data collection. For instance, the assertion that feminist research is (Oakley 2000), and should be, almost exclusively associated with qualitative methods is no longer valid (as explained by Griffiths and Hanmer, Chapter 2). However, we would also assert that it does not therefore follow that quantitative methods are inherently superior (an attitude often forwarded by the CRP but resisted by several feminists who undertook the evaluations). This leads us neatly to the next question: Is there such a thing as a single unified 'feminist methodology'? This is now a somewhat old debate that reached a height in the early 1990s in an exchange between Hammersley and Gelsthorpe in the journal Sociology (see Gelsthorpe 1992). In short, because there is no single unified feminist theory or feminism (see Gelsthorpe 1992; Renzetti 1997; Stanley and Wise 1993), and feminists utilise differing ontological and epistimological stances (Ramazanoglu with Holland 2002) there can be no single feminist methodology.4 Even so, many have argued that there are commonly held characteristics of feminist research as well as key principles that feminists use in an attempt to produce sound findings - and which we also adhere to in this book.5 The reasons why these principles and characteristics have evolved, and the contested debates around them, are illustrated in the rest of this section by looking at gender violence which is one of the most sensitive areas of research that feminists are engaged in. These themes are then picked up and developed in subsequent chapters. The first characteristic, pointed out for instance by Cancian (1992), Renzetti (1997) and Oakley (2000), is that feminist research focuses on gender and gender inequality. These issues are also at the heart of most feminist research on gender violence, even if not always obviously so. As the discussion of definitions (above) indicates, gender violence is a 10

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reflection of as well as something that constructs gender inequalities. However, a great deal of what we would call feminist research on gender violence does not explicitly focus on gender inequality, even if gender is utilised as a concept in their theoretical framework. A number of studies illustrate this: Hester and Radford's (1996) and Hester and Pearson's (1998) research on the effects of domestic violence on children; Imam and A khtar's study of South Asian children's experiences of domestic violence (Chapter 4; see also Hester and Gangoli, Chapter 6); and Skinner and Taylor's (2004) research on young female survivors of rape and sexual assault. All of these are concerned with issues that are gendered (domestic violence, rape and sexual assault carried out primarily by men), but other concepts are also, or equally, prominent such as age, ethnicity and culture. Having said this, although feminist research may not exclusively focus on gender and gender inequality, and indeed may not involve female participants, it is still 'grounded in women's experience' (Ramazanoglu with Holland 2002: 16, their emphasis). This is illustrated in Harne's research (Chapter 9), where she uses a feminist understanding of domestic violence (based on women's experiences of m en's violence) to analyse violent fathers' attempts to gain access to their children. The second characteristic often identified within feminist research is a rejection of the standard academic distinction between the researcher and the 'researched' (Bergen 1993; Cancian 1992; Renzetti 1997). For many feminists this may simply be a case of attempting to minimise any power imbalance between researcher and 'subject' (see for example McCarry, Chapter 5, on empowering young people in the research process; and Hester and Gangoli, Chapter 6 on balancing power within a cross-national research team). Renzetti (1997) extends this much further, to encompass the participant's active involvement in developing the research tools, data collection and interpretation. As Ramazanoglu (with Holland 2002) points out, this is not an easy option. There is little guidance available on what to do if participants and researchers disagree, for example, at the stage of interpretation on political grounds. Ramazanoglu (with Holland 2002) suggests that rather than attempting to merge or reconcile these interpretations when they conflict, the researcher can acknowledge, respect and try to explain the differences between the accounts of the researcher and the 'researched'. This then helps to illustrate the situated nature of both the researcher and the researched in terms of history, politics and so on. This can also be a useful tool when respondents have differing and apparently contradictory and inconsistent stories about particular events (see Skinner 2000 and Chapter 3).

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The bulk of feminist discussion on this topic has been a concern with representing, or more accurately trying not to misrepresent, those in less powerful positions. Feminist authors are starting to acknowledge research that is on a more equal footing or where the researcher is less powerful in the relationship (Schoenberger 1991; Puwar 1997; Ross 2001). An example might be where the researcher is a PhD student interviewing powerful feminists and practitioners concerned with violence against women politics (see Skinner, Chapter 3). But even in these circumstances, the researcher can exercise power in interpretation (Ramazanoglu with Holland 2002) and indeed in the very questions asked. This needs to be acknowledged, carefully monitored and openly discussed in the methodology. Such openness is also required by the third characteristic often associated with feminist research: that of enabling the voices of women and other marginalised groups to be heard and their experiences valued (Cancian 1992; Renzetti 1997; Oakley 2000; and see Corcoran, Chapter 7; Hague and Mullender, Chapter 8 in this volume). There are three important issues here that require further discussion: (i) how to effectively provide spaces where these voices can be articulated and listened to; (ii) encouraging marginalised groups to become involved in research; and (iii) the role that experience should play in research. Enabling the voices of women to be heard involves a democratisation of the research process (whether 'academic' research or research linked to service/policy development). As stated above, for Renzetti (1997) 'true' participatory research is where one designs the project together with the activists, practitioners or group prior to gaining funding; you have joint ownership of it; you are jointly responsibility for dis­ semination; you carry out the research together; you jointly analyse the data with the activists; you review the academic and activist published outputs together; and you provide a summary report for the study volunteers giving a chance for them to comment (1997). Hague and Mullender (Chapter 8) bring some of these ideas into the realm of user group participation in service development, and add some others. While they concede there is no single right way to consult with women survivors, their advice contains lessons for academics and practitioners alike, including not expecting women to participate for free; catering for child-care and transportation needs; ensuring that data collection does not result in 're-victimisation' and trauma for the women; enabling 'safe', equal and confidential participation; involving the women in decision making about the best means for them to participate; not using exclusionary language; providing an opportunity for survivors to comment on findings at an early stage; and making sure that every 12

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effort is made so that findings have a positive impact on policy or practice. Feminist research has not simply, however, attempted to provide a space for women's voices to be heard. In several chapters in this book, the authors are striving to find the 'best' ways they can to enable children, young people, political prisoners and ethnic minorities to find some form of platform from which to speak (see chapters by Corcoran; Imam and Akhtar; McCarry; Hester and Gangoli). In order to do this we do not believe that it is necessary or indeed possible always to match researcher to 'researched'. This is in part because this puts the burden of research and action solely on the shoulders of particular groups (for example, on already over-stretched Black and Asian workers); and in part because it is not possible to eliminate differences between these two parties (Ramazanoglu with Holland 2002). For example, in their honest and open account of the research process, Imam and Akhtar (Chapter 4) discuss both the benefits that being South Asian researchers brought to the research process and the disadvantages of being 'other', including being able to gain access to South Asian and some South East Asian children and young people, but not non-Asian groups. In so doing, they explore the politics of 'race matching' researchers and respondents; the advantages of shared terms, contexts, language, experiences of racism, concepts, trust and understandings. As well as the disadvantages when potential participants have felt 'betrayed' after previous contact with South Asian workers from their community; and continued differences between researcher and participant in terms of age, gender, class and country of origin. As with research that focuses on ethnic minorities, research that attempts to bring to the fore the voices of marginalised young people an d /o r children is still relatively rare, particularly where sensitive issues might be raised. Four issues could have exacerbated this problem: (i) that children and young people's views have until recently not been seen as valuable enough to explore; (ii) gatekeepers have been reluctant to grant research access; (iii) researchers have been put off by the complex ethical and procedural nature for gaining such access; and (iv) researchers a n d /o r gatekeepers have been concerned by the potential ramifications if 'something goes wrong' in the process of the research, either for the child /young person (for example, increased trauma) an d /o r the researcher (for example, litigation or the distress caused by listening to children's or young people's stories). In McCarry's chapter, she maps out in greater detail the changing position of children and young people in society, and the sometimes contradictory messages about their ability to be responsible for their 13

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own action (for example, being legally responsible at 10 in England and Wales), yet often not allowed by researchers or gatekeepers to be the sole person responsible for consenting to participate in research. The final issue linked to enabling voices to be heard is that of valuing marginalised experiences. The role that experience plays in feminist research depends very much on one's epistemological stance. Ramazanoglu with Holland (2002:127) argue that 'there is a strong case for taking people's accounts of their experiences as a necessary element of knowledge of gendered lives and actual power relations'. They develop this through the example of rape, but state that 'rape illustrate(s) both the necessity of grounding knowledge in experience, and the impossibility of treating experiential knowledge as simply true'. This is because though the account may be faithful, it will also be (i) adapted to the audience, for example to a friend, mother, partner, counsellor, police officer, court, (ii) It could change over time as the speaker gains knowledge, or as memories fade. For instance, Painter and Farrington (1999), in their study of rape in marriage, found that women may not interpret the violence they suffer as rape at the time but may later come to define it as such (see also Kelly and Radford 1996). Finally (iii) individual experiences of events such as rape will differ. For example, there is no single 'truth' about what it is like to suffer rape. This links into an epistemological stance called 'standpoint feminism' used by a number of authors in this text (including Hague and Mullender, Chapter 8; McCarry, Chapter 5). They acknowledge the voices and experiences of the individual but do not seek to suggest that this is representative of all survivors. In contrast, Mary Corcoran (Chapter 7) rejects standpoint feminism and instead places her analyses of the data for her research within the genre of discourse analysis. However, in rebuke to those who have previously critiqued discourse analysis and what some loosely call 'post-structural' approaches (see for example Radford et al. 1996), she argues that it is still possible using discourse analysis to 'privilege' these women's stories over others, as well as enabling them to play an active role in interpreting their words. The fourth key characteristic associated with feminist methodology is an assertion of the importance of politically active (or political activist) (Bergen 1993; Cancian 1992; Renzetti 1997) and indeed emancipatory research (Oakley 2000). This can be achieved through enabling women and children's voices to be better heard by practitioners (see Chapter 8); and providing robust data in the form that a particular audience may be more able to digest, as with Griffiths and Hanm er's quantitative

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research for the Home Office (Chapter 2), or Lees' use of popular media to get 'the message' across (Chapter l l ) . 6 Another means of doing this is by 'bridg[ing] the gap between research and practice' illustrated by Hippensteele's (1997: 87) dual roles as a victim's advocate and researcher. Though this in itself can be challenging, e.g. negotiating between the sometimes conflicting n eed s/ values of a researcher versus advocate/activist role, there can also be advantages. Practice experience can aid research and theory develop­ ment (see Radford and Hudson, Chapter 10), and it can also assist in access negotiations. In addition, the advocate can use the research to back up attempts to change policy, procedures and practice, and the research is perhaps more likely to have an impact because it was directly linked to practice (see Hester and Pearson 1997). A fifth characteristic often associated with feminist methodologies is reflexivity. Simple definitions of reflexivity include 'the process of standing outside and gazing back to see what we can from afar' (Stanko 1997: 83, her emphasis); or a discussion of how the researcher impacts on the research process (and vice versa), how power may be exercised or minimised, and exposure of the research agenda (Cancian 1992; Ramazanoglu with Holland 2002; Renzetti 1997; see also McCarry, Chapter 5; Skinner, Chapter 3; Imam and Akhtar, Chapter 4; and Hester and Gangoli, Chapter 6 in this volume). In order to gain effective reflexivity Ramazanoglu (with Holland 2002) suggests that the researcher needs to consider and be willing to discuss: the effects of power relations on the research process; the ethical judgements made; and researcher accountability for the knowledge that is produced. In short, there needs to be an open acknowledgement by the researcher of h er/h is assumptions, beliefs, sympathies and biases (Bergen 1993). Hester and Gangoli (Chapter 6), for instance, discuss how they attempted to equalise the power between researchers based in the UK and researchers based in China, by prioritising the needs of the Chinese research context. The next issue that is particularly pertinent to feminist methodology linked to gender and violence research is that of the emotional and physical wellbeing of the researcher and the 'researched' (see also Campbell 2002; Stanko and Lee 2003). The researcher should at all times be conscious of the possible effects of the research (be it the process or the publication) on the 'researched' (see Lee and Renzetti 1993). Where the participant has already suffered emotional an d /o r physical harm and may suffer further as a result of the research, the research and its implications must be discussed with them in full (see Kelly 1988). This is

IS

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by no means an easy process (see Skinner and Taylor 2004). Even if such information is provided the participant may not fully understand the implications and may believe they are consenting to something else (see also Ramazanoglu with Holland 2002). But more than this, if one is drawing on a more grounded approach where the data itself guides the researcher in their analysis, then the analysis may take the final written rep ort/th esis/p ap ers/bo ok s in a very different direction from that originally intended and consented to. For example, one might embark on an empirical evaluation of a domestic violence perpetrator pro­ gramme and end up with a detailed discourse analysis (Ballantyne forthcoming). In such a case, where possible and appropriate, interested parties should be informed of the change. W hilst reflecting on her research involving women political prisoners in Northern Ireland, Mary Corcoran (Chapter 7) explores method­ ological and ethical questions when both researcher and participant exist under the threat of violence a n d /o r institutional attempts to suppress and silence them. There are also difficulties associated with being a female researcher working with men, whether they have a history of violence (see Harne, Chapter 9 for detailed discussion and strategies to minimise), or not (see Huff 1997). Here the dangers can include increased violence for the women and children concerned (even if they are not directly involved in the research), and harassment of the researcher. Even when such harassment is not occurring, whilst researching gender violence there is a very strong potential of the researcher suffering emotional pain, fear, anger, being overwhelmed, feeling powerless, and sometimes experiencing flashbacks to previous abuse (Kelly 1988; Schwartz 1997; Stanko 1997), before, during and after the research process. Such research can also be a life changing experience for the researcher (see for example Moran-Ellis 1996). Not only is this emotional work (Campbell 2002), there is also the potential of being attacked, ridiculed, harassed and challenged by other academics, the public, family, 'friends' and practitioners (Schwartz 1997) - what is often called '[f]eminist-bating' (Stanko 1997: 82). We may also feel isolated, and unable to talk about certain aspects of our work because of confidentiality. Teaching these subjects can also lead to both lecturer and student tapping into painful emotions (Stanko 1997). Many researchers and activists concerned with gender violence will look in amazement at how other academics and activists appear to be coping with the impacts of this kind of work over long periods of time (Stanko 1997). But anecdotal evidence from members of the Violence Against Women Study Group suggests that most of us at some point 16

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find ourselves in tears after or even during interviews with survivors, or wanting to give up after a particularly unpleasant and frustrating en­ counter with an unsympathetic practitioner. Many of us dream of 'escaping' - Stanko fantasises about being a botanist or tap dancer at times of 'burnout' (1997). Skinner actually became a gardener after finishing her PhD, vowing never to return to academic work (she lasted six months, and then longed to get back). Why do we keep doing it if it is such hard emotional work? Well not all do; but for those that remain it would appear to be hope. Hope that we can help survivors be heard, hope that we can change institutional responses, hope that we can change society (Stanko 1997), even (when feeling optimistic to the point of utopianism) hope that one day we might see an end to violence. As Stanko and Lee (2003) argue, research concerning gender violence can be very difficult, painful, sensitive and even dangerous, but it is necessary in order to instigate and perpetuate positive change. The final issue we wish to consider in relation to feminist methodology is the selection of research tools. Oakley (2000: 24) believes that there are two methodological 'cam ps': (1) that of the '(logical) positivist' / 'scientific' / 'quantitative' and (2) that of the 'naturalist' / 'interpretivist' / 'qualitative'. She places feminist research in the latter 'cam p'. Such a dichotomistic representation we find both unhelpful and unrepresentative of our experience as feminist academics.7 Indeed, we feel that feminist research has for a long time been doing what Oakley advocates, namely trying to use 'the right method for the research question' rather than being purist qualitative researchers (2000: 21; see Griffiths and Hamner, Chapter 2 for detailed discussion). In support of this, Renzetti states that 'rather than rejecting survey research and quantitative analysis per se, feminist methodologies reject the views that these methods are necessarily the most scientifically rigorous and that only statistics provide us with "hard facts" ' (Renzetti 1997: 135).a Thus, in short, feminists often favour multiple methods, which may include surveys and large scale data sets (see Griffiths and Hanmer, Chapter 2; Kelly et al. 1995), alongside different ways of 'knowing' such as autobiography and fiction, focus groups and interviews, diaries and internet discussion groups. W hat is particularly important in feminist research is that the approaches adopted come at the topic under investigation in a way that is more likely to reflect the experiences of women and children, rather than distorting them. This discussion is continued in Chapter 2, where Sue Griffiths and Jalna Hanmer chart the voyage of feminist research on violence against women from the stridently and often strictly qualitative methodologies 17

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of the 1970s and 80s to the increasingly pragm atic mixed m ethodologies of today However, as they highlight, it is often forgotten that even in the early days fem inists were using descriptive statistics as a backdrop to their qualitative findings. More recently, particularly under the influence of Hom e Office CRP evaluation objectives and funding, fem inist research in this field has stepped up a gear in statistical 'credibility' and utilised inferential and generalisable statistics (e.g. Walby and Allan 2004). Griffiths and Hanm er provide a critical assessm ent of the use of these statistics.

O u r trib u te to S u e Lees

In Chapter 11 N icole W estmarland and Jill Radford pay tribute to Professor Sue Lees, a highly respected fem inist acad em ic/activ ist and m em ber of the VAWSG who died in 2002. They explore how a lifetim e's w ork was used by Sue to im pact positively on public perception of, and crim inal justice responses to, survivors of rape and sexual assault, as w ell as m ethodological approaches to the subject. The chapter is, however, not sim ply a tribute to her work and achievem ents, it is a testam ent to the deeply felt respect, love and friendship betw een old and new m em bers of the Violence Against Women Study Group for Sue; and is an attem pt to express the sense of loss that we feel at her passing.

N o te s

1 2

3

4 5

18

Prostitution is defined here as the selling or swapping of sexual intercourse or other sexual acts in exchange for money, drugs or other benefits. There has been much debate amongst feminists regarding whether prostitution constitutes violence against women, or merely a form of (sex) work. Neatly side-stepping this debate, the Home Office funded the projects concerning street prostitution separately from those deemed to be concerned with 'violence against women'. Guidance on data sharing is now available from the Home Office (Safety and Justice: Sharing Personal Information in the Context of Domestic Violence - an overview, Home Office Development and Practice Report, no. 30, 2004). A point which Oakley (2000) glosses over in her generalised arguments. We do not, however, seek to suggest that these characteristics are solely the domain of feminist researchers, though we would argue that feminists have fundamentally influenced their use.

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6 7

8

For a discussion of the possible dangers of engagement with the media see Tisdall (2003). Oakley (2000: 16) also asks why is it that criminal justice and crime prevention practitioners have been spared the torture of experimental research so common in medicine, instead being allowed to 'shelter behind a language of qualitative evaluation'. This is not a representation of criminal justice evaluative research that we recognise either in the UK or the US. As discussed above, in the UK positivistic experimental quantitative method­ ology has and continues to dominate, particularly in government sponsored and sanctioned research and discourse. We do, however, concede that this point can also be contested, in that some feminists do maintain that quantitative methods are the most 'scientific'.

B ib lio g r a p h y

Ballantyne, N. (forthcoming) Resistance and Assimilation o f Dominant Discourses by Probation Practitioners and Intimately Violent Men, Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Bath. Bergen, R. (1993) 'Interviewing Survivors of Marital Rape', in C. Renzetti and R. Lee (eds) Researching Sensitive Topics. London: Sage. Campbell, R. (2002) Emotionally Involved: The Impact o f Researching Rape. London: Routledge. Cancian, F.M. (1992) 'Feminist Science: Methodologies that Challenge Inequality', Gender and Society, 6: 623-642. Crown Prosecution Service (2001) Guidance on Prosecuting Cases o f Domestic Violence. London: HMSO. Gelsthorpe, L. (1992) Response to Martyn Hammersley's paper: on feminist methodology, Sociology, 26 (2): 213-18. Gregory, J. and Lees, S. (1999) Policing Sexual Assault. London: Routledge. Harvey, L. (1990) Critical Social Research. London: Unwin. Hester, M. (2004) 'Future Trends and Developments - violence against women in Europe and East Asia', Violence Against Women, 10 (12). Hester, M. and Radford, L. (1996) Domestic Violence and Child Contact Arrangements in England and Denmark. The Policy Press in association with Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Hester, M. and Pearson, C. (1997) 'Domestic Violence and Children - the practice of family court welfare officers', Child and Family Law Quarterly: 281-90. Hester, M. and Pearson, C. (1998) From Periphery to Centre: Domestic Violence in Work with Abused Children. The Policy Press in association with Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Hester, M., Wigglesworth, D. and Gangoli, G. (2003) Domestic Violence Provision in Newcastle - assessing local need. Sunderland: New Deal for Communities and University of Sunderland.

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Hester, M. and Westmarland, N. (2004) Tackling Street Prostitution - towards an holistic approach, Home Office Research Study 279. London: Home Office. Hester, M. and Westmarland, N. (forthcoming) Tackling Domestic Violence: What Works? Home Office Research Study. London: Home Office. Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and Her Majesty's' Inspectorate of Constabulary (2002) The Report on the Joint Inspection into the Investigation and Prosecution o f Cases Involving Allegations o f Rape 2002. HMIC and HMCPSI: London. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (2004) Violence at Home, A Joint Thematic Inspection o f the Investigation and Prosecution o f Cases Involving Domestic Violence. HMIC and HMCPSI: London. Hippensteele, S.K. (1997) 'Activist Research and Social Narratives: Dialectics of Power, Privilege, and Institutional Change', in M.D. Schwartz (ed.) Researching Sexual Violence Against Women: Methodological and Personal Perspectives. London: Sage. Huff, J.K. (1997) 'The Sexual Harassment of Researchers by Research Subjects: Lessons From the Field', in M.D. Schwartz (ed.) Researching Sexual Violence Against Women: Methodological and Personal Perspectives. London: Sage. Justice Gap Taskforce (2002) Narrowing the Justice Gap. London: Home Office. Keeler, L. (ed.) (2001). Recommendations o f the E.U. Expert Meeting on Violence Against Women. Helsinki: Reports of the Ministry of Social affairs and Health 2000:13. Kelly, L. (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence. Cambridge: Polity Press. Kelly, L. and Regan, L. (2000) Stopping Traffic: Exploring the extent of, and responses to, trafficking in women fo r sexual exploitation in the UK, Police Research Series Paper 125. London: Home Office. Kelly, L. Regan, L. and Burton, S. (1995) 'Defending the Indefensible: Quantitative Methodology and Feminist Research', in J. Holland, M. Blair and S. Sheldon (eds) Debates and Issues in Feminist Research and Pedagogy. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd. Kelly, L., Regan, L. and Lovett, J. (forthcoming) A Gap or a Chasm? Attrition in Rape Cases. London: Home Office. Lee, R.M. and Stanko, B. (2003) Researching Violence. London: Routledge. Lovett, J. Regan, L. and Kelly, L. (2004) Sexual Assault Referral Systems: developing good practice and maximising potentials, London: Home Office Research Study, 285. Malos, E. (2000) 'Supping with the Devil?: multi-agency initiatives on domestic violence', in J. Radford, M. Freidberg and L. Harne (eds) Women, Violence and Strategies fo r Action. Buckingham: Open University Press. Malos, E. (2003) 'Domestic Violence, Research and Social Policy in Britain', in M. Izuhara (ed.) Comparing Social Policies: Exploring New Perspectives in Britain and Japan. Bristol: The Policy Press.

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Moran-Ellis, J. (1996) 'Close to home: The experience of researching child sexual abuse', in M. Hester, L. Kelly and J. Radford (eds) Women, Violence and M ale Power. Buckingham: Open University Press. Oakley, A. (2000) Experiments in Knowing: Gender and Method in the Social Sciences. Cambridge: Polity Press. Painter, K. and Farrington, D. (1999) 'Wife Rape in Great Britain', in R. Muraskin (ed.) Women and Justice. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach Publishers. Pawson, R. and Tilley, N. (1997) Realistic Evaluation. London: Sage. Puwar, N. (1997) 'Reflections on Interviewing Women MPs', Sociological Research Online, 2 (1) w w w .socresonline.org.uk/socresonline/2/l/4.htm l Ramazanoglu, C. with Holland, J. (2002) Feminist Methodology: Challenges and Choices. London: Sage. Regan, L., Lovett, J. and Kelly, L. (2004) Forensic Nursing: An Option fo r Improving Responses to Reported Rape and Sexual Assault. London: Home Office. Renzetti, C.M. (1997) 'Confessions of a Reformed Positivist: Feminist Participatory Research as Good Social Science', in M.D. Schwartz (ed.), Researching Sexual Violence Against Women: Methodological and Personal Perspectives. London: Sage. Ross, K. (2001) 'Political Elites and the Pragmatic Paradigm: Note from a Feminist Researcher - In the Field and out to Lunch', International Journal o f Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice, 4 (2) 155-66. Schoenberger, E. (1991) 'The Corporate Interview As A Research Method In Economic Geography', Professional Geographer, 43 (2): 180-89. Schwartz, M.D. (1997) Preface, in M.D. Schwartz (ed.) Researching Sexual Violence Against Women: Methodological and Personal Perspectives. London: Sage. Skinner, T. (2000) 'Feminist Strategy and Tactics: Influencing state provision of counselling for survivors', in J. Radford, M. Friedberg and L. Harne (eds), Women, Violence and Strategies fo r Action: Feminist research, policy and practice. Open University Press: Buckingham. Skinner, T. and Taylor, H. (2004) Providing Counselling, Support and Information to Survivors o f Rape: An Evaluation o f the 'STAR' Young Persons' Project. London: Home Office. Stanko, E.A. (1997) 'I Second that Emotion: Reflections on Feminism, Emotionality and Research on Sexual Violence', in M.D. Schwartz (ed.) Researching Sexual Violence Against Women: Methodological and Personal Perspectives. London: Sage. Stanko, E.A. and Lee, R.M. (2003) Introduction: Methodology and Reflection, in R.M. Lee and E.A. Stanko (eds) Researching Violence: Essays on Methodology and Measurement. London: Routledge. Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1993) Breaking out again: fem inist ontology and epistemology. Routledge: London.

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Taylor-Brown, J. (ed.) (2001) What Works in Reducing Domestic Violence? A comprehensive guide fo r professionals. London: Whiting and Birch. Tisdall, E.K.M. (2003) 'The Rising Tide of Female Violence? Researching Girls' own Understandings and Experiences of Violent Behaviour', in R.M. Lee and E.A. Stanko (eds) Researching Violence: Essays on Methodology and Measurement. London: Routledge. Walby, S. and Allan, J. (2004) Domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking: Findings from the British Crime Survey, Home Office Research Study 276. London: Home Office. Women's Unit (1999) Living without Fear: An integrated approach to tackling violence against women, London: Central Office of Information, Cabinet Office.

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F e m in ist qua ntitative m e t h o d o lo g y : evaluating p olic in g o f d o m e st ic v io le n ce

Chapter 2

Feminist quantitative m ethodology: evaluating policing of dom estic violence Sue Griffiths and Jalna H anm er

Introduction

Research on violence against women began with talking to women about their experiences. In comparison with qualitative research methods quantitative research was relatively undervalued, even though establishing the extent of domestic violence and the response of the criminal justice system was an early priority. As the momentum to improve statutory responses, or 'what works', slowly became a major focus of government policy, so too did the use of quantitative research methods (Taylor-Browne 2001). Research studies in this field have moved from qualitative to quantitative descriptive statistics and then to quantitative designs that would sustain inferential and generalisable analyses. The questions why is quantitative research useful and why it may be seen as less illuminating and even less valid than qualitative research are embedded in the history of the development of knowledge and theory of violence against women from men known to them, a description now shortened to domestic violence. In this chapter we look specifically at the policing of domestic violence as a way of examining the increasing use of quantitative methodologies in feminist research on violence against women. We start by discussing the early, predominately qualitative research work on domestic violence. The importance of this work in getting the issue of violence against women onto public and political agendas, and its development in techniques of research, are mapped against the increasing use of quantitative methods and approaches to domestic violence. 23

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The growth in methodological attempts at quantifying domestic violence, be it prevalence, incidence or costs, was not the only research development in work on domestic violence. One method for in­ fluencing change in such organisations was increasingly based on evidence-led best practice. Evaluative research became a critical tool in informing and influencing policing of domestic violence. Furthermore, working with large statutory institutions, such as the police, meant that researchers had to recognise the organisational influence of such institutions on the research process and design. The second part of this chapter examines evaluation research; what distinguishes it from other types of research; the increasing role of evaluative research, particularly in crime (domestic violence) prevention; and how it has contributed to achieving change in policy and practice. Finally, we turn to working with organisations, the effects of organisational size on research design and the implications for the use of quantitative methods.

Q u alitative research

The history of feminist work on domestic and other forms of violence against women began with qualitative descriptions usually obtained by interview. Scream Quietly or the Neighbours will Hear was the first booklength publication describing the experiences of women (Pizzey 1977), followed by Violence Against Wives: A case against the patriarchy (Dobash and Dobash 1979; 1980). These early publications, based on interviews and observation of women in refuges, presented theoretical explanations of violence (see also Hanmer 1978), and critically engaged with alternative, primarily psychological and psychiatric perspectives. These early works were followed by further research and, within a decade, the Home Office published overviews of the then available literature on domestic violence and rape (Smith 1989a and b). Qualitative research challenged both victim-blaming disciplinary approaches and statutory agency policy and practice, supporting demands for change made by activists providing voluntary services to women and their children. By undertaking and publishing studies on the experiences of women and children abused in domestic settings, qualitative research played a crucial role in changing governmental and agency understandings of the phenomenon and the beginning of changes in law and agency responses. The late 1970s and 1980s saw the publication of two diametrically opposed views on policing domestic violence. One view, dominant at 24

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the time, expressed in the police evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Violence in Marriage (1975) was to keep the criminal law, the police and the criminal justice system out of domestic matters as far as possible. Although support was weakening, a decade later this viewpoint continued to be published by the Home Office - 'it would not seem beneficial for the police to take any initiatives in getting greatly involved in domestic disputes' (Walmsley 1986: 48). The argument for engagement by the criminal law, the police and the criminal justice system was based on the continuation of personal harm, including homicide, and of the negative experiences of women when seeking assistance and protection from violent men. Qualitative methods of research were of great importance in the struggle between the two opposing views of the proper role for statutory agencies, that of engagement or disengagement. Research on policing included obser­ vational research on policing of domestic violence by Faragher (1985), and a multi-method force-wide study by Hanmer and Saunders (1993) undertaken in 1987. In addition, Chief Superintendent Bourlet (1990) replicated the structured interviews developed by Susan Edwards, who analysed police dispositions of domestic incidents in two London police stations (1989). This enabled comparison to be made between three police locations.

D escriptive statistics

Even at this early stage of feminist research on violence against women, descriptive statistics were being used alongside qualitative methods. Descriptive statistics are a way of presenting data in a numerical form that summarises the findings from a particular piece of research. These data are neither inferential nor generalisable, as they draw no statistically significant conclusions either about the study's participants or about the wider population. Descriptive statistics have been important in establishing violence against women as a serious, widespread social problem. Given the cost of large-scale, random sample surveys, early quantitative studies developed research designs with sampling methods that would be of sufficient rigour to provide comparative statistical data for other studies. For example, Rebecca Emerson Dobash and Russell Dobash (1979; 1980) examined all police files for a specific period in two Scottish police locations. While the results were not generalisable to the population as a whole, as only a small number of police locations were researched, their analysis led to the often quoted statistic that 25% of 25

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violent crime is wife abuse. This statistic continues to be replicated by not dissimilar results from other police forces, establishing that the Scottish police data were a typical sample. Several other relatively small studies were important in developing ways to obtain data that arose out of knowledge of women's experiences and also provided descriptive statistics on prevalence. For example, Ruth Hall (1985) conducted a survey on sexual assault in London; Jalna Hanmer and Sheila Saunders (1984) undertook a community survey with women in Leeds on their personal and witnessed experiences of threat, sexual harassment and violence; using multiple methods; Jayne Mooney (1993) researched domestic violence in London; and Kate Painter (1991) surveyed rape in marriage. Knowledge of statutory agency practices began to be explored through the evidence given to the Select Committee on Violence in Marriage, where both the Department of Health and Social Security and the police provided substantial accounts of policy and practice (1975). During the 1980s these accounts were supplemented by research into the major statutory agencies from which women sought services. For example, Mary Maynard (1985) explored the response of social services through an examination of case files in a northern town; Margaret Borkowski, Mervyn Murch and Val Walker (1983) through question­ naires to professional groups in health, law and policing; and Val Binney, Gina Harkell and Judy Nixon (1981) on the housing available to refuges and to women leaving refuges. One small study with a widely cited statistic concluded that women on average are victimised 36 times prior to police involvement (McGibbon et al. 1989) and another found that women seek assistance from an average of 10 agencies before finding appropriate help (Hanmer 1995). Given limited funds, researchers attempted to counter the negative impact on results of small and potentially unrepresentative samples by constructing research designs that involved more than one method. Triangulation, as a technique, involves the verification of information by the adoption of multiple methods. For example, a study might include observation, document research, interviews and questionnaires. This provides internal validity and increases the usefulness of the findings for future comparative analyses. With increased confidence in validity and reliability of findings, more elaborate statistical analysis becomes a possibility.

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Inferential and generalisable statistics

Statistical tests can be applied to studies where inferential differences can be established and to studies where the results can be generalised to the relevant total population, technically termed the 'universe'. Inferential statistics

Inferential statistics are based on statistical tests of significance (chisquare, t-tests, etc.) to compare differences between groups. There are two possibilities: the statistical tests are of data differences within a study that is based on either a representative or a non-representative sample. When differences are found to be significant statistically, then inferences can be drawn about the inter-group differences an d /o r about any interventions that may have been applied to one group but not another. Statistical tests of significance can also be used to compare for similarities between samples that have different characteristics; for example, violence experienced by women living in urban or rural locations (Hanmer and Saunders 1993), or to compare for differences between samples that have similar characteristics; for example, the policing of domestic violence in localities in the same force (Hester et al. 2003). The shift in research designs from descriptive statistics to inferential statistics marks a shift in what information is collected and for what purpose. In the 1990s domestic violence became a governmental concern. This resulted in a government document that identified research on best practice (Living Without Fear 1999) and commitment to ensuring police policies and practices targeted domestic violence as a crime (Home Office Police Circular 2000). Home Office funded research began to examine the impact of policing on domestic violence and saw the development of a number of initiatives aimed at reducing domestic violence: the Merseyside project (Lloyd et al. 1994; Farrell and Buckley 1999); the Killingbeck project (Hanmer et al. 1999; Hanmer and Griffiths 2000); the Islington project (Kelly 1999).1 Accompanying these policing initiatives was the need to evaluate their impact, effectiveness and outcomes. The Killingbeck project (Hanmer et al. 1999) used statistical tests to identify significant dif­ ferences between men who had been attended once, twice or three or more times by the police. From these analyses, we were able to infer that the police interventions had a greater impact when applied early to men perpetrating domestic violence. However, the possibility that the

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Killingbeck data differed in one or more significant ways from data from other police forces meant that the findings were not generalisable to the national population of male perpetrators. Generalisable statistics

Generalising findings from a small group to the wider population is dependent on the representativeness of the sample group used to generate data in relation to the total population (or universe) under study. Whilst inferential tests of significance can be carried out on large or small groups, the applicability of the findings to a whole population is dependent on the sample size, selection process and repre­ sentativeness of the wider population under study. Generalisable research that quantifies the prevalence and incidence of domestic violence is dependent on representative samples and adequate funding. Only through nationally funded projects, such as the British Crime Survey (BCS), could work begin on the national prevalence of domestic violence experienced by women. These surveys address the issue of under-reporting of crime to the police, which is recognised as a major problem in responding to domestic and other forms of violence against women. The first biannual crime survey in England and Wales in 1982 found little domestic or sexual violence in a sample of approximately 11,000 households (Hough and Mayhew 1983). Sample size does not need to be large, as the key factor is the representativeness of the sample in relation to the total population from which it is drawn, in this case households in England and Wales. While the sample size was adequate, the questions asked, their inclusion with other fields and the conduct of interviews were issues challenging the low findings of the early British Crime Surveys. Methodological improvements in subsequent surveys led to increasing reports of domestic violence by women (Mirrless-Black 1995; Mayhew et al. 1993). By 1996, after the introduction of a special module, domestic violence during the previous 12 months was disclosed by 4% and over a lifetime by 23% of sampled women (Mirrless-Black 1999. While increases in reporting by women indicate a better methodology, figures on prevalence or completely accurate percentages will remain elusive. The reason for this is that we cannot know, for example, if the 23% of women who experienced domestic violence over a lifetime equals a 100% disclosure rate. Jayne Mooney, in a variation of the victimisation survey, attributes the higher figures of violence against women obtained through her work to the method employed; that is, 'well-trained, sensitive interviewers; carefully worded questionnaires; a

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supplem entary self-com plete questionnaire and vignettes' (M ooney 2000: 39). As crime surveys on dom estic and other form s of violence against women are undertaken in other countries, com parison of their m ethod­ ologies and findings assist the planning of future national research. For exam ple, Sylvia W alby and Andrew M yhill (2001) describe the developm ent of national generic crime surveys, dedicated domestic violence surveys and violence against w om en surveys in six countries. Am ongst the issues discussed are the sam pling fram e, the model of enquiry, questioning about the repetition of violent events, and how definitions are operationalised. W hile this is a technical discussion, the aim is to obtain reliable and valid data that can be generalised to the population as a whole. Another major issue in survey research on violence against w om en is the im pact of gendered social relations. The classic expression of differences in the interpretation of conflict by men and w om en is provided by the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) (Straus, Gelles and Steinm etz 1980). The CTS com prised initially 18 and now 19 ways of resolving m arital conflict, beginning with 'discussed the issue calm ly' and ending with 'used a knife or gun'. This purports to measure the type and extent of responses to marital disputes by men and women. The CTS results imply that w om en are marginally more violent than men. W hile Straus, Gelles and Steinm etz (1980) initially accepted this result at face value, this finding is refuted by crime data, m ethodological criticism s, the lack of context for m easuring the use of violence and underlying assum ptions. Rebecca and Russell Dobash (1992) have reviewed the criticism s that underm ine the validity and usefulness of the CTS and the subsequent qualifications m ade by the Straus team. As with other research on different aspects of marital relations, men and women dem onstrated different perceptions and understandings of shared experiences, for exam ple Jan Pahl's research on household finances (1989). Large-scale research quantifying experiences of crim e, such as the BCS, that purports to be generalisable to a wider population, often focuses on the representativeness of the data collected with em phasis on the sam pling techniques used. There is little discussion on the m eanings, impact or im plications of the findings on domestic and other form s of interpersonal violence and, when there is, the analysis can be superficial. The 2001 British Crim e Survey report on interpersonal violence illustrates this point (Walby and Allen 2004). Data are presented as facts which exist independently of the researchers and the research process. The intention is not to influence practitioners, rather to 29

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increase knowledge that is then available for application. The 'value free' or objective ideology underpinning such research has been challenged, particularly in relation to research into women's lives (Oakley 1990; Stanley and Wise 1993). A more hands-on approach to research, an approach that aims to link directly the findings from research with practical applications, is evaluative research.

Evaluative research - developm ent and application to the policing of dom estic violence

Evaluative research is applied to social realities using established research methods. The primary intention is to inform decision-makers through the provision of research evidence, and so facilitate the development of policies and practices that benefit social communities. Evaluative research is less concerned with the development or testing of theories and more concerned with the 'what works and why' questions. Evaluative research, however, is not completely devoid of, or isolated from, theory. Whilst social research can be understood as theory driven, with the possibility of findings being applied, evaluative research is, arguably, application driven, with the ability to incorporate or further theoretical ideas. An example of this is provided by repeat victimisation. The idea of repeat victimisation emerged from a growing recognition that a few victims were being subjected to an inordinate proportion of crime. Using data from the 1992 British Crime Survey, Farrell and Pease (1993) demonstrated that 4% of the respondents suffered 44% of the offences reported. Pease (1998) went on to explore the possibility that repeat victimisation rates may vary between crime types. Using British Crime Survey data for the years 1982 to 1992, he found that 2% of property crime victims (excluding car crime) suffered 41% of reported crimes. This figure was worse when personal crime (primarily violent crime) was examined: 1% of victims suffered 59% of personal crime. From our work on the Killingbeck police project we know that almost one-third of the perpetrators (31%) generated just under two-thirds (60%) of police attendances to domestic violence incidents over a 12month period (Hanmer et al. 1999). As a strategy, the concept of repeat victimisation has been applied to a number of crime types. Racial crime in East London (Sampson and Phillips 1992, 1995); burglary and car crime in Kirkholt and Huddersfield (Forrester, Chatterton and Pease 1988; Anderson, Chenery and Pease 1995); and domestic violence in Merseyside and Killingbeck 30

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(Lloyd, Farrell and Pease 1994; Hanmer et al. 1999). Tackling repeat victimisation was premised on the routine activity theory of crime (Cohen and Felson 1979). Here, crime was conceptualised as comprising three elements: victim suitability, lack of capable guardianship (forms of deterrence or protection), and a motivated offender. Removal of one or all of these elements was theorised as the means of reducing the likelihood of repeat victimisation. Awareness of repeat victimisation as a crime prevention strategy is about targeting finite resources on the most vulnerable victims when they are most at risk. From a theoretical perspective, Wise (1987) claims that the objectives of changing or improving women's lives have inherent assumptions about the homogeneity of women and a shared sense of the direction of change sought. That is, by ignoring the diversity of experiences and situations women are in, it ignores the potential of benefits for one group of women proving ineffective or dis­ advantageous to another group. A repeat victimisation strategy based on a greater understanding of wom en's experiences of violence is an example of a programme based on the recognition of difference that can use purely descriptive quantitative data to inform interventions. History and development

The early promise of evaluative research to improve policymaking by basing decisions on research-led evidence has not been achieved (Pawson and Tilley 1997). Evaluative research is a relatively recent development and has undergone a number of transitions in both aims and format since the 1930s. Initially, evaluative research followed the experimental model of natural science, whereby the impact of an intervention was examined through the use of experimental and control groups and the comparison of outcomes. This approach was used more widely in the US, particularly in conjunction with the New Deal social welfare programmes of the 1940s. More recent developments in evaluative research and social policy suggest that the connection between research and policymaking is mediated by degrees of research utilisation, finance, politics, personal ambitions and ideology (Weiss 1986; Thomas 1985; Williams 1990). These factors can negatively mediate between research findings and their implementation. Thus the view of evaluative research as directly informing policymaking is probably more myth than fact. An experimental approach to the policing of domestic violence was used by the Minneapolis Police Department (Sherman and Berk 1984), whereby police officers were randomly assigned different strategies

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(arrest, removal of offender, restoration of order) when attending m isdem eanor domestic violence incidents. The su ccess/failu re of these individual strategies was measured by the rate of repeat police attendances and victim reports of subsequent violence over the follow ing six months. This experim ental w ork on policing and domestic violence had a major influence on legislation and police operations in the US. Despite criticism s of the m ethodology and interpretation of results, and despite dissim ilar findings from other studies, arrest continues to dom inate crim inological work on domestic violence in the US (Buzawa and Buzawa 1993). The experim ental approach to evaluative research is criticised by Pawson and Tilley (1997) for failing to acknow ledge the social contexts in which people and programmes operate. They argue that evaluative research should encom pass the social context as well as the m echanism of intervention when assessing im pact on outcom es. The issue for evaluative research thus shifts from looking at w hat works for an entire population (e.g. victim ised w om en or offenders) to an exploration of w hat works best for which types of victim ised w om en and / or offenders and under w hat circum stances. Accom panying this developm ent in evaluative research was the realisation that the process of im ple­ m entation could also im pact on a program m e's outcom e. Identifying the different stakeholders in a program m e, be they policym akers, im plem enters or participants/ben eficiaries, and exploring their understandings of aims, objectives and perceived outcom es is now regarded as an integral aspect of evaluative research. Finally, the inclusion of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses in evaluative research has added an additional strand of quantification through the m easurem ent and com parisons of inputs, outputs and outcom es (Dhiri and Brand 1999; Stockdale, W hitehead and Gresham 1999). At the heart of evaluative research is the idea of m easurem ent. Success/failu re of a program m e is assessed quantitatively by the achievem ent of a predicted outcom e. The means of m easurem ent have becom e more m ulti-layered as evaluative research strives to account, meaningfully, for the direct and indirect impacts of contexts, processes, interventions and costs with measurable inputs, outputs and outcom es (Stanko et al. 1998; Walby 2004).

A re a s o f deb ate w ithin evaluative research

Two areas of debate have emerged from evaluative research, and both concern the issue of objectivity. The first relates to the ability of 32

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evaluators to evaluate initiatives in which they have played a pro­ gram m e developm ent role. The Hom e Office is clear that these two roles are m utually exclusive and invitations to tender specify that bids be for program m e developers or evaluators. The second raises the question of evaluation being part of the im plem entation process. By this we mean the extent to which findings from an evaluation are fed back into the process of a program m e's implementation. The idea of evaluative research being conducted by researchers who have no input into the developm ent of initiatives is based on the concept of researchers being objective. It assum es that researchers' participation in the developm ental stage of a program m e will bias their results, a questionable assum ption. O bjectivity in research has long been criticised as an im possible aim, particularly by fem inists who saw the claims of objectivity as a m eans of condoning and perpetrating a patriarchal status quo (Harding 1987; Ram azanoglu and Holland 2002). It is also arguable that w ithout a thorough understanding of both the issues being addressed by a program m e and the means w hereby the program m e seeks to tackle those issues, evaluators may m isinterpret findings and outcom es. The second debate on evaluative research concerns the interaction betw een the evaluation and the im plem entation processes. A traditional research approach would argue against any such interaction, claim ing potential contam ination of im pact and results. From a feminist evaluator's perspective this interpretation of objectivity is dangerous, as rem aining silent as problem s emerge w ithin a program m e limits the opportunity to suggest solutions that could better im prove service delivery. As the practice of evaluative research has evolved to include evaluation of both context and im plem entation process so, we believe, it must also develop an interactive element. Interactive evaluation establishes a two-way process betw een researchers and im plem enters through the feeding back of findings and their im plications for the program m e and its im plem entation. Early identification of under­ im plem entation was found in the Killingbeck project and rectified through additional training for relevant officers. Interactive evaluation also allow s for the identification of unw orkable or inadequate com ­ munication betw een agencies. For exam ple, at Killingbeck a process was established whereby previous dom estic violence histories were routinely included in files sent to the Crown Prosecution Service by the police. In addition to adding an interactive elem ent to evaluative research, we also argue for the use of qualitative data to com plem ent quantitative 33

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methods. Evaluation of programmes addressing violence against women is not simply about measuring impact and thus assessing effectiveness. It is about locating programmes and outcomes within a broader frame of knowledge on the issue. There is little value in measuring impact if there is no understanding of 'w hy' or 'how ' that impact was experienced. To achieve this end, evaluation should encompass both quantitative and qualitative aspects. One example is the Killingbeck domestic violence repeat victimisation project (Hanmer et al. 1999). Whilst we were able to measure the effectiveness of police interventions in reducing police re-attendances to domestic violence incidents, this did not answer two key questions: did the interventions reduce repeat victimisation or just repeated police attendances? Why did some interventions appear to have greater impact in reducing further police attendances? To answer these questions it was essential that women themselves were interviewed. From these interviews we learned that when women perceived police actions as being for their protection and felt that they were believed by the police, this increased the likelihood of future incidents being reported. Thus women's perceptions and understandings of the interventions and impacts informed the quantitative findings of the research by highlighting the 'how ' and 'w hy' of the effectiveness of the interventions.

W h y research organisations?

Achieving positive change in the quality and quantity of services received by women from policing and other agencies may require an evaluation of organisations and working practices. Evaluation con­ tributes to achieving organisational change in many ways; for example, by establishing what people do, identifying gaps between policy and practice and unintended consequences, locating blockages to change, clarifying under-performance, and contributing to performance reviews. The organisation must be studied in its own right in order to examine performance against policy. The study of organisations and the implementation of change are relatively new to work on violence against women, although researchers are increasingly aware of the barriers organisations can present to domestic violence projects (Kelly 1999; Hanmer 2003). The factors impacting on performance need to be identified. These can include organisational strategy, values and cultures, formal and informal structures, and the provision of and access to information technology When performance fails to fully implement 34

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policy, changes in the relevant factors are required. This enables a move from identifying a problem to a focus on addressing a problem. Research on implementing organisational change - for example, in order to reduce the gap between performance and policies - requires an evaluative research approach. The Killingbeck domestic violence repeat victimisation project provides examples of factors impacting on performance, and the relevance of quantitative research. For instance, the largest attrition rate was the result of police action, contradicting the view that cases do not proceed primarily because women withdraw their statements. From a total of 1,870 incidents, 502 led to arrests (27%). Out of the 478 men arrested with known outcomes, 260 (54%) were released by the police within hours with no further action. Once charges were agreed with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) there was a very low attrition rate, indicating positive work by the CPS and courts in this geographical area. A total of 141 men (29%) were charged with criminal offences. Of these, nine cases (2% of 478 arrests) were dropped by the CPS, 38 men were found not guilty (8% of arrests) and 75 were convicted (16% of arrests).2While the Killingbeck data cannot be generalised to the UK as a whole, they offer comparative data for future studies. These data, crucial to assessing the work of organisations on behalf of women victimised by domestic violence, could only be obtained through quantitative research. Evaluation of policing domestic violence began by utilising a variety of methods, including an experimental methodology. The random allocations of police interventions to domestic incidents, as in Minneapolis, in effect replicated the policing approach that qualitative feminist research found in the UK, an approach the women respondents wanted altered. Interviewing women provided data on their experiences of the criminal justice processes, outcomes and the impact on m en's behaviour. The Killingbeck project attempted to respond to this research through a model of police interventions that provided consistent and appropriate responses to domestic violence. To address different issues and different aspects of the same issues, multiple methods strengthen the conclusions that can be drawn from the findings of each method utilised in research. Qualitative data from women consistently show their need for improved services. External views are valuable to organisations when evaluating service delivery, but to understand organisational per­ formance requires systematic data on the functioning of organisations, their internal processes and outcomes. Closing the gap between policy and its implementation involves a study of organisational change. This 35

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includes identifying the barriers to policy implementation and analysing the process of efforts to introduce change in structures and working practices. Many of the organisations that women need improved services from are large-scale. H o w does the size o f organisation affect research design?

In the research and evaluation of large-scale projects, whether the organisational functioning of single or inter-agency projects, size is always a factor to be taken into account in devising appropriate research designs and in the analysis of results. Size impacts on relationships and the attainment of organisational goals, as the larger the organisation or project the more diversified the goals, structures and processes. For example, the success of the Killingbeck pilot resulted in a force bid to the Home Office to roll out the model across the West Yorkshire police area, and to include two further crime types: racially motivated and homophobic crimes. This introduced issues of size into the research design. Large-scale organisations have sub-structures with their own authority hierarchies as well as central management. Strategic objectives and the means to achieve these vary across sub-structures. These and other factors such as organisational cultures, informal structures and pro­ cesses need to be considered in organisational research. Quantifiable measurements of change can use varying kinds of targets: financial, recidivism, quality of life, resource inputs and so on. Unlike in smaller projects where researchers can construct databases for primary material, in large-scale projects this is not always possible. Researchers may be reliant upon organisational databases for quanti­ tative information. The completeness of these databases in relation to the research needs may be lacking in several ways: the type of data collected, the accuracy with which data are logged, and the consistency in maintaining and updating records. When researching organisations, to avoid problems generated by organisational databases other research strategies may need to be considered. For example, formal inspections of organisations may evaluate practice by utilising both quantitative and qualitative methods, or triangulation. The recent focus on attrition in relation to domestic violence cases in the criminal justice system illustrates this approach. Her M ajesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) examined the investigation and prosecution of cases involving domestic violence from the initial call to police through to the final outcome at court in eight police forces in England and Wales (2004). The aim was to evaluate

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policing practice, the working relationships between police and the Crown Prosecution Service and also local domestic violence agencies, responses to victims and witnesses, and the application of policy and standards. The methodology included the examination and analysis of police and CPS files, questionnaires, structured interviews, observation and discussion wath key participants. These methods resulted in both descriptive statistics and qualitative data. A contrasting example is found in the most developed project of inter-agency organisational change in response to domestic violence, the Duluth project in Minnesota (Shepard and Pence 1999). This project, the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, developed a co-ordinated community response through establishing agreement on policies and protocols by the participating agencies. These agencies included victim advocates, police, administrators, prosecutors, probation officers, court administrators, mental health service providers, policymakers, and in a limited role, judges. Each agency altered its structures and practices to ensure that the agreed policies and protocols were implemented by the individual agencies. The tasks for the co-ordinated response were to network among these service providers, monitor agency systems, and co-ordinate responses through advocacy for battered women, men's programmes, the family visitation centre and children's programme. Duluth was not a random choice, but specifically chosen for the introduction of this organisational experiment. Its size, a population of 85,000, the refuge staff's enthusiasm, and willingness of a few key criminal justice and other people to experiment with new policies made Duluth the ideal choice. The location was the result of a state-wide decision by refuge workers with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of this new approach, which hopefully would be adopted in other jurisdictions. The change process was initiated in 1980 and gradually extended its range, effectiveness and international reputation over the following decades. Despite the uniqueness of the Duluth project, no full evaluation of this co-ordinated community response to domestic violence has been published. This may be due to the size of the project and the number of participant organisations. Another aspect of researching large organisations and multi-agency responses to domestic violence is the size of the funding commitment that is required. Examples of recent strategies to evaluate domestic violence projects and multi-agency activities are provided by the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme, which funded projects through the Violence Against Women Initiative, and also the Northern Rock Foundation which is funding new multi-agency initiatives in the North 37

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East. Size alone need not defeat effective evaluations, but size is a factor affecting research design and funding initiatives.

Con clu sio n

We conclude that no one method of research is inherently feminist; rather it is how studies are conceptualised and how findings are presented and used that gives research its feminist perspective. The type of research and the methods to be used depend upon what is to be investigated. In this sense methods are neutral. However, this does not mean that at the more theoretical level methods are free from particular political and scientific understandings (Hughes 1995). Judgements on the limitations or failures of methods, or techniques for gathering evidence, should not be confused with poorly conceived and conducted research. A thorough understanding of the area to be researched is a prerequisite in order to devise an appropriate research design that incorporates methods and their application. Qualitative methods are appropriate to many research areas where observation, document analysis and interviews of various types may be adopted. Qualitative methods are excellent for exploratory research and were instrumental in the initial work on violence against women, where unexplored aspects of human behaviour were identified and problematised. Silenced women were encouraged to speak and the meanings their words had for them were accepted as the way to understand their experiences, rather than women's descriptions of m en's violence being reinterpreted to fit in with some preconceived theoretical ideas about women and gender relations. The emergence of quantitative methods in understanding violence against women is based on the knowledge provided by qualitative research methods. Qualitative methods - for example, in-depth inter­ views or focus groups - can provide measures for quantitative testing. Qualitative methods also have a role in generating a greater under­ standing of the results of quantitative data, as statistics provide numbers whose meaning may not be obvious. Quantitative research is weakened when it is based on insufficient understanding of the problem and how to obtain information, as demonstrated by the early BCS surveys. Quantitative research, however, may be the more appropriate primary method to study or evaluate specific problems or issues, such as prevalence and incidence of violence against women, and are needed to make inferential a n d /o r generalisable conclusions 38

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th at can g u id e p o licy and p ra ctice acro ss org an isation s and inform go v ern m en tal d ecisio n s. E v alu ativ e research on org an isatio n al p ro jects req u ires m u ltip le m eth o d s in o rd er to exp lore and an aly se the m u ltip le factors in volved in serv ice d eliv ery and th eir effectiv en ess. In co rp o ratin g org an isatio n al research in to fem in ist research strateg y on v io len ce a g a in st w o m en calls for the reco g n itio n o f the in terp lay b etw ee n org an isation al stru ctu res, p o licies and p ractice im p lem en tatio n s. If in d iv id u a l or m u lti-ag en cy org an isatio n al ch an g e is requ ired , it is in su fficien t to stu d y only those w h o are victim ised throu g h violen ce. B oth th o se w h o ab u se and the org an isatio n s th em selv es w ith rem its to resp on d p ro a ctiv ely to in te rp erso n al v io len ce m u st be in clu d ed in the research.

N o te s

1 2

See Hanmer and Griffiths (2001) for a review of these initiatives. Outcomes were unknown in a further 19 cases (4% of arrests).

B ib lio g r a p h y

Anderson, D., Chenery, S. and Pease, K. (1995) Biting Back: Tackling Repeat Burglary and Car Crime. Police Research Group, Crime Detection and Prevention Series, Paper 58, London: Home Office. Binney, V., Harkell, G. and Nixon, J. (1981) Leaving Violent Men: A study o f refuges and housing fo r battered women. London: Women's Aid Federation England. Borkowski, M., Murch, M. and Walker, V. (1983) Marital Violence: The Community Response. London: Tavistock. Bourlet, A. (1990) Police Intervention in Marital Violence. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Buzawa, E.S. and Buzawa, C.G. (1993) T h e Scientific Evidence is Not Conclusive: Arrest is no Panacea', in R.J. Gelles and R.L. Donileen (eds), Current Controversies on Family Violence. California: Sage. Cohen, L.E. and Felson, M. (1979) 'Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A routine activity approach', American Sociological Review, 44: 588-608. Dhiri, S. and Brand, S. (1999) Analysis o f Costs and Benefits: Guidance fo r Evaluators. Crime Reduction Programme, Guidance note 1, London: Home Office. Dobash, R.E. and Dobash, R. (1980) Violence Against Wives: A Case Against the Patriarchy. Shepton Mallet: Open Books. Dobash, R.E. and Dobash, R.P (1992) Women, Violence and Social Change. London: Routledge. 39

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Edwards, S.M. (1989) Policing ‘Domestic' Violence: Women, the Law and the State. London: Sage. Faragher, T. (1985) T h e Police Response to Violence Against Women in the Hom e', in J. Pahl (ed.), Private Violence and Public Policy: The Needs o f Battered Women and the Response o f Public Services. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Farrell, G. and Pease, K. (1993) Once Bitten, Tivice Bitten: Repeat Victimisation and its Implications fo r Crime Prevention. Police Research Group, Crime Prevention Unit, Paper 46, London: Home Office. Farrell, G. and Buckley, A. (1999) 'Evaluation of a UK Police Dom estic Violence Unit using Repeat Victimisation as a Perform ance Ind icator', Howard journal, 38(1): 42-53. Forrester, D., Chatterton, M. and Pease, K. (1998) The Kirkholt Burglary Prevention Project, Rochdale. Crime Prevention Paper No. 13. London: Home Office. Hall, R. (1985) Ask Any Woman. Bristol: Falling Wall Press. Hanmer, J. (1978) 'Violence and the Social Control of W om en', in G. Littlejohn, B. Smart, J. Wakeford and N. Yuval-Davis (eds) Power and the State. London: Croom Helm. Hanmer, J. (1995) Policy Development and Implementation Seminars: Patterns o f Agency Contact ivith Women. Research Paper No. 12, Research Unit on Violence, Abuse and G ender Relations, University of Bradford. Hanmer, J. (2003) 'M ainstream ing Solutions to Major Problems: Reducing Repeat Domestic Violence', in K. Bullock and N. Tilley (eds) Crime Reduction and Problem-oriented Policing. Cullom pton, Devon: Willan. Hanmer, J. and Saunders, S. (1984) Well-Founded Fear: A Community Study o f Violence to Women. London: Hutchinson. Hanmer, J. and Saunders, S. (1993) Women, Violence and Crime Prevention. Aldershot: Avebury. Hanmer, J., Griffiths, S. and Jerw ood, D. (1999) Arresting Evidence: Domestic Violence and Repeat Victimisation, Police Research Series Paper No. 104. Policing and Reducing Crime Unit, London: Hom e Office. Hanmer, J. and Griffiths, S. (2000) 'Policing repeated domestic violence by men: a new approach', in J. Hanm er and C. Itzin (eds) Home Truths about Domestic Violence: Feminist Influences on Policy and Practice, a reader. London: Routledge. Hanmer, J. and Griffiths, S. (2001) 'Effective Policing', in J. Taylor-Brown (ed.) What Works in Reducing Domestic Violence? A Comprehensive Guide fo r Professionals. London: W hiting and Birch. Harding, S. (1987) 'Epistem ological Q uestions', in S. Harding (ed.), Feminism and M ethodology. Bloomington and Indianapolis and Milton Keynes: Indiana University Press and Open University Press. Hester, M., Hanmer, J., Coulson, S., Morahan, M. and Amina, R. (2003) Domestic Violence: M aking it through the C riminal Justice System. International Centre for the Study of Violence and Abuse: University of Sunderland.

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HMCPSI and HMIC (2004) Violence at Home: A ]oint Thematic Inspection fo r the Investigation and Prosecution o f Cases Involving Domestic Violence. London: Hom e Office. Hom e Office (1999) Living Without Fear: An Integrated Approach to Tackling Violence Against Women. London: Hom e Office. Home O ffice (2000) Circular 19/2000: Domestic Violence. London: Home Office. Hough, M. and Mayhew, P. (1983) British Crime Survey: First Report. Home Office Research Study No. 76, Home Office Research and Planning Unit, London: HMSO. Hughes, D. M. (1995) 'Significant differences: The Construction of Knowledge, Objectivity and D om inance', Women's Studies International Forum, 18 (4): 396-406. Kelly, L. (1999) Domestic Violence M atters, An Evaluation o f a Development Project. Home Office Research Study No. 193, A Research Development and Statistics D irectorate Report, London: Home Office. Lloyd, S., Farrell, G. and Pease, K. (1994) Preventing Repeated Domestic Violence: A Demonstration Project on M erseyside, Police Research Group Crime Prevention Unit Series Paper No. 49. London: Home Office. Mayhew, P., Aye M aung, N. and M irrlees-Black, C. (1993) The 1992 British Crime Survey, Home Office Research Study No. 132. London: HMSO. M aynard, M. (1985) T h e Response of Social Workers to Domestic Violence', in J. Pahl (ed.) Private Violence and Public Policy: The Needs o f Battered Women and the Response o f Public Services. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. McGibbon, A., Cooper, L. and Kelly, L. (1989) What Support? An Exploratory Study o f Council Policy and Practice, and Local Support Services in the area o f Domestic Violence within Hammersmith and Fulham. London: Hamm ersm ith and Fulham Community Safety Unit. M irrlees-Black, C. (1995) Estimating the Extent o f Domestic Violence: Findings from the 1992 British Crime Survey, Home Office Research Bulletin No. 37, Research, D evelopm ent and Statistics Directorate. London: Home Office. M irrlees-Black, C. (1999) Domestic Violence: Findings from a New British Crime Survey Self-Completion Questionnaire, Hom e O ffice Research Study N o.191, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. London: Home Office. Mooney, J. (1993) The Hidden Figure: Domestic violence in North London. Islington Council: Police and Crime Prevention Unit. Mooney, J. (2000) 'Revealing the hidden figure of domestic violence', in J. Hanm er and C. Itzin (eds) Home Truths About Domestic Violence: Feminist influences on policy and practice, a reader. London: Routledge. Oakley, A. (1990) 'Interview ing Women: A Contradiction in Terms', in H. Roberts (ed.), Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge. Pahl, J. (1989) M oney and M arriage. London: Macmillan. Painter, K. (1991) Wife Rape, M arriage and the Law: Survey report. Faculty of Economic and Social Studies: University of Manchester.

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Parliamentary Select Committee on Violence in the Family (1975) Vol. I Report (together with the proceedings of the committee), Vol. II Evidence, Vol. Ill Appendices. London: HMSO. Pawson, R. and Tilley, N. (1997) Realistic Evaluation. London: Routledge. Pease, K. (1998) Repeat Victimisation: Taking Stock, Crime Detection Series Paper No. 90, Research and Statistics Directorate. London: Home Office. Pizzey, E. (1977) Scream Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear. London: Penguin. Ramazanoglu, C. with Holland, J. (2002) Feminist Methodology: Challenges and Choices. London: Sage. Sampson, A. and Phillips, C. (1992) Multiple Victimisation: Racial Attacks on an East London Estate, Police Research Group, Crime Prevention Unit Series Paper No. 36. London: Home Office. Sampson, A. and Phillips, C. (1995) Reducing Repeat Racial Victimisation on an East London Estate, Police Research Group, Crime Detection and Protection Series Paper No. 67. London: Home Office. Shepard, M. and Pence, E. (eds) (1999) Coordinating Community Responses to Domestic Violence: Lessons from Duluth and Beyond. London: Sage. Sherman, L.W. and Berk, R.A. (1984) T h e Specific Deterrent Effects of Arrest for Domestic Violence', American Sociological Review, 49: 261-72. Smith, L. (1989a) Concerns About Rape, Home Office Research Study No. 106. London: HMSO. Smith, L. (1989b) Domestic Violence: an overview o f the literature, Home Office Research Study No. 107. London: HMSO. Stanko, E., Crisp, D., Hale, C. and Lucraft, H. (1998) Counting the Costs: Estimating the Impact o f Domestic Violence in the London Borough o f Hackney. Swindon: Crime Concern Signal Point. Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1993) (2nd edn) Breaking Out Again: Feminist Ontology and Epistemology. London: Routledge. Stockdale, M.J.E., Whitehead, C.M.E. and Gresham, P.J. (1999) Applying Economic Evaluation to Policing Activity, Policing and Reducing Crime Paper No. 103, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. London: Home Office. Straus, M.A., Gelles, R.J. and Steinmetz, S.K. (1980) Behind Closed Doors: Violence in American Families. New York: Doubleday. Taylor-Browne, J. (ed.) (2001) What Works in Reducing Domestic Violence: A comprehensive guide fo r professionals. London: Whiting and Birch. Thomas, P. (1985) The Aims and Outcomes o f Social Policy Research. London: Croom Helm. Walby, S. and Allen, J. (2004) Domestic Violence, sexual assault and stalking: Findings from the British Crime Survey, Home Office Research Study No. 276. London: Home Office. Walby, S. (2004) The Cost o f Domestic Violence, DTI. London: Women and Equality Unit. Walby, S. and Myhill, A. (2001) 'New Survey Methodologies in Violence Against Women', British Journal o f Criminology, 41: 502-22.

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Walmsley, R. (1986) Personal Violence, Home Office Research Study No. 89. London: HMSO. Weiss, C.H. (1986) T h e M any M eanings of Research U tilization', in M. Bulmer (ed.) Social Science and Social Policy. London: Allen & Unwin. W illiams, F. (1990) Social Policy: A Critical Introduction. Cam bridge: Polity Press. Wise, S. (1987) 'A Fram ew ork for Discussing Ethical Issues in Feminist Research: A Review of the Literature', Studies in Sexual Politics, 19, 47-88.

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C h a p te r 3

Researching people in power: practice, analysis and action

Tina Skinner

Introduction

Drawing on my experience of interviewing and writing about feminist activists and service providers for survivors of rape and sexual assault, this chapter explores the complexities of researching people in 'positions of pow er'. Many feminists talk of the difficulties associated with studying 'the O ther' (see for example Wilkinson and Kitzinger 1996), and the potential power of the researcher and relative powerless­ ness of the researched (McCarry, this volume; Oakley 1982; Stanley and Wise 1993; Abrahams et al. 2004). In the field of research on violence against women, some authors have also discussed the need for sensitivity when interviewing survivors (see for example Bergen 1993; Campbell 2002). Yet little has been said on the difficulties of interviewing those in 'positions of power'. Generalised difficulties of 'studying up' have been discussed by Schoenberger (1991, 1992) and McDowell (1992); and a number of texts explore the problems of interviewing political and business elites (see Moyser and Wagstaffe 1987; Phillips 1998; Robinson 1970), as well as community elites (Hertz and Imber 1995). More recently, Puwar (1997) and Ross (2001) have reflected on the trials and tribulations they faced as feminists interviewing female MPs. However, the challenges faced by a feminist researcher interviewing other feminists have been left relatively untouched. In particular, the sheer complexity of even undertaking research on feminist 'elites' associated with the politics of violence against women is rarely considered because it is so seldom undertaken. 44

R e s e a rc h in g p e o p le in p o w e r: p ractice, analysis and a ction

This chapter is a story that reflects a very personal political journey of a young, fairly naive, yet highly committed and enthusiastic PhD student (me in the early to mid 90s), and how I tackled this issue. The aim of the chapter is not solely to explore the difficulties of 'studying up' and analysing the words of 'powerful' feminists, but also finally to explode the myth of the 'independent' researcher who stands outside of (and is unaffected by) the research process, and to forefront the organic nature of research (see also Adams 1999). For this reason the next section outlines the development of my PhD from its evolving aims to my recognition of the impact of the sometimes conflicting principles of 'feminist research'. I then discuss one of the great anomalies of feminist research, the process of gaining access where some feminist 'gate keepers' can be the hardest to convince. Next I focus on the semi-structured interviews undertaken for the research and unpack some of the complexities of 'pow er' and 'control' associated with being a PhD student or new researcher. The rest of the chapter lays out how I eventually analysed the transcripts and made sense of the data and my position within it.

Research, m e th od o lo g y and tryin g not to ‘take sides’

The research that is to be discussed was undertaken from 1993 to 1996. The eventual subject of the finished PhD was the discourses surrounding the development of a local state service for survivors of rape and sexual assault,1 funded by the police and health authorities in one metropolitan area ('Big Met'), and feminist 'strategies' to influence this development (see Skinner 2000). The primary focus, therefore, was the competing perspectives of voluntary sector/fem inist services (primarily Rape Crisis groups) and statutory services (primarily the police and health authorities, and the services they funded). This placed me in the middle of two powder bases. On one side the statutory service providers were powerful because (i) they were setting the service agenda by proposing the development of a new 'state' service for survivors, (ii) they were gate keepers to information about the development of this service, and (iii) many of those interviewed were in secure senior posts a n d /o r positions of public/institutional influence. On the other side stood influential feminists and feminist groups, backed up by fairly well-established feminist discourses about the inappropriateness of the 'state' providing counselling and support to survivors of rape and sexual assault (see Foley 1994 and 1996; Skinner 2000). 45

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That I found myself in the middle of these two parties battling for supremacy was not the intention of my research. I started the PhD because I was outraged by the inadequate and highly variable level of services for survivors of rape and sexual assault. In short, I wanted to know what it was about a particular geographical area that made it more likely to support and develop services for survivors (whether provided directly by the local state or by the voluntary sector). I was not so naive as to think that politics did not play a role in why some areas had a relatively high level of service provision and others did not. But at that stage I was not aware of the level of friction between feminist services and police/health authority initiated services. The first phase of the research involved a survey of all old metropolitan districts outside of London2 in order to establish the service level, type, funding and uptake in each area. The area with the highest level of service provision for female survivors, the highest level of funding and the highest level of service up-take was selected for the intensive phase of the research ('Big Met'). Big Met had also just launched a police and health authority funded Rape and Sexual Assault Counselling and Support Service (RSACS), so this seemed an ideal opportunity to investigate what was then the aim of my research: 'to explore and analyse the contexts that can enable the development of an apparently vibrant and fairly well funded array of services for female survivors'. When I started to unpick what was happening in the area this aim was quickly binned and replaced with something much more controversial. Phase two of the research involved archival data collection and 40 interviews in the case study area. As I dug through the dust in feminist, council, police and other library archives, and started to interview the key individuals for the research, I became fascinated by feminist stories about the politics behind service provision in Big Met, and feminist attempts to influence the new RSACS, and even prevent it from opening. The second phase of the research, therefore, ended up focusing on (i) collecting stories about the interrelationship between state services (the police and health authority) and feminists in the area; (ii) examining the discourses utilised in telling these stories, how they were used and why; and (iii) unpacking and accounting for the strategies and tactics employed in the use of these discourses and associated stories. The interviews were with feminist activists and service providers, as well as senior police officers, health authority m anagers/decision­ makers, councillors, and managers of 'non-feminist' or 'state' service. My primary focus in this chapter is the interviews with feminists, 46

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though I will also draw upon my experience of interview ing state practitioners where appropriate. These can arguably be called elite interviews. Some authors reserve the title of elite interview for senior politicians and others associated with devising and instigating national policy (Fitz and Halpin 1994). Others use the term to refer to individuals involved in m ajor historical transform ations or in positions of influence in local or national politics, as well as senior professionals or business m en /w om en (Hertz and Im ber 1995). Robinson (1970: 7) defines elite interview s m ore broadly, as interview s with individuals w'ho are 'w ell-inform ed or influential' in relation to the subject in question. Under such a definition anyone could be viewed as part of an 'elite'; if the subject is w om en's experiences of childbearing then w om en who have had children are an elite, if the subject is the political views of working class men then they are the elite. Such individuals do indeed have vital specialised know ledges; they may also have som e degree of power over the researcher because of their (potentially intim idating) level of experience; and they certainly should be given the respect previously reserved solely for traditional elites. W hat Robinson was missing in this definition, however, was that these individuals would be m uch less likely to be able unduly to hold up the progress of the research, take control of the interview, influence research findings, hold up or quash publication, or affect the future career of the researcher. The feminists and other elites that I interviewed had the potential of doing this. It was this possible influence over the research process and my future, their involvem ent in the decision­ making process over RSACS, and their standing as influential indi­ viduals in the area, that made these elite interviews. Although I must stress here that very few actually asserted this power, som e also felt very vulnerable during the interview process (for exam ple requesting that the interview wras not taped because they were worried about losing their funding), and indeed in some instances it was my perception of their ability to do the above that may have been the problem rather than any actual 'danger'. The literature on elite interview s tends to describe the whole process as a battle for control betw een the interview er and the interviewee. Issues discussed include: the struggle to get the potential interview ee to take the research seriously enough to grant an interview and allocate sufficient time (Puwar 1997); the effort needed to keep to the interview schedule not the elite's agenda (Hertz and Imber 1995; Puwar 1997); avoiding the 'halo effect' (Thomas 1993), w'hich means trying not to be in awe of their p o w er/statu s or 'sucked in' by the 'charm ' or persuasive skills of the interview ee (Berry 2001); and not sim ply reproducing the 47

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stories/discourses espoused by the elites as if they are 'the truth' (Phillips 1998). Much of the above flies in the face of the feminist principles I tried to adhere to. Bergen (1993) expresses these as: (i) an open acknowledge­ ment by the researcher of h er/h is assumptions, beliefs, sympathies and biases; (ii) an assertion of the importance of politically active research; and (iii) a rejection of the traditional distinction between the researcher and the researched (see Skinner et al., chapter 1, for a detailed dis­ cussion). Stanley and Wise (1993), for example, stress that researchers should place themselves on the 'same critical plane' as the researched. This implies no withholding of the power of knowledge, but assumes that the academic has the power. Lee and Renzetti (1993) also add to this (iv) that the researcher should at all times be conscious of the possible effects of the research (be it the process or the publication) on the 'researched'. Although it was possible to apply many of these principles to my research/ it is also important to note that in Lee and Renzetti's publication (see also Oakley 1982) the focus was on doing sensitive research where the researcher is in the powerful position, and effort had to be made to 'em pow er' the interviewee (Puwar 1997). In the context of elite interviews, particularly where the researcher is young a n d /o r relatively inexperienced, it is often the researcher who needs the 'empowerment'. Sticking to such principles as the empowerment of the interviewee is highly problematic, even when the researcher is in a position of power (Bowes 1996); particularly if the researcher's feminist activist agenda [(i) and (ii)] comes into conflict with the views of a non-feminist interviewee who is supposed to have equal standing [(iii)]. When the interviewee is more powerful, then the goal of empowerment is lost (Hertz and Imber 1995), or at least moves from centre stage. If the power imbalance tips on the side of the interviewee, literature in elite interviews suggests one should also consider modifying the open acknowledgement of the researcher's beliefs [(i)] (see Phillips 1998). Exposing my political allegiances to the feminists I interviewed certainly did not hinder me. Indeed a number of research participants did not take me seriously until they were clear that not only was I a feminist but I had worked in a women's refuge and was highly committed to bettering the lot for women rather than simply my own career. It was more in the analysis that the problems arose. Some feminists were much less keen on me analysing and critically assessing the discourses used in feminist action. These tended to be other feminist academ ics/activists who were not participating in the research, rather than the interviewees themselves. Indeed, it got to the stage where some 48

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fem inist acad em ics/activists and service providers were concerned because I was not 'toeing the party line' on state support services such as Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs provide forensic m edicals as well as counselling, inform ation and support) and RSACS (w hich just provide counselling, support and inform ation);4 and representatives of the SARCs and RSACS were concerned that I could not be 'objective' because I was a fem inist/activist. W hat I tried to do, som etim es I adm it unsuccessfully, was balance betw een the two, analysing feminist discourses as rigorously as I could (this will be discussed in detail in the analysis section), whilst at the same time trying to keep an open mind about state initiated services. Trying not to 'take sides' alm ost invariably seemed to result in each 'party' assum ing at different stages that I was on 'the oth er' side.

B a sics ab o u t the interview s

The interview s them selves were set up as a conversation in w hich I used open-ended questions to encourage the interview ee to relate, in their ow n words, their experiences, interpretations and attitudes. Some of the advantages of sem i-structured interview ing are discussed by Sayer (1984), M cCracken (1988), W alker (1985) and Robinson (1970). These include: the instant ability to redefine questions or follow up muddled or com plex answers; the 'subject' being able to ask the researcher questions, and find out more about why the interview er is interested in them; the researcher's ability within the interview to accom m odate hitherto unacknow ledged them es; and the ability within the interview to establish the reasons behind, or existence of, a phenom enon where the com plexity of the issues researched requires intensive, sensitive, or sim ply face-to-face discussion with individuals who can be given anonymity. These considerations greatly affected my choice of this m ethod as the m ain way of obtaining data for this intensive phase, but there was an additional reason. The sem i-structured nature of the interview s allowed for the telling of 'a story' by the interview ee without the kind of interruption that could have occurred in a rigidly structured interview. In addition, actually talking to the elites involved in the decision-m aking or cam paigns against RSACS m eant that I was able to access inform ation and perspectives that were less likely to appear in archival data such as m inutes to m eetings or new spaper cuttings (Phillips 1998). As I said above, elite interview s entail som e risks on the part of the researcher. The main ones for me during the interview were the 49

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possibility of the 'halo effect' (Berry 2001; Thom as 1993) com bined with the potential for the interview ee to overstate their influence over a particular event (Berry 2001). In order to try to overcome these problem s, all key individuals involved in the decision-m aking over RSACS were asked for interview s; only a few declined or were unobtainable (see below). I also triangulated the interview data with minutes of m eetings, letters and policy docum entation (see also Berry 2001; Phillips 1998).

A c c e ss

Contrary to the experiences of other interview ers of elites, gaining access to m ost fem inist service providers was a fairly uneventful process. For exam ple, in order to gain access to co-ordinators of local Rape Crisis groups, I first sent a copy of my research proposal to the Federation of Rape Crisis Working Party (at this time the Federation was yet to be launched), so that they were aware of w hat I intended to do. This also gave them an opportunity to com m ent on the research at an early stage. One of the w orking group m em bers, who was also a manager of one of the Rape Crisis groups in the area I had selected, then agreed to prelim inary interview s with herself and some of the workers. O ther voluntary sector service providers were selected from the list of service providers I com piled w hen undertaking phase one of the research. I then wanted to interview the senior police officers who had initially proposed the developm ent of RSACS and those responsible for the dayto-day running of the project. My reading of texts referring to the subject of accessing the police (particularly H anm er 1989; see also Brewer 1993) gave me the impression that the police would be very difficult to access, and that my attem pts would be fraught with red tape. In fact, the opposite was true. W hen I phoned up Big M et's police service head­ quarters to enquire about the official procedure for gaining perm ission to interview police officers, I was put directly through to the head of domestic violence and child protection. He agreed to an interview there and then, and then put me through to the co-ordinator of RSACS to arrange an interview with her. W ithin these first two interview s I was also given access to the RSACS (police) archive, w hich, am ongst other things, contained a list of feminist voluntary sector providers who had participated in the consultation process over the developm ent of the project prior to its launch in 1993. M ost of these groups were also contacted, and an interview undertaken. 50

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The police were, in fact, the easiest for me to gain access to. A possible reason for this could be that since H anm er's initial research in 1985-87, the police have experienced a num ber of challenges both nationally and locally. Som e of these challenges relate to public relations more generally,5 others to the research of Hanm er and other pioneering academ ics. I would suggest that past struggles to gain access to the police smoothed the path for me (in this instance). In addition, the timing of my request was also key (see also Phillips 1998). I was one of the first academ ics who wished to do research involving the project after its launch, and the orchestrators were particularly keen to talk about the project because they were very proud of it. That is not to say that I experienced com plete openness. I was refused access to one docum ent in particular, an internal report on the work of the Domestic Violence and Child Protection Units that oversaw' the work of RSACS. As this docum ent did not appear to be directly relevant to the research I did not pursue it further. The wish to keep certain (possibly negative) inform ation away from public scrutiny, and to em phasise positive inform ation, is not peculiar to the police, how'ever. M any service providers, including fem inists, also attem pt to em phasise the affirm ing and may w ell w ish to obscure the negative, an issue that will be discussed further in the analysis section. There were four 'groups' that I was not able to get face-to-face interview s with. They included one Rape Crisis group, one of the many m ulti-agency forums in the area, fem inist academ ics and one health authority manager. In the context of this chapter, it is particularly interesting that three of these are linked to fem inism (the fem inist Rape Crisis group, the m ulti-agency forum - at the time run by feminists and w ith a fem inist ethos - and the academ ics). One of the four Rape Crisis groups that I contacted for an interview stated that they did not have the time to be involved, which I was sym pathetic to because of the highly pressured nature of their w w k. They did, however, com plete an extensive questionnaire for me, which alleviated the problem to an extent, though this was not as rich as a narrative interview. The m ulti­ agency forum that initially declined to participate had been inundated with requests for inform ation and interview s from academ ics and practitioners. W hen I contacted them, the co-ordinator was already involved in other research projects and for this reason felt unable to allocate the time needed for a face-to-face interview. I accepted this, but w hen I met the co-ordinator by chance after an interview with another research participant held in the forum offices, she offered to answer any questions I m ight have over the phone. As Puw ar (1997) suggests, 51

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ceasing to be a faceless academ ic can som etim es be advantageous with elite interviews. The attem pt to gain access to obtain an interview w ith key academ ic feminists concerned with researching violence against w om en was less successful. I wanted to contact academ ics for the follow ing reasons: (i) to conduct an interview about their activism ; (ii) because they were gate keepers to archival data and potentially other fem inists; and (iii) to discuss with them issues that were being raised within my research. I had a very useful m eeting with one of them, but s h e /h e did not wish to be interview ed. The many dem ands on an academ ic's time may explain their reluctance to be interview ed. The 'halo effect' (in this case I thought one particular person was a god!) also did not help, as I found m yself unable to articulate effectively w hy an interview w as so im portant to the research, and the subject was effectively side-stepped. As an academ ic m yself now, often approached to be interview ed by or receiving requests for help from undergraduates, M Sc and PhD students, I have also found m yself increasingly reluctant to participate in or assist with students' research projects (though I try to help when I can). With hindsight, if I had narrowed down my reasons for contacting academ ics, perhaps they would have been more w illing to participate. Their response, however, intim idated me to such an extent that I did not interview a single academ ic for the research, and based all my dis­ cussions of academ ic view points in the final PhD on published works. A lthough this was adequate, the fact that none of the academ ics in the area had published work specifically on the developm ent of services for rape and sexual assault - the focus tended to be on domestic violence more generally - m eant that I could only use their opinions in a general sense. If I was undertaking this research again I would approach it m uch more confidently, be clearer about why it was im portant for them to participate, and be more assertive and persistent. The final problem of access was with one individual health authority decision-m aker who had been crucial in initially rejecting a funding application for the new 'state' service. This individual had since left their job and 'Big M et', and despite following up leads I was unable to find him /her. In this case I had to be satisfied with using docum entary sources to indicate the position s h e /h e took.

W h o ‘c o n tro lle d ’ the interview s?

The individuals I eventually interview ed included fem inists who had been working with issues of violence much longer than m yself, senior 52

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managers in health authorities and related professions, senior police officers and councillors. On the w hole, in terms of practitioners, the more senior the individual was, the easier it w as for me to get them to talk once the interview had com m enced. This may well be because they were used to being interview ed, perhaps accustomed to being 'in control' (Schoenberger 1991), a n d /o r did not find an academ ic (particularly a postgraduate) intim idating. Because of this, it could be argued that they were skilled in manipulating the interview er (me), and used the interview to tell the story they wanted to using the discourses they favoured rather than w hat 'really happened' (Phillips 1998). However, it was their stories about the developm ent of survivors' services and the discourses used to underpin those stories that interested me. Thus, even if a m anipulation of events occurred (as indeed it did), this was not in itself a problem for my research, because deconstructing the manipulation of stories to legitim ate fem in ists'/ police or other services' 'take' on events was an im portant part of my research aims. W hat was a problem , was finding m yself at times com pletely sucked into these discourses so that when I met with representatives of RSACS and the police I found their (w'hat seemed to me) open, am icable, authoritative and know ledgeable accounts of events leading up to the developm ent of RSACS com pletely convincing. In particular, this was the case with the assertion that feminist cam paigns to prevent the opening of RSACS had little influence on the decision-m aking process, saying that any delay was because the original design to be used (a centre-based SARC) would not be accessible for rural clients, so they opted for RSACS w hich was to have counsellors based in their own prem ises across 'Big M et'. In contrast, when I talked to fem inist service providers, they had a m uch more cynical take on why the police had initiated such a service (not for the good of survivors but in order to destroy feminist services which had been critical of them in the past), and believed that the project changed from a SARC to RSACS because of fem inist cam paigning. In the first draft of the analysis chapters for my thesis I found m yself doing exactly w hat Fitz and Halpin (1994) warn against with elite inter­ views. I was co-opted by what I later called the 'affirm ing discourse' of fem inist action. I sim ply reproduced what some fem inist cam paigners told me, unable to reconcile this with the contradictory views put for­ ward by the police, RSACS and other (som etim es the same) feminists. It was not until I re-analysed the transcripts and started to see these as discourses that are used som etim es consciously and som etim es simply repeated, that I was able to undertake a more rigorous academ ic analysis. 53

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The stories I was told about the developm ent of services for survivors of rape in this area were drawn from particular discourses and came from a range of potential stories utilised by individuals and groups in particular time-space contexts. These stories would have been 'chosen' on the basis of the interview ees' know ledge, the stories they had been told, the stories they had told before, their im pression of me (as a white w om an, as a young person, as an academ ic, as a fem inist, as a student and so on), the image they wanted to present, their political agenda, and w hat they thought I sh ou ld /w anted to hear (see also Herod 1993; Phillips 1998). Thus, a particular story could be drawn from any num ber of stories told by that person, and each story could be viewed or represented as 'th eir' story.

A n a ly sin g the tran scrip ts: a lternative disco u rse s

Unpicking and critically assessing the discourses of the 'state' or officialdom is of little controversy and is fairly com m onplace (for an excellent exam ple see Burton and Carlen 1979). Tracking and analysing fem inist discourses in public in order to (re)assess taken-for-granted know ledge(s) about fem inism , particularly relating to violence against w om en, is to embark on a less trodden path. M y method of coding when I w ent back to re-analyse the transcripts involved the highlighting of them es by piecing together the inform ation gathered within contextual considerations. This was in order to extract levels of m anifest and latent m eanings, and, from these, to form an understanding of the discourses through which these themes, and their portrayal, were developed. This m ethod enabled me to step back from what at the time for me was 'the obvious' (that feminists were highly influential in this process), to consider alternative view points and possible m otivations for representing fem inist action in a particular manner. Although the coding process for the interview s with fem inists was far from straightforw ard, it is probably sim plest to say that the analysis of the transcripts occurred in three stages (see Table 3.1). The preliminary interview s were given initial codes, including codes for recurrent themes such as funding, and policy change. These were then used, in conjunction with archival research, to develop the 'prom pt' questions for the rest of the interviews. The coding and analysis of the later interview s was a more com plex dialectical process, moving betw een the literature, my personal and theoretical developm ent, and the interview s themselves. I began by returning to the initial coding 54

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system , but at that stage my coding scheme was driven by the affirm ing discourse of fem inism and prim arily oriented around 'the facts' of fem inist progression, interspersed with assertions of fem inist vulnerability (though I had not yet identified this). The lower order and higher order themes eventually em erged as I started to group them es into categories, and identified sim ilar story patterns within the transcripts and the existing literature. These lower order themes included: (i) key events, fem inist action, and police change (in relation to their response to issues concerning violence against w om en), (ii) co-option, translation and incorporation (of fem inists and fem inist discourses by the police), and (iii) the use of sm all-scale provisional tim e-space opportunities, perform ance/subversion and translation by fem inists. These were then grouped into higher order themes: the affirm ing discourse of fem inism , the discourse of fem inist vulnerability, and the unfinished discourse, respectively. In the subsequent paragraphs I will outline these discourses in more detail, drawling on exam ples from m y research. Each of the exam ples are from interview s relating to the perceived influence of feminist action in Big M et linked to the developm ent of RSACS and state responses to violence against women more generally. The affirm ing discourse is used to represent fem inist strategy as a progressive linear story of event-action-change, where fem inism is seen successfully to change discourses developed and espoused by the police and other state services. This is illustrated in the follow ing quote from one of the interview ees when she was asked why there w as a high level of services for survivors in Big Met: [Big Met] has always been a hot bed of fem inism , [...]. So when [...] m urders [of women] started there was an im m ediate very strong reaction, a lot of Women Against Violence Against Women m ovem ents and m arches and so on, particularly because of the appalling way in which the police handled it, [... ] their advice was things like 'w om en should stay indoors'. So everybody got crosser and crosser and all the talk about it built up and a very strong reaction betw een the police and the fem inists developed. [...] From all this, [... ] I argued and everybody else argued, [... ] that some money should go to research that [a feminist] had put up, and that came about. [...] The W omen's Com m ittee was being started [...] and one of the first things they did was to have a

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Researching G en der Violence

Table 3.1

Examples of coding

STAGE 1 * initial coding examples murder of women in area police mistakes feminist direct action feminist academic research feminist service provision police policy/practice feminists brought into consultation inter-agency working 'silencing' of feminists inter-agency working feminists brought into consultation feminist academic research feminist demands police policy/practice taking control of services for survivors the employment of feminists by the state conjunctures of people policy changes 'insider' feminists brought into consultation co-operation as a 'critical friend' gradual 'mainstreaming' of feminist services (with mixed results)

STAGE 2 lower order themes

STAGE 3 higher order themes

event AFFIRMING DISCOURSE

(feminist) action

(police) change

co-option

V r

translation

incorporation

VULNERABLE DISCOURSE

J

provisional timespaces subversion

UNFINISHED DISCOURSE

transition

*These are simply examples. Each coding in stage one could be read as examples of any one of the higher order themes.

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couple of big conferences about women and violence, and women and the police, which were extremely well attended, which the police had to pay attention to because of the council involvement. Here the event (the brutal killing of women and the bumbled investigation by the police) is seen as a catalyst around which feminist action intensified and developed in co-operation with the local council. The intensity of this action was such that 'the police had to pay attention' and change (in this case by improving their response to women suffering violence). The clear champions in this story are feminist actors. Such a format of storytelling is also very common in feminist academic texts that seek to outline the history of violence against women, and often ignore the role of police officers who w7e re/ are also angry about (and attempt to confront) the poor treatment women have received from their colleages. In the discourse of feminist vulnerability, feminist strategy is painted as vulnerable to co-option, translation and incorporation. I define cooption as the intake of a 'feminist' word, concept, recommendation, service, group an d /o r individual by a competing and often dominant group/institution, so the latter can appear to fulfil feminist demands. Translation is the reworking of the word, concept, recommendation or service in such a way that the initial author's intended meaning is changed or distorted. Incorporation is when the word, concept, recom­ mendation, service, group or individual is subsumed within a competing group/institution, such that the competing group/ institution claims ownership, denying the original authorship a n d /o r meaning. In this reading, therefore, it is feminist discourses that are being redefined. This discourse was used when describing the type of change instigated by the police, including how this change may not take the form envisaged by the feminist campaigners, and their very limited inclusion in decision-making processes. For example, after campaigning for the police to improve their services to survivors of rape and sexual assault, some of the interviewees expressed their disappointment at the lack of feminist input into the eventual implementation and running of RSACS: I think there was discussion in terms of forming a steering group [for RSACS], and getting women reps from rape crisis and possibly Women's Aid on the steering groups, so they could form this kind of council with the police to look at job descriptions, and monitor how the project is going, to look at support structures, to 57

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look at whether the centre was to be staffed by civilians or whether it would be police personnel. So basically, we would form part of the steering group together with the police, and have quite a big input into the provision and who it was staffed by, and how' they were supported, and that kind of thing. Why didn't that happen? My memory of the whole thing is that meetings like this, lots of interested women's groups were meeting at a grass root level, the police seemed to be then taking on that we had a role to play inviting us to meetings w'hich we went along to - and then [...] communication between the police and certainly ourselves at that point was really dwindling [...] all, energies just became dissipated and information wasn't coming from the police, other than 'it's not going to happen now' [...] The next thing we know' we're getting a leaflet about [RSACS]. From the above quote it is clear that feminists were involved in the early consultation process, and that 'the police seemed to be then taking on that we had a role to play'. The use of the w'ord 'seem ed' suggests her lack of belief in the genuineness of this consultation process. It appears that feminist insistence that the police needed to improve their response to survivors had been taken on board, but once this had happened their inclusion in decision-making processes was vulnerable and ultimately dispensable. If the police did not w'ant or need feminist input, why were feminists asked to the original meetings? Another activist said that these meetings w'ere set up to 'w oo' the health authorities into funding the project. The health authority representatives were more voluntary sector orientated than the police. The police needed to legitimate the new venture in the eyes of health authority representatives, and one means of doing this w'as to temporarily incorporate voluntary sector feminists and organi­ sations to legitimate the consultation process. When asked about the development of RSACS, a police repre­ sentative stressed that decisions w'ere made more quickly w'ith a tighter working group made up of only the health authorities and the police: 'w'e started to look at things afresh, and what w'e did was trimmed down this big sort of weighty meeting and started meeting selected people'. 'Trimming dow'n' meant cutting out parties that w'ere obstruct­ ing the decision-making process. But it was not just feminists who were being kept out, other (perhaps more) powerful parties such as police 58

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surgeons and general practitioners were also excluded. N evertheless, in a representation of events drawn from the discourse of feminist vulnerability, the exclusion was targeted to 'silence' fem inist critique. This was seen as more effective than the earlier tactic of incorporation, which, though resulting in a com prom ised fem inist position (their earlier stance vyas that no such service should be set up by the police), did not com pletely silence fem inist critique, it sim ply tempered it. The police had the power to exclude fem inists; the legitim ation which 'consultation' w ith fem inists m ight have brought was expendable, degraded to the status of a costly luxury. Thus w hen viewed through the lens of the discourse of fem inist vulnerability, it is precisely because fem inists are vulnerable to exclusion at the whim of the police that their inclusion (incorporation) is conditional and insecure. This contrasts greatly with the discourse of fem inist action as unfinished. Dobash and Dobash (1992) first drew my attention to the concept of the 'unfinished', which they them selves borrowed from M athiesen (1974). M athiesen sees the potential of social m ovem ents cam paigning for the w idest possible change, the 'new' alternative' (reflected in stories drawn from the affirm ing discourse of feminism, w here the action is ultim ately aimed at ending violence against w om en). But M athiesen also sees the potential loss of that 'new alternative' vision, through closure, through losing sight of the original long-term objective(s) (reflected in stories drawn from the discourse of fem inist vulnerability). The difference is that M athiesen does not see this as an inevitable course for social m ovem ents to tread. Considering M athiesen's conceptualisation, the Dobashes state: Closure begins by settling on specific tasks as necessary for achieving the ultimate goal, such as w hen the Suffragettes concentrated solely on the vote rather than also upon the wider vision of change in w om en's status throughout society. Such closure can signal the end of the new alternative but only if the wider, long-term goal is com pletely supplanted by the narrower, short-term task. Alternatives such as changing the status of women or ending male violence have an open, expanding nature allowing for m any specific tasks to be achieved along the way. It is only when a specific task, such as achieving the vote or opening a certain num ber of refuges, becom es the ultimate goal per se, rather than one of the necessary tasks of achieving the w ider goal, that the alternative is finished. (Dobash and Dobash 1992: 21)

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What Dobash and Dobash appear to be saying here is that in order for feminist action to remain strategic, feminists need to keep sight of their long-term goals whilst pursing their short-term tactics ('tasks'). This concept of both long-term and short-term goals relates to Rowbotham's notion that one should do what one can do now, but simultaneously strive for a 'new alternative future' (Rowbotham 1992: 273). What the Dobashes go on to say, however, is that feminists need to construct and maintain 'a goal of change which has the possibility of being realised' (1992: 22). This is not quite what I believe Mathiesen to be saying. Mathiesen urges social movements to both contradict the establishment (dominant discourses and practices) and compete with them for 'their' discourses to challenge that of the currently dominant (by promoting alternative discourses and practices). But he also says that 'the com­ peting contradiction is the totality' (1980: 231). This implies that the competition and contradiction is the goal, a goal with no end. It does not become finished: '[o]nly the abolition of what is finished gives the unfinished a chance to appear' (1980: 233). Thus he does not want the currently 'finished' (the establishment) to be supplanted by another 'finished', but 'an unfinished, continually unfolding, renewing, non­ ossified political movement' (1980: 235), where organising is 'always unfolding' (1980: 250). This is a flexible form of utopianism, a utopia where there will be no ultimate ends, for 'the movement' is continually finding new causes. This discourse can be used to attempt to transcend the dichotomy of the affirming and the vulnerable. Here feminist action can be portrayed as pragmatic, organic utilisation and creation of provisional time-space opportunities that are turned into the possibility of co-operation between feminists and non-feminists. The action may have no ultimate ends, but goals that develop and even change through time and space. In this portrayal feminist action is forever unfolding and mutating as it takes the opportunities feminists see a n d /o r create. This aspect of the discourse of the unfinished is illustrated in the following depiction of a feminist volunteer's intervention in a domestic violence court case: [A volunteer] was sitting in the court, and this bloke was there, and the solicitor, a woman, comes in with her arms full of papers and they go through them. He comes up for renewal of bail, or whatever, and his solicitor there jumps up and says: 'why can't he have bail?'. The volunteer is going like this [she waves her hand] in the back, but she can't speak, of course, and the woman isn't present because she's frightened of the man.

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The clerk of the court [...] knew the volunteer, the M agistrate had been to [dom estic violence] training, so by this fluke the clerk whispered to the m agistrate and the m agistrate said [to the volunteer] will you approach the bench. So weak at the knees she did so, and said: 'this man m ust on no account be allowed anywhere near the w om an, because he's broken his bail four tim es'. Nobody had mentioned this, why don't they know these things? This 'fluke' - that crucial individuals involved in this decision-m aking process knew each other and had attended dom estic violence training enabled a volunteer effectively to influence this decision-m aking process. That the training program m e attended by the m agistrate, as well as the project the volunteer was representing, were both developed by fem inists, implies that this is more than a fluke. It is a time-space opportunity both influenced and utilised by feminists. Though the story told here clearly entails feminist influence, it is not a sim ply linear story of progression and solely fem inist heroism, as in the affirm ing discourse; nor does it dwell on our lack of power, as in the discourse of vulnerability. Instead, the teller celebrates the opportunity w hilst still expressing her frustration at the lack of crucial inform ation provided to the magistrate.

C o n c lu d in g th o u gh ts

As fem inists concerned w ith violence against wom en, it is not legitim ate for us to critique and 'problem atise' the discourses used by others (the police, health authorities and so on) without exposing our own preferred discourses to in-depth public academ ic scrutiny. As elites in such an area of research, we have the opportunity to silence, discredit, ridicule and dismiss, or sim ply not find time for researchers, just as other elites have done before. If we want to remain credible we need to be open to scrutiny, flexibility and change. We also need to be brave and rigorous enough to em bark on such research. My aim in analysing the discourses used by feminists to describe their interaction with state service providers such as the police was not to ridicule fem inist constructions of fem inist action or expose these constructions as untruths. It was rather to unpick how we represent our action in order to inform the developm ent of future strategy. So what does the use of these discourses tell us, and what roles do they serve? The affirm ing discourse can be used to rally the m orale of feminists and 61

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dow nplay the influence of others. The discourse of fem inist vulner­ ability serves as a w arning aimed particularly at those of us who have becom e 'insider fem inists', or could be seen as 'co-opted' or even 'selling out' and 'sedu ced' by becom ing involved in consultation processes, and governm ent advisory com m ittees (or for me having my current research controlled and funded by the Hom e Office). The moral is that such 'privilege' may com e at a cost: the potential loss of our integrity, independence, and strategic intent - to tackle violence against women. More positively, if we construct this type of action as unfinished, as I would prefer to do, then w'e can see the potential of slow but increm ental change (som etim es positive, som etim es not), as we m ould, shape and develop our action to differing contexts and times, using opportunities that we see a n d /o r create, including the use and developm ent of fem inist research.

A c k n o w le d g e m e n ts

I w'ould like to thank the individuals who participated in the research for their time, Ellen M alos and M arianne Hester for their com m ents on the chapter, Ian Sm ith, Kath Skinner, Nicol Skinner, N icky Gregson and Peter Jackson for their support w'hile I W'as undertaking the research, and the Econom ic and Social Research Council for funding it.

N o te s

1

62

Since 1987 a small number of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs), providing counselling, support and forensic facilities for survivors of rape and sexual assault, as well as a smaller Rape and Sexual Assault Counselling and Support Service (RSACS), have developed in the UK. These include St. Mary's in Manchester, REACH in Newcastle, Juniper Lodge in Leicester, STAR in West Yorkshire, and most recently The Haven in London. Describing these as 'local state services' may be a little misleading because they are not statutory services, nor do they tend to have the security of ongoing local government funding. Rather they are in the main initiated by and funded by local police and health authorities. I have continued to call them 'state services' in order to assist in distinguishing them from the voluntary sector or non-governmental organisations. However, with the increase in local and national government funding for voluntary sector services, and the increased use by 'state services' of volunteers (for example, Juniper Lodge relies almost entirely on volunteer support workers), the difference between these two service types has reduced

R e s e a r c h in g p e o p le in p o w e r : p r a c t ic e , a n a ly s is a n d a c t io n

2

3

4 5

substantially. Indeed some might say that the best way to differentiate these services would be to define them as feminist and non-feminist, but even this is problematic as several SARCs are run by, employ an d /o r are highly influenced by feminists. They were selected because: (i) with few exceptions, restricted funding means many voluntary sector and 'state' counselling services are located in cities servicing a substantial catchment area; (ii) the metropolitan counties contained comparable urban areas with diverse political histories and priorities; and (iii) the county boundaries also relate to those of area police forces. For example, one of the ways I attempted to negate the effects of my research on the participants was by ensuring that they where identified in my writing only by their approximate job title(s). I did not name them directly because, although many individuals were happy to be named, others wished to have a degree of anonymity. See for example Foley (1996) who is highly critical of SARCs, as well as Skinner (2000) where I outline the key debates and feminist concerns. From the mid-80s the police were being encouraged to reassess public relations issues. Hanmer, Radford and Stanko suggest that the increasingly militaristic style of policing since the 1960s led to a crisis of legitimation that had 'wider implications on the climate of police-public relations' (1989: 7). The returned emphasis on community policing (see Green and Mastrofski 1988), and the proliferation of police public relations and accountability literature in the mid-80s to the present day (see Reiner and Spencer 1993), certainly highlights legitimation as a key police concern. Further, the growing central and local government emphasis on inter-agency working also encouraged closer working relations between the police and feminists on both rape and domestic violence issues. All of this may well have created a greater level of police openness to being researched on these issues.

B ib lio g r a p h y

Abrahams, H., Hague, G., Malos, E., McCarry, M., Silva, T. and Williamson, E. (2004) 'Domestic Violence and Research Ethics', in E. Williamson and M. Smyth (eds) Researchers and Their 'Subjects': Ethics, Power, Knowledge and Consent. Bristol: The Policy Press. Adams, C. (1999) 'Suspect Data: Arresting Research', in D. King and E. Wincup (eds) Doing Research on Crime and Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bergen, R.K. (1993) 'Interviewing Survivors of Marital Rape: Doing Feminist Research on Sensitive Topics', in C.M. Renzetti and R.M. Lee (eds) Researching Sensitive Topics. London: Sage. Berry, J.M. (2001) Validity and Reliability Issues in Elite Interviewing. Workshop on Elite Interviewing, American Political Science Association: San Francisco

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h ttp ://a s e .tiftd .ed u /p o lsci/fac_staf/berry/ validity_and_reliability_issues.html Bowes, A.M. (1996) 'Evaluation an Empowering Research Strategy: Reflections on Action-Research with South Asian Women', Sociological Research Online, 1 ( 1). h ttp :/ / w w w .socre_sonline.org.uk/socresonline/1/1/1 .html Brewer, J.D. (1993) 'Sensitivity as a problem in field research: a study of routine policing in Northern Ireland', in C.M. Renzetti and R.M. Lee (eds) Researching Sensitive Topics. London: Sage. Burton, F. and Carlen, R (1979) On Discourse Analysis, Government Publications, Ideology and the State. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Campbell, R. (2002) Emotionally Involved: The Impact o f Researching Rape. New York: Routledge. Dobash, R.E. and Dobash, R.P (1992) Women, Violence and Social Change. London: Routledge. Fitz, ]. and Halpin, D. (1994) 'Ministers and mandarins: Educational research in elite settings', in G. Walford (ed.) Researching the Powerful in Education. London: University College London Press. Foley, M. (1994) 'Professionalising the response to rape', in C. Lupton and T. Gillespie (eds) Working with Violence. Baskingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd. Foley, M. (1996) 'Who is in control?: Changing responses to women who have been raped and sexually abused', in M. Hester, L. Kelly and J. Radford (eds) Women, Violence and Male Power. Buckingham: Open University Press. Greene, J.R. and Mastrofski, S.D. (eds) (1988) Community Policing: Rhetoric or Reality. London: Praeger. Hanmer, J. (1989) 'Women, Violence and Crime Prevention', in J. Hanmer, J. Radford and E. Stanko (eds) Women, Policing and Male Violence. London: Routledge. Hanmer, J., Radford, J. and Stanko, E. (1989) 'Policing M en's Violence: An Introduction', in J. Hanmer, J. Radford and E. Stanko (eds) Women, Policing and Male Violence. London: Routledge. Herod, A. (1993) 'Gender issues in the use of interviewing as a research method', Professional Geographer, 45 (3): 305-17 Hertz, R. and Imber, J.B. (1995) 'Introduction', in R. Hertz and J.B. Imber (eds) Studying Elites Using Qualitative Methods. London: Sage. Lee, R.M. and Renzetti, C.M. (1993) 'The problems of researching sensitive topics: and overview and introduction', in C.M. Renzetti and R.M. Lee (eds) Researching Sensitive Topics. London: Sage. McCracken, G. (1988) The Long Interview. Sage University Papers Series, Beverly Hills: Sage. McDowell, L. (1992) "'V a lid games?" A Response to Erica Schoenberger', Professional Geographer, 44 (2): 212-15. Mathiesen, T. (1974) The Politics o f Abolition . London: Martin Robertson. Mathiesen, T. (1980) Laiv, Society and Political Action: Towards a Strategy Under Late Capitalism. London: Academic Press.

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Moyser, G. and Wagstaffe, M. (eds) (1987) Research Methods fo r Elite Studies. London: Allen and Unwin. Oakley, A. (1982) 'Interviewing women: A contradiction in terms', in H. Roberts (ed.) Doing Feminist Research. London: Routledge. Phillips, R. (1998) T h e Politics of History: Some Methodological and Ethical Dilemmas in Elite-Based Research', British Educational Research Journal, 24 (1): 5-20. Puwer, N. (1997) 'Reflections on Interviewing Women MPs', Sociological Research Online, 2 (1) http ://w w w .socresonline.org.U k/socresonline/2/l/ 4.html Reiner, R. and Spencer, S. (eds) (1993) Accountable Policing: Effectiveness, Empowerment and Equity. London: Institute for Policy Research. Robinson, J.A. (1970) Elite and Specialized Interviewing. USA: Northwestern University Press. Ross, K. (2001) 'Political Elites and the Pragmatic Paradigm: Note from a Feminist Researcher - In the Field and out to Lunch', International Journal o f Social Research Methodology: Theory and Practice, 4 (2): 155-66. Rowbotham, S. (1992) Women in Movement: Feminism and Social Action. London: Routledge. Sayer, A. (1984) Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach. London: Hutchinson. Schoenberger, E. (1991) 'The Corporate Interview As A Research Method In Economic Geography', Professional Geographer, 43 (2): 180-89. Schoenberger, E. (1992) 'Self-criticism and self-awareness in research: a reply to Linda McDowell', Professional Geographer, 44 (2): 215-18. Skinner, T. (2000) 'Feminist Strategy and Tactics: Influencing state provision of counselling for survivors', in J. Radford, M. Friedberg and L. Harne (eds) Women, Violence and Strategies fo r Action: Feminist research, policy and practice. Buckingham: Open University Press. Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1993) Breaking Out Again: Feminist Ontology and Epistemology. London: Routledge. Thomas, R.J. (1993) 'Interviewing Important People in Big Companies', Journal o f Contemporary Ethnography', 22 (1): 80-96. Walker, R. (1985) Applied Qualitative Research. Aldershot: Gower. Wilkinson, S. and Kitzinger, C. (eds) (1996) Representing The Other - A Feminism and Psychology Reader. London: Sage.

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C h a p te r 4

Researching Asian children’s experiences o f dom estic violence: the significance o f cultural com petence and shared ethnicities of participants in the research process Um m e Imam with Parveen Akhtar

Introduction

The last decade has considerably enhanced our knowledge and awareness of the impact of domestic violence on children and young people (Jaffe et al. 1990; Mullender and Morley 1994; Wolfe et al. 1986). Research has highlighted the inadequacy of mainstream services (McGee 2000; Mullender and Morley 1994; Peled et al. 1995) and indicated how policy and practice should be responding to children who live with violence (Abrahams 1994; McGee 2000; McWilliams and McKiernan 1993). Much of the earlier work, conceptualised and based on adult perceptions about the effects of domestic violence on children, silenced children and positioned them as 'hidden victims'. To some extent this has been addressed in relation to white children (Abrahams 1994; McGee 2000), but there remains a dearth of knowledge and understanding of the impact of domestic violence on children from black1communities, who continue to be silent and hidden in most of this literature. Some studies on children living with domestic violence have attempted to analyse the interaction of racism and ethnicity (Fantuzzo and Lindquist 1989; Stagg et al. 1989; Westra and Martin 1981) while Dupont-Smith (1995) and Imam (1994) have examined the experiences of children who belong to particular black communities. However, these studies have also been based upon adults' interpretations of the impact

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of dom estic violence on children and adults' perceptions of children's needs. The study w e report here redresses the balance by hearing the voices of black as well as white children and young people talking about their experiences and perceptions of dom estic violence, their expressed needs, coping strategies and understanding of w om an abuse (M ullender et al. 2002). A distinctive feature of this research lay in the explicit attention that was paid to the experiences of black children. We explore some of the m ethodological themes and issues involved in two South A sian2 researchers interview ing A sian3 children and w om en on the sensitive issue of dom estic violence.

B a c k g ro u n d and research c o n te x t

The study formed part of a national research program m e, 'Children 5-16: Grow ing into the 21st Century', funded by the Econom ic and Social Research Council. The shared objective was to place children and young people at the very heart of the research process, as the central theme of this program m e was to look at children as 'social actors' who m ake active contributions to their fam ilies, their com m unities and to w ider society (M ullender et al. 2002). Earlier work undertaken by m em bers of our research team (Hague et al. 1996; Kelly 1994; M ullender et al. 1998) dem onstrated that children who live w ith domestic violence develop their ow n coping strategies and their own understanding of what happens to them. Also, a m ovem ent away from 'deficit m odels' of childhood, based on adult perceptions of children as lacking in com petence due to their age a n d / or stage in developm ent, to more child-centred approaches provided opportunities for involving children in the research process and in the planning and delivery of services. It is now recognised that children have their own understandings and perceptions about w hat happens to them and are active in constructing their own social w orlds (France et al. 2000). This led to our conviction that research on children's experiences of domestic violence m ust move away from w hat Alderson (1995) refers to as 'adult-centric' (based on adults' perceptions of children's ex­ periences), to acknow ledge children's agency, to convey children's own accounts of their experiences, and to include their voices and their perspectives in both quantitative and qualitative data (Hill 1997; Scott 2000; M authner 1997; M ullender et al. 2002; W illiam son and Butler 1997). Equally, the study was informed by feminist understandings of

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domestic violence, emphasising issues of power and control between men and women (Pence and Paymar 1990, 1996) and feminist research methods (for example, Alcott and Potter 1993; Harding 1987; Kelly 1988; Maynard and Purvis 1994; Nielsen 1990; Reinharz 1992; Stanley and Wise 1993). Our multiracial research team, including two black and six white researchers, was committed to using an anti-oppressive and anti­ racist research praxis, treating women and their children with respect and acknowledging their agency. Our backgrounds in community work, youth work, sociology and social policy and in activism with women and children underpinned the respectful and supportive approach that was undertaken (Mullender et al. 2002).

T h e research project Aim s and research design

The first aim was to find out children's general knowledge and understanding of domestic violence. The second was to explore children and young people's direct experiences of living with domestic violence: what sense they made of these experiences; the coping strategies they used; their perceptions of the help and support they needed and received; and their views about how this could be improved. An underlying aim was to reflect racial diversity in both children's general understandings and experiences of domestic violence. The research was planned in two phases, and combined quantitative and qualitative research techniques. Phase one was achieved by drawing a sample of 1,395 children aged between 8 and 16 years from primary and secondary schools situated in ethnically diverse areas in Bristol, London and the North East. They completed one of two ageappropriate questionnaires on what they knew and thought about domestic violence. The second phase included focused interviews with 45 children and young people of the same age range who had lived with domestic violence. Two interviews with each child/young person were undertaken over a period of 18 months with three samples of children and young people. Two of these samples involved children of diverse ethnicity in contrasting parts of the country, London and Bristol. A third sample of black children and young people, drawn largely from the North East, were interviewed by black researchers based in the North East. In this chapter we focus on this black sample.

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Sam pling

For each of the three sample groups, purposive sam pling techniques were used to identify children and young people of both sexes, diverse ethnic and social backgrounds, different ages and abilities who had lived with dom estic violence. In the interests of safety only children who w ere no longer living w ith the abuser would be interview ed. Our aim was to include 25 to 30 children within each sam ple, of which only half were children who had lived in refuges and the rest were accessed through com m unity networks and organisations providing help and support to w om en and children, including black projects. For various reasons we were able to access only half the sam ple required (see M ullender et al. 2002). A total of 45 children were interview ed, 14 of these were part of the special sample. The black sam ple

Follow ing intensive contact with 35 agencies over a period of two years, w ith the aim of including diverse black com m unities, a sample of 14 children and young people from six Asian fam ilies agreed to participate. O f these, 12 w ere of South Asian origin. All 12 South A sian children were M uslims and their fam ilies originated from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kenya. Two children of Singaporean origin had one parent who was Christian and the other Hindu. There were nine b o y s/y o u n g men and five girls/y o u n g w om en in this sample. Nine child ren/y o u ng people had been through refuges and five had not had any formal service support. In four of the six fam ilies involved, there was at least one ch ild /y o u n g person who had been seen by an educational psychologist and identified as having a learning disability. All the children and three mothers who w ere born in the UK were interview ed in English. Others were interview ed in Urdu or Punjabi, and a Bangladeshi m other was interview ed through an interpreter. Given the sensitivity of the subject and concerns raised by this m other about breaches of trust and confidentiality, a trusted com m unity worker (already known to the mother) acted as interpreter in this case.

Racial and ethnic c o n gru ity in research ers and particip an ts

In order to explore, sensitively and appropriately, black children and young people's experiences of dom estic violence, we follow ed the principle of 'ethnic congruity' (Reissman 1991) and were informed by

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recent debates on the politics and ethics of who should research whom (Amos and Parmar 1984; Bhopal 2001; Edwards 1990; Egharevba 2001; Mirza 1998; Phoenix 1994; Rakhit 1998; Troyna 1998). We were aware that given the diversity in black communities, the attempted congruence would at best be partial. However, the considered benefits outweighed the shortcomings of this approach. Some suggested advantages are that this reduces the potential for pathologising, misrepresenting or stereotyping members of black communities, a criticism that has been levelled at white researchers researching black communities (Brah 1992; Carby 1982; hooks 1982; Phoenix 1987). Evidence also suggests that the 'colour' of the interviewer has an impact on the quality of the data collected; in particular that members of black/ South Asian communities give more 'authentic' information to researchers who share their racial/ethnic identity (Amos and Parmar 1981; Brah 1992), and that black people express more radical views about their lives when talking to black interviewers (May 1993). On the other hand, it has been argued that 'ethnic congruity' is 'at best partial' (Troyna 1998), 'too simplistic' (Phoenix 1994) or that it may lead to the marginalisation of black issues and black researchers within the establishment (Phoenix 1994; Rhodes 1994). In relation to the black sample in this study, which was all Asian, we recognised that despite our own backgrounds as South Asian women and our shared experiences of collectivist cultures and patriarchal traditions, we could not possibly share all characteristics and all experiences of the sample. We had to acknowledge our own 'conscious partiality' (Mies 1983) as black feminists, in order to hear the voices of the children/young people (Hill Collins 1990). Ethnicity and sam pling

It is noteworthy that the black sample consisted entirely of Asian children and young people. There may be several explanations for this bias. We were both known, within local communities and in the north­ east region, as community activists on women's issues, specifically domestic violence and also in the establishment of local black refuges. This may have won us the confidence of workers, through whom we negotiated access to women and their children, and the women and young people themselves. Given the sensitivity of the topic and participants' perceptions about our understanding of ethnically sensitive issues as well as our attitudes and values, their perceptions of our ability to be non-judgemental was crucial to the quality of the information they shared. As one respondent said:

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I felt safe in talking to you because I didn't feel that what I was saying would go to the wrong place or get into the wrong hands. (12-year-old South Asian young person) Another explanation for the over-representation of Asian children and young people lies in the recruitment of the sample through agencies and projects - specialist agencies providing help and support for black women and children, in the North East and across the country, are predominantly Asian (Mama 1989). The lack of wider representation of diverse black communities may also suggest that there are issues relating to identity and identification, that may have influenced decisions whether or not to participate. For example, professionals and management committee members in two black refuges providing services for black women and white women with black children, refused to participate in the research due to their conviction that only black people should be involved in researching black communities. Despite the fact that the research was being conducted by two South Asian members of the multiracial research team, they believed that ownership of the research process would be dominated by white members. Agencies and professionals therefore exerted power and control in the process of referring women and children for our sample in their central role as gatekeepers. This meant that the decision to participate or not was taken away from women, young people and children. Other factors limiting the sample included: (i) the lack of resources in a number of agencies where staff felt unable to devote time to the additional demands of a research project; (ii) high staff turnover resulting from the pressure of work; and (iii) the number of children in these projects that fell outside the age range of children/young people to be included in the sample. Where we did succeed in gaining initial access to particular projects and agencies we also met with mothers' concerns and fears about the detrimental effects on children of recounting distressing events. This led some to decline participation in the research. Some mothers were reluctant to 'put the children through re-living painful experiences' or felt that 'they [the children] have settled down after a long time and would be unsettled again' (quotes taken from research notes). A further barrier to access was the mobility of women and children fleeing domestic violence. In a few cases (five children in two families), following initial contact and agreement to participate, the families moved to another part of the country (for safety reasons) and became inaccessible to the researchers. 71

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Shared ethnicities and shared experiences of racism and eth nocen trism in the research process

We contend that our shared ethnicities, our understanding of collectivist cultures and traditions and shared experiences of racism with the children and young people we interviewed gave us 'insider' status (Bhopal 2001) in seeking information about Asian children and young people. Our knowledge of similar patriarchal systems and cultural traditions as well as the shared experiences of colonialism and racism enhanced our understanding of children's and young people's accounts and gave us an insight into the issues raised in the research process. We were also clear that such awareness and understanding was partial and required careful consideration of the complexity and diversity of children and young people's experiences. Some of the issues that were significant in the research process are explored below. Understanding o f collectivist values, cultural hierarchies and consent

In gaining consent of the Asian children and young people our understanding of collectivist values, such as respect for elders and generational hierarchies, was important. We were aware that children's and young people's perceptions of our shared ethnicities and the cultural requirement to show respect for adults could be problematic in achieving 'informed consent'. We recognised, therefore, that children may feel obliged to accede to requests made by older people (refuge workers, children's workers or researchers) or their mothers. It was therefore essential to check this out with the children individually and make explicit their choice of opting out at any stage in the research process. Our effectiveness here appears to have been demonstrated by one young boy with learning difficulties who refused to participate, although his three siblings did so. Another illustration of the way in which generational hierarchies and respect for elders presented in the research process lay in the way children related to and addressed the researchers. All the children referred to us and to particular South Asian professionals and workers helping and supporting them as 'Auntie'. This did not denote any relationship, but reflected South Asian traditions of showing respect for elders. It is seen as disrespectful to address adults and even older siblings/cousins by their names. Terms such as auntie/uncle, brother/ sister, depending on gender and age, are used instead of names to address people who are older in age. However, demonstrating their

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understanding of social norms in the w ider society, none of the children referred to any white w orkers in this way. Our shared collectivist values of m utual obligations to com m unities and com m itm ent to fem inist research ethics m eant that we could not 'w alk away from ' our sam ple, during or after the research in order to preserve the boundaries of the researcher. Furtherm ore, since we rem ained in the region, and were accessible to w om en and children, our contact with the fam ilies continued after the research was com pleted. It was, however, always initiated by the fam ilies, to ask for information about relevant agencies, and occasionally involved m aking referrals to agencies and service-providers. For exam ple, we were asked to contact the local education authority for inform ation about 'special needs institutions' because the m other was not fluent in English and intim idated by form al structures. On another occasion we referred one fam ily to the Racial H arassm ent Support Group for help and support in the face of ongoing racial harassm ent in their local area. Also, as one of the researchers continues to be involved in com m unity work in the region, the boundaries betw een researcher and support worker in­ evitably becam e blurred. Although there has been no change in roles from researcher to support w orker or friend, the collectivist expectation of m utual obligation to com m unity m em bers m eans that these roles do not cease with the research project. U nderstanding o f patriarchal control, family honour, sham e, and confidentiality a n d trust

Alm eida and Dolan-Del Vecchio (1999: 663) assert that 'patriarchy in m any Asian cultures takes a different form to patriarchy in Western cultures'. Across South Asian com m unities, a distinctive patriarchal tool used to control w om en is the notion of izzat or fam ily honour (Bhopal 1997; Choudry 1996; Imam 1994, 1999; Southall Black Sisters 1993). For individuals who belong to particular com m unities there are grave consequences for actions that bring the fam ily into disrepute. O ften the punishm ent for bringing sham e and disgrace to the fam ily is com plete ostracism from the fam ily and com m unity group, in order to preserve the honour of the other members. As fam ilies and com m unities are closely knit in collectivist cultures, this concern for family honour was both im plicit and explicit in children's fears about confidentiality and their concerns that inform ation they shared m ight becom e com mon know ledge and bring dishonour. A young woman explained these pressures, and how they form significant barriers in the help-seeking process:

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It was our izzat. Our fam ily is really big. W herever you go, people would say: 'She told the authorities', 'H er dad's in trouble', '[She] brought shame to the fam ily'. (16-year-old South Asian young woman) The sam e young w om an also dem onstrated a very sophisticated understanding of such patriarchal controls on her mother: He wanted to keep us under his control - that is why he terrorised us. M um stayed so long because of us and because of izzat, you know. W hat will people say? She hid it from her fam ily [and] w ouldn't tell them how bad things were for such a long time. Sim ilar notions of sham e and disgrace were also used to enforce control over children: He has alw ays threatened me and said I will do badnaami [disgrace] - bring shame to the family. He used to say that I slept around. Really, Auntie [to the researcher]! My own father! It is therefore not surprising that in our sample, confidentiality was a very distinctive concern for both women and their children when com pared to the w ider sample. Being part of cohesive and tightly knit com m unities, w om en and children expressed considerable concerns about the im plications for them of breaches of confidentiality within their com m unities. Rai and Thiara (1997) also report sim ilar concerns in their research into the needs of black women and children in refuges. In our study, fam ilies reported earlier experiences of trust being broken and were wary about the confidentiality we offered. Many children we interviewed voiced their concerns about confidentiality. For exam ple, a ten-year-old boy voiced his concerns w hen asked how he felt about talking to the researcher: [I] felt okay talking about it, but I can't trust anyone because [South Asian] workers have caused problem s before, so it is hard to trust anyone. (10-year-old South Asian boy) His mother, who was interview ed later, echoed these concerns:

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Confidentiality is very important. I have personal experience of confidentiality being breached by [South Asian] w orkers I have gone to for support. They have talked to other w om en they work with and your life becom es a public show. (South Asian mother) This exam ple highlights situations when shared ethnicity may be a barrier and participants may feel more at ease talking to som eone from outside the community. In this case, when initial contact was made with this fam ily the m other had discussed her concerns with the researcher. She expressed her interest in participating provided she was given the right to approve the Bangladeshi interpreter. Given her previous concerns about confidentiality being broken by som e w orkers from within her community, the Pakistani researcher agreed to accept this condition. This Pakistani researcher, who this m other trusted on a professional level, was from outside her Bangladeshi community, and a safe person to talk to. The Bangladeshi interpreter w as chosen by the participant and trusted to keep confidential the inform ation exchanged in the research interviews. Black researchers, researching ethnic minority com m unities other than their own, sim ilarly report on the significance of com m onality and difference betw een researchers and subjects on the research process and the quality of inform ation shared. Egharevba (2001), a black researcher researching South Asian women, endorses Song and Parker's (1995) claim that participants (Chinese) in their study found the researcher (Vietnamese) a 'safe' person to talk to because she was neither the same nor significantly different (for exam ple, white) to them. Anxieties about being identifiable within their com m unities and the im plications for the honour of the fam ily and com m unity were also dem onstrated in other ways. For exam ple, all the children and young people in this sam ple refused perm ission for us to tape-record interviews. This w as despite our assurances that this w as only being done to check for accuracy, that neither m others nor workers would hear them, and that the tapes would be destroyed after the study was com pleted. Nevertheless, all the children and young people were apprehensive about this and felt their stories would easily identify them within the small com m unities to which they belonged. It was therefore agreed that the researchers would transcribe the responses from their notes, which would later be checked for accuracy by the older children. In the case of younger children and those with learning difficulties, the researchers agreed to read out their records for the children to check.

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We considered these acute anxieties about confidentiality expressed by w om en and children that were inexorably linked to notions of family honour, and offered them the choice of choosing a nam e other than their own for our records. This conveyed to the children that we took their anxieties seriously and would ensure that they felt safe in talking to us. However, given our know ledge and understanding of the overlap of dom estic violence and child abuse (Edleson 1999; Farm er and Owen 1995; Hester and Pearson 1998), and awareness of the continued threat of danger to children after they have moved away from the abuser (Hester and Radford 1996; Radford et al. 1999), we were not able to offer com plete confidentiality as offered by Thom as and O 'K ane (1998). The confidentiality we offered was confined by considerations for children's safety if there were disclosures of continuing abuse and danger. We agreed that if there were any disclosures during the interview situation or in our contacts w ith the fam ilies the m atter would be presented to the full research team who, in consultation with the child and the child's mother, would decide w hether a child protection referral should be m ade (M ullender et al. 2002). As South Asian researchers, we were aware of the narrow and insensitive approach to child protection issues taken with Asian fam ilies (Hum phreys et al. 1999; Qureshi et al. 2000). However, there were no new disclosures of direct abuse during the research and our procedures were not tested. Understanding o f language an d cultural practices a n d traditions

O ur assum ptions that shared ethnicities, language, religion and culture may instil trust and confidence in w om en and children to share, more openly and honestly, their experiences of violence and abuse were confirm ed, to some extent, in the interview situation. Although interview s were conducted in English, young people som etim es used terms com m on to m ost South Asian languages in their responses. For exam ple, different titles for addressing maternal and paternal grandparents (nani, nana, daadi, daada); the popular word for white people (goray) and their own com m unities (apna), and particular patriarchal concepts like izzat (honour) and badnaam i (ill-repute). Young people's perceptions of shared meanings and usage of com m on terms in Bangla, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu possibly prompted this lapse into bilingual com m unication which is com m on practice in com m unications betw een m em bers of fam ilies and within South Asian com munities:

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Chacha [paternal uncle], one of D ad's brothers keeps in touch. He has helped me with course work. (16-year-old South Asian young man) He [father] cam e to see her when she got back from Pakistan. He probably came to find out if mum had fix ed my rishta [arranged my m arriage] while she was in Pakistan - he w ould not have any control then. (16-year-old South Asian young women) He has given mum talaq [divorce] - Islamic. He w on't go for the English divorce because Mum will get everything. He now wants to win us kids over so that he can take everything away from her. (16-year-old South Asian young wom an) Between us we com m unicated in three languages: Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. The children and young people moved com fortably between the m ultiple contexts of their lives in the UK, som etim es com m unicating bilingually or using particular terms from U rd u /H in d i/P u n jab i, talking freely about their fears of racism (discussed in the following section) w ithout having to consider the researchers' ethnicity or feelings, and not needing to be anxious about explaining unfamiliar cultural issues and experiences to people who may at best not understand or worse, reinforce stereotypical views about black and South Asian com m unities. U nderstanding o f ethnocentrism a n d cultural racism

Racism against people of South Asian origin has some com m onalties w ith that experienced by other black com m unities, but it is distinctive in the exclusive focus on ethnicity and culture or 'cultural racism ' (Ahmed 1986; Ahmad 1990). Children's and young people's perceptions of ethnocentrism and lack of cultural com petence on the part of pro­ fessionals were indicative of their perceptions of cultural congruence w ith us. One of the young people, w hen asked about w hat advice they would give other children in sim ilar situations, com mented: Respondent:

Interviewer:

If you speak to adults, m ake sure they understand about your fam ily and religion and they don't take things the wrong way. W hat do you mean by 'the wrong way'?

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Respondent:

Like, sometimes, goray [white people] will not know about izzat [family honour] and shame and they can make you do things that bring shame to the family. You are left without any help or support from the community, if they feel that you have gone against the religion. I don't say it is always right, but sometimes we have to sort things out in our own way - white people can never really do things in the same way if they don't understand. (16-year-old South Asian girl)

The mothers that we interviewed also pointed out inappropriate treatment by welfare professionals. For example, one of the mothers commented on these limitations: Workers should ask mothers how they are feeling if there are problems. Instead, workers label the women as a problem rather than providing more comprehensive support. Some of the problems are because the services are inadequate and insensitive sometimes they are inappropriate too. (South Asian mother) Another distinctive finding that implies inadequate understanding and inappropriate responses to Asian children living with domestic violence is the limited understanding of the impact of abuse on children of diverse ethnicities. In this sample, in sharp contrast to the other samples in our research, a very high proportion of children and young people were involved with educational psychologists and diagnosed as having learning disabilities: six of the 14 children from four of the six families involved. When we spoke to the mothers they expressed their anxieties and concerns about this issue. One of the mothers had challenged the local education authority's decision to put her son in a 'special needs' school and was successful in having him reinstated in a mainstream school where he was making steady progress. It could be argued that given our understanding of the emotional impact of abuse/living with abuse, 'elective' not 'selective mutism' (McGregor et al. 1994) was the children's response to their situation. This required a more focused and informed response by the professionals involved, who should have also communicated more appropriately with the mother and acknowledged her concerns. The example below

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demonstrates a lack of understanding and support for the families concerned: Respondent:

Teachers keep contacting me and constantly keep saying the children need help but they don't really specify what sort of help they need - I feel the children have been affected mentally and that their minds or brains are not working normally I don't speak very much English so I don't always understand what the school is trying to say about their problems. The children are not stupid but they have been affected maybe, but their development and education has been affected. They don't speak very much - the school also complains about this, they say maybe they don't understand what is going on at school, maybe they have a difficulty in learning. I don't know what it

Interviewer:

Have the children had support from workers or professionals? No they haven't had any support from anyone apart from myself. There has been no support from relatives either, there has been no extra help from school either. Have there been difficulties with other agencies/ people who haven't understood? I don't know whether they have understood or not. They know about problems at home so they should have understood. Nabeel [10 years old] has a speech therapist - he is not able to communicate and when he does speak you can't understand him. (South Asian mother)

Respondent:

Interviewer: Respondent:

A complete disregard for the mother and her particular situation is demonstrated by all the professionals concerned in the above. It would have been impossible for someone who was not able to communicate with her in her own language (Punjabi) to find out her concerns and to address them. Given the legal requirement to communicate appropriately, the discrimination and racism inherent in the pro­ fessional response needs to be challenged. Insensitive intervention by

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professionals com pletely marginalized the mother, who remains uninform ed about her son's speech problem s and the prognosis due to inadequate, if any, com m unication by the professionals concerned. U nderstanding o f racial harassm e n t a n d racial abuse

Significantly, most of the children in the black sample expressed their fears and experiences of racism and racial abuse. Black researchers - for exam ple, Egharevba (2000) and M aylor (1995) cited in Egharevba (2001) - report that despite differences in ethnicity, their respondents freely shared their experiences of racism and also com m ented that they would not have been able to discuss some of these experiences in the presence of a white person. This could explain w hy black children who were part of the general sam ples were not able to discuss their experiences of racism or harassm ent with the white researchers. Our shared ethnicities and a com m on experience of racism w ith the w om en and children seem ed to be more conducive to an open and frank sharing of accounts of racism and discrimination. Children and young people in our sub-sam ple reported direct experiences of racial harassm ent and abuse: Som etim es people tease me and call me nam es, especially white people in the area ... It m akes me feel unsafe. Mum is trying to get me a transfer to another school. I am just worried about being teased by w hite people - they do it because they d on't like black people and can cause problem s and be violent so you can feel really unsafe. (10-year-old Asian boy)

I feel scared now because English people call you by nam es. This happens more often in the street than the school. They do this because they d on't like black people. I feel scared of that because they also set dogs on us. (11-year-old South Asian girl) Clearly, the racial and ethnic identity of the interview er are significant in children choosing to express their feelings and fears of racism. All the m others in this sample had also had, to varying degrees, negative experiences of individual and institutional racism by professionals and agencies. W hat is evident from our research is that experiences and fears

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of racism - together with insensitive and inappropriate treatment by individuals, agencies and institutions - engender suspicion and mistrust in wom en and children and present considerable barriers in their struggles against dom estic violence and in seeking help and support. For South Asian and other black children and young people, moving away from abusers may also mean m oving away from support net­ works, and greater exposure and vulnerability to racism in unfamiliar surroundings - for exam ple, in new schools: the [secondary] school in the area is violent. My brother goes there and people are not nice. They call you nam es and don 't like you because you are black. (10-year-old A sian boy) Positive contacts with the extended fam ily were an im portant resource for children in coping with and surviving dom estic violence. W here support within the com m unity (through either the m aternal or paternal fam ily) was available, it was useful in developing a positive sense of self in connection with the com munity, an im portant resource in dealing w ith racism. W here children did not have this support, both they and their mothers were isolated and lonely, and faced greater vulnerability to racism and harassment.

C o n c lu sio n

In this chapter we have explored som e of issues significant in researching children and young people's perspectives on domestic violence, with a specific focus on the skills, understanding and know ledge needed to research racial and ethnic diversity. We examined the im portance of shared ethnicities and the cultural com petence this provides to explore, analyse and interpret children's and young people's diverse perspectives. We do not contend that only South Asian researchers can effectively investigate the experiences of children drawn from minority ethnic com munities. We do, however, dem onstrate that cultural com petence and awareness of the im pact of racism and ethnocentrism have a direct im pact on the quality of research data that can be gathered to extend our understanding of ethnically diverse perspectives.

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N o te s 1

2

3

The term black is used from a British perspective to include all non-white people who suffer oppression and discrimination on the basis of skin colour, language a n d /o r culture. Increasingly, it is argued that the term 'black' is no longer relevant and has been rejected by some South Asians themselves as it denies cultural diversity and ethnic identity (Brah 1992). Although the limitations of the term are recognised, here it is used as a term of political description and cultural counter-assertion (Cambridge 1996). South Asian refers to people who have originated from the Indian sub­ continent: Bangladeshis, Indians, Pakistanis and Srilankans, including those who have come via East and South Africa. 'A sian' is used as a more general term, and refers to all people and com m unities that originate from the continent of Asia.

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Imam, U. F. (1994) 'Asian children and domestic violence', in A. Mullender and R. Morley (eds), Children Living with Domestic Violence: Putting Men's Abuse o f Women on the Child Care Agenda. London: Whiting and Birch. Imam, U.F. (1999) 'South Asian young women's experiences of violence and abuse', in J. Pritchard and H. Kemshall (eds) Good Practice In Working With Violence. London: Jessica Kingsley. Jaffe, P.G., Wolfe, D.A. and Wilson, S.K. (1990) Children o f Battered Women. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Kelly, L. (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence. Cambridge: Polity Press. Kelly, L. (1994) 'The interconnectedness of domestic violence and child abuse: challenges for research, policy and practice', in A. Mullender and R. Morley (eds), Children Living with Domestic Violence: Putting Men's Abuse o f Women on the Child Care Agenda. London: Whiting and Birch. Mama, A. (1989) The Hidden Struggle: Statutory and Voluntary Sector Responses to Violence against Black Women. London: London Race and Housing U n it/ Runnymede Trust (reissued by Whiting and Birch in 1996). Mauthner, M. (1997) 'Methodological aspects of collecting data from children: lessons from three research projects', Children and Society, 11: 16-28. May, T. (1993) Social Research: Issues, Methods and Processes. Buckingham: Open University Press. Maylor, U. (1995) 'The experiences of African, Caribbean and South Asian Women in Initial Teacher Education', unpublished PhD thesis, Open University. Maynard, M. and Purvis, J. (1994) Researching Women's Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor and Francis. McGee, C. (2000) Childhood Experiences o f Domestic Violence, London: Jessica Kingsley. McGee, C. (1997) 'Children's experiences of domestic violence', Child and Family Social Work, 2 (1): 13-23. McGregor, R., Pullar, A. and Cundall, D. (1994) 'Silent at school: selective mutism and abuse', Archives o f Disease in Childhood, 70: 540-1. McWilliams, M. and McKiernan, J. (1993) Bringing It Out in the Open: Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland. Belfast: HMSO. Mies, M. (1983) 'Toward a methodology for feminist research' in G. Bowles and R. Duelli (eds) Theories o f Women's Studies. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Mirza, M. (1998) 'Same voices, same lives? Revisiting black feminist standpoint epistemology, in P. Connolly and B. Troyna (eds), Researching Racism in Education: Politics, Theory and Practice. Buckingham: Open University. Mullender, A., Hague, G., Imam, U., Kelly, L., Malos, E. and Regan, L. (2002) Children's Perspectives on Domestic Violence. London: Sage. Mullender, A. (1996) Rethinking Domestic Violence: The Social Work and Probation Response. London: Routledge. Mullender, A. and Morley, R. (eds) (1994) Children Living with Domestic Violence: Putting Men's Abuse o f Women on the Child Care Agenda. London: Whiting and Birch. 84

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Mullender, A., Debbonaire, T., Hague, G., Kelly, L. and M alos, E. (1998) 'W orking with children in w om en's refuges', Child and Family Social Work, 3: 87-98. Nielsen, J. (ed.) (1990) Feminist Research M ethods: Exemplary Readings in the Social Sciences. Boulder: Westview Press. Peled, E., Jaffe, PG. and Edleson, J.L. (1995) Ending the Cycle o f Violence: Community Responses to Children o f Battered Women. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Pence, E. and Paymar, M. (1990) Power and Control: Tactics o f Men who Batter. An Educational Curriculum. Revised edition. Duluth, MN: Minnesota Program D evelopm ent Inc. (206 West Fourth Street, Duluth, MN 55806, USA). Pence, E. and Paymar, M. (1996) Education Groups fo r Men ivho Batter: The Duluth M odel (2nd edn). New York: Springer. (1st edn, 1993.) Phoenix, A. (1987) 'Theories of gender and black fam ilies', in G. Weiner and M. Arnot (eds) Gender Under Scrutiny: Neiv Inquiries in Education. London: H utchinson/O pen University Press. Phoenix, A. (1994) 'Practising fem inist research: the intersection of gender and "race" in the research process', in M. Maynard and J. Purvis (eds) Researching Women's Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor Francis. Q ureshi, T., Berridge, D. and Wenman, H. (2000) Where to Turn? Family Support fo r South Asian Communities: A Case Study. London: National Children's Bureau and Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Rai, D. and Thiara, R. (1997) Re-defining Spaces: The Needs o f Black Women and Children in Refuge Support Services and Black Workers in Women's Aid. Bristol: W om en's Aid Publications. Rakhit, A. (1998) 'Silenced voice: life history as an approach to study South Asian women teachers', in P. Connolly and B. Troyna (eds), Researching Racism in Education: Politics, Theory and Practice. Buckingham: Open University. Radford, L., Sayer, S. and AM ICA (1999) Unreasonable Fears? Child Contact in the Context o f Domestic Violence: A Survey o f Mothers' Perceptions o f Harm. Bristol: W om en's Aid Publications. Reinharz, S. (1992) Feminist M ethod in Social Research. New York: Oxford University Press. Reissman, C.K. (1991) 'W hen gender is not enough: women interview ing w om en', in S. A. Farrell and J. Lorber (eds) The Social Construction o f Gender. California: Sage. Rhodes, P.J. (1994) 'Race-of-interview er effects: a brief com m ent', Sociology, 28: 547-58. Scott, J. (2000) 'Children as respondents: the challenge for quantitative m ethods' in P. Christensen and A. Jam es (eds) Research zvith Children: Perspectives and Practices. London: Falmer. Song, M. and Parker, D. (1995) 'Com m onality and difference and the dynamics of disclosure in in-depth interview ing', Sociology, 29: 241-56. Southall Black Sisters (1993) Domestic Violence and Asian Women. A Collection o f Reports and Briefings. London: Southall Black Sisters. 85

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Stagg, V., Willis, G.D. and Howell, M. (1989) 'Psychopathology in early childhood witnesses of family violence', Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 9: 73-87. Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1993) Breaking Out Again: Feminist Ontology and Epistemology. London: Routledge. Thomas, N. and O'Kane, C. (1998) 'The ethics of participatory research with children', Children and Society, 12: 336-48. Troyna, B. (1998)' "The whites of my eyes, nose, ears ..." a reflexive account of whiteness in race related research', in P. Connolly and B. Troyna (eds) Researching Racism in Education: Politics, Theory and Practice. Buckingham: Open University. WAFE (2003) The Gold Book: A Directory o f Domestic Violence Services. Bristol: Women's Aid Federation, England. Westra, B.L. and Martin, H.P. (1981) 'Children of battered women', Maternal Child-Nursing Journal, 7: 41-51. Williamson, H. and Butler, I. (1997) 'No one ever listens to us: interviewing children and young people', in C. Cloke and M. Davies (eds) Participation and Empowerment in Child Protection. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons. Wolfe, D.A., Zak, L., Wilson, S. and Jaffe, P. (1986) 'Child witnesses to violence between parents: critical issues in behavioural and social adjustment', Journal o f Abnormal Child Psychology, 14 (1): 95-104.

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Chapter 5

C o n d u c tin g social research with young people: ethical considerations Melanie M cC arry

Introduction

This chapter discusses the difficulties and contradictions involved in trying to conduct feminist informed qualitative research which has a children's/young people's rights perspective. It is a reflexive account of my own research which involved interviewing young people about their views and opinions of domestic violence/abuse. The sample comprised of 77 young people, aged between 15 and 18 years, in 13 different focus groups from 10 different Glasgow secondary schools. Throughout the chapter I examine the role of children/young people in social research and explore the developing and changing position of children/young people in the research process; focusing on issues of rights, consent, gatekeepers, power and ethics. Other chapters in this book have discussed the issues of what constitutes feminist research and it is unnecessary to restate these points. However, it is important to describe the particular feminist methodological position which informed my research project. Whilst there is no one feminist research method, the applications of approaches, the ideology supporting them and the context in which they are used do differentiate them as feminist. Kelly (1988) argues that it is not just the way methods are applied that make research feminist, but 'the questions we have asked, the way we locate ourselves within our questions, and the purpose of our work' (Kelly 1988: 6). An issue which tends to be central to feminist research is that of power relations. Most feminist research attempts to make obvious and to minimise the power relation when researching a less powerful group.1 This power 87

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dynamic was doubly emphasised in my research where the respondents were less powerful in their positions as young people and as research participants.2 In my empirical research I utilised a feminist standpoint that constructed the participants as the experts in the area in which they were being interviewed. This standpoint meant that as a researcher I identified with the research respondents and considered them to have the expert knowledge on the phenomenon being studied (Hartsock 1983; Harding 1987, 1991, 1993; Smith 1987; MacKinnon 1993; Thompson 2001). Therefore, my research had a feminist methodology that also endorsed a children's/young person's rights perspective.

C hildren/young people in the research process

Traditionally, research on children/young people has been conducted within a therapeutic context in medicine and developmental psychology. It is only recently that they have become research subjects in the social science field of childhood studies. This move towards social research with children/young people as subjects has occurred con­ currently with a wider movement which recognises children and young people as social agents in their own right, with related decision-making abilities and competencies. Thus, over the last 10 to 15 years, in the West, there has been a paradigmatical shift in how children and young people are conceptualised in their roles as research participants and citizens generally (Qvortrup 1995). This shift has involved a move towards consultation with children and young people in both a research and policy capacity. Such a move is also partly linked to UK 'rights' and 'citizenships' discourses. These discourses argue that children and young people have a right to be consulted, both in their current capacity as young citizens, and as future adult citizens, about a range of issues which affect them now and which will affect them in adulthood. One of the more influential documents is the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), and particularly Article 12, which states that not only should childrens' opinions be sought but that they should also be listened to (Williamson et al. forthcoming): States parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child. (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12) 88

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In the UK context, the Children Act 1989 (for England and Wales) formalised a move towards a greater recognition of the wishes and views of the child. The recent government policy Green Paper, Every Child Matters (2003) also emphasises the importance of listening to children and providing services that are 'child friendly'. In Scotland, the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Standards in Scottish Schools Act 2000 affirmed that there should be consultation with children, and the Scottish Parliament has been influential in the move towards listening to children's voices. This is indicated in the Child Strategy Statement issued by the Scottish Executive (2000) which argues, in relation to policy, that: [cjhildren form one fifth of Scotland's population, but may have only limited opportunity to consider or comment on policies vv'hich impact on them. Whereas most adults are silent by choice, many children are not in a position to have an influence on matters which greatly affect them. In the vast majority of instances, adults in the wider community act effectively in the interests of children. However it remains the case that children have decisions made about, for and against their interests without their views being taken or needs property considered. (quoted in Borland et al. 2001: 6) Whilst policy and research developments may appear unrelated, in this context, the point of convergence is the general trend towards involving children and young people in matters which affect them and in matters upon which they could have an effect. Thus, developments in both these areas have implications for social researchers because they have an impact on how children and young people are seen in general, which in turn influences how their participation in social research is constructed and interpreted. So far, both the terms 'children' and 'young people' have been used without definition and often, in literature and policy documents, an arbitrary distinction is made between those referred to as 'children' and those as 'young people'. There are, however, clearly competency differences between different age groups of children or young people; and often, the terms 'child' or 'children' refer to all those under the age of 18 and 'young people' is in reference to those in the upper year groups of this cohort (perhaps between 14 or 15 and 18 years). This lack of clarity about who is being referred to by the terms 'children' and 'young people' is confusing and often the age distinction is not clear. 89

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Often decisions taken for or by children/young people are based on a set of assumptions about the perceived competency levels attached to the age distinctions amongst those under 18. At a policy level, both the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 and Children Act 1989 define children as those aged under 18; however, at a social research level, the age of 16 may be seen as a more significant demarcation. Thus, in the UK there seem to be arbitrary distinctions about competency, based on an age determinant.3 However, this com­ petency and age duality is so varied across the spectrum of rights and responsibilities that its inherent worth becomes questionable. For instance, if the definition of children is all those under 18 then why can they hold a driving licence at 17; have legal (heterosexual and male homosexual) sexual intercourse at 16; get married at 18; and in England and Wales have full criminal responsibility at the age of ten and at the age of eight in Scotland? Furthermore, in social research, it is often understood that all those under the age of 16 have to have adult consent before they can participate in research, even though there is no legal mandate or requirement to do so.

C o n se n t

The issue of consent in social research has been a central issue for feminist social researchers and latterly in relation to the role of children/ young people this has become an even more contested issue in the wider social research community (Oakley 1994; Hill et al. 1996; Hood et al. 1996; Alderson 2001). Traditionally, when working with children/young people social researchers have deferred to proxy consent, whether from parents or those acting in loco parentis, rather than seek it from the children/young people themselves. The practice of obtaining parental consent originated from parents/guardians consenting to medical treat­ ment for their child, which then extended to children's participation in medical and subsequently social research. The development of children giving consent to medical treatment for themselves was established in the Gillick ruling (Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority [1986] AC112). This asserted that children aged under 16 can consent, without their parents' agreement, to medical treatment if they are deemed competent to do so, which thus amalgamates the age and competency determinants (Re R (A Minor)(Wardship: Consent to Treatment) [1991] 4 All ER 177; Re W (A M inor)(Consent to Medical Treatment) [1992] 4 All ER 627). However, whilst there is no age restriction to the Gillick ruling, it specifies that it applies to a child who 90

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is of 'sufficient age and understanding', which leaves it open to wide interpretation (Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority [1986] AC112). Furtherm ore, it is significant that c hild ren/y o u ng people still do not have a legal right to refuse treatment. M any of the guidelines and codes of ethical practice for research with child ren/yo u ng people were developed from m edical or clinical research and include: the M edical Research Council (1991) Ethical Conduct o f Research on Children; the British Psychological Society (1991) Code o f Conduct Ethical Principles and Guidelines; the British Sociological Society Statement o f Ethical Practice; and the N ational Children's Bureau (1993) Guidelines fo r Research. Except for the National Children's Bureau guidelines, the others only perfunctorily refer to children, and the M edical Research Council's is in relation to m edical rather than social research. Alm ost all of the guidelines for non-clinical research address the issues of consent, confidentiality and methodology and m ost concur that it is good practice to get adult consent before approaching child ren/you n g people for participation in social research (Goodenough et al. 2001). The whole basis for parental consent is therefore based on the notion of proxy consent, which fundam entally relies on som e level of parental involvem ent or relationship with the child. King and Churchill argue that parents should act in the best interests of their child and that children should be consulted: '[s]ociety expects parents to have interests closely aligned with those of their children and to take account not only of their children's needs but also of their children's preferences where appropriate' (King and Churchill 2000: 719). The realities of proxy consent however, are com plex and can be extrem ely problem atic if, for exam ple, the child has limited involvem ent with their p aren ts/ guardians or has a hostile relationship with them. An additional problem with proxy consent is that is enables p arents/gu ard ians to refuse consent for their child's participation in social research (Hood et al. 1996). For instance, w hen researching dom estic violence, the situation could arise where a father withholds consent for his child's involvem ent for fear of the child disclosing the violence/abu se. Rather than grant or withhold consent based on the child's best interests, in this situation personal or self-protective interests may m otivate the parent. Therefore, for adults to have the right to have authority over children, and thus to be able to give or withhold informed consent on their behalf, it m ust be established that adults act in accordance with the best interests of the ch ild /y o u n g person. However, in my research some school representatives thought that some of the young people were living in households where there was, or used to be, dom estic violence. 91

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They suggested that these individuals were more vulnerable than those who had not had such experiences and argued that they should not participate. Yet was this in the best interest of these young people? It could be countered that these young people may have gained the most from this research through giving them information about their experiences which they hitherto did not have and thus allowing them to make sense of their situation and to make a decision about disclosure (this is discussed in more detail below). When I went into the field to start my research the issue of consent was one of the first hurdles that I had to face. I chose to work with the upper year groups of pupils, which are fourth, fifth and sixth year, as it was thought that there would be fewer complications precisely because they were older.4 To avoid having a sample that was skewed towards only having those pupils who choose to remain at school beyond the age of 16, I wanted to include 15-year-olds. However, because I in­ corporated 15-year-olds, it was thought that parental consent would be needed even though there is actually no legal requirement to get parental consent for children under 16. The positions of the schools and the guidance I received from the institutions I contacted were mixed on this issue. Some of the schools argued that parental permission was not needed if they, as the school, had agreed and consented to my research; some thought it was still needed even if they had agreed; and some thought it was only needed for those pupils under 16. This confusion exists partly because the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and most local education authorities (LEAs) do not have guidelines. Thus, in practice, the decision about agreeing to participate in research is often left to individual head teachers, who may have limited or no understanding of research and all the associated implications of involvement. With all the confusion and uncertainty, and after a lot of discussion and reference to methodology textbooks (see Gilbert 1999; Lee and Stanko 2003, for example), I took the decision to seek consent from all parents/guardians and all the pupils in order to impose some uniformity on the process. However, the consent forms which the two groups were sent were different: the parents/guardians were sent an 'opt out' form whereby they had to sign and return it to me if they did not want their child to participate, and the young person was given an 'opt in' form which had to be signed and dated before the group interview was conducted if they wanted to participate. This can be termed passive and active agreement, whereby one creates a situation in which you seek ‘active agreement on the part of the child, and passive agreement on the part of caretakers' (Thomas and O'Kane 1998: 339). In 92

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general, 'opt-out' forms have a much lower response rate because the person has to expressly withdraw from the research process - which may have reduced the power of the parent/guardian. Unless the parent returned the signed and dated form to me, then it was assumed that they were agreeing to their child's participation. This was done to try and empower the young people in the research rather than give all the decision-making responsibilities to the schools and the parents/ guardians. In order to ensure that the young people were active in the consent process they had to sign and date their forms confirming that they wanted to participate in the research. In effect these forms can be more accurately described as assent forms because, whilst the young person can confirm that they agree to participate, they cannot override their parent's decision if the parent does not want them to participate; this is obviously extremely problematic and in contradiction to my children's/ young people's rights framework. This could also imply that with the parent having decision-making powers (after the initial agreement by the school) then my sample may have comprised only those pupils who have no experience of domestic violence, because parents living with domestic violence may have refused to consent. However, without any empirical data to substantiate this, it can only be discussed at a speculative level. In order to ensure that interview ees/parents made their decision with as much knowledge as possible, all the consent forms, for both adults and young people, had a sheet attached containing information about the research, the research aims and objectives, and (work) contact details of the researcher. This enabled the pupils to read about the research; have time to reflect on what the group would entail; get an idea of the types of questions they would be asked; and give them time to formulate any questions they wanted to ask. Thus, before any focus groups were conducted, signed and dated consent forms were received, on the day of the interview, from all the participants. It was then reiterated that even if they had signed the form and consented, the young people could still withdraw from the study (at any stage) without any consequences. As far as I am aware, there were no pupils who participated who did not want to be there, because before the group started I explained again that even though they had signed the forms they could leave (although I accept that some may have felt that they were expected to stay). Unfortunately, I still do not know if there were some pupils who wanted to participate but whose parents did not want them to and had therefore not given their consent. 93

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Much of what has been discussed is fundamentally about negotiating the power relation between the youth participant and the adult researcher. Indeed, it appears that much of the literature which problematises children's/young people's ability to give consent is based upon a conceptualisation of children and young people in relation to their legal status as 'non-adult' (Qvortrup 1995). As Goodenough et al. state: It is possible that the previous lack of children's views in this area reflects society's continued perceptions of children as passive 'human becomings' (Qvortrup 1994: 4) and as such are not accorded the status of 'citizens' (Roche 1999) with rights to knowledge and the decision making process. (Goodenough et al. 2001: 4-5) Thus, the issue of consent is inextricably linked to power relations between adults and children/young people. This is further com­ pounded by the fact that children and young people are often expected to do what adults ask or tell them to do: indeed, requests can be interpreted as polite orders. This can therefore compromise the authenticity of consent and can make it extremely problematic for a child/young person to refuse consent if asked to participate by a researcher (as discussed above). C hildren/young people are no doubt aware of the possible repercussion of dissenting to an adult's decision, particularly in an institutional setting such as school: '[ch ild ren 's consent to research participation in this context can shade into coercion' (David et al. 2001: 352). One way to militate against an assumption of compliance of a child is to conceptualise consent as an 'ongoing process' and not a singular response, as David and colleagues argue: consent has usually been seen as given as part of a 'one-off' event at the outset, on the basis of the presentation of adequate information that provides sufficiently for the participants to 'know' and 'understand' what they are 'getting themselves into'. However, this idea has latterly been challenged by notions of consent as an ongoing process, especially in relation to children (but also with adults). (David et al. 2001: 348) Thus, children/young people (and all research participants) should be asked before, during and at the end of the research if they are still

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consenting and their decision to withdraw, at any stage, should be fully and unconditionally accepted (Hood et al. 1996; David et al. 2001). Although, this too has associated concerns because it may be that the youth respondent withdraws because of parental or institutional pressure.

G ateke epers

Implicit in the above discussion on children's/young people's consent is the role of gatekeepers in the research process. 'Gatekeepers' are those vested with the power to make decisions about research before any children/young people are contacted. In my research I had three levels of gatekeepers before I could contact the young people: the four education departments where the schools were based; the head teachers of the schools themselves; and the parents/guardians of the partici­ pants. It is perhaps somewhat contradictory that I have argued that children should be empowered in the research process whilst I effectively marginalised the young people by contacting them only after three other layers of consent had been sought - this was sadly beyond my control. There is thus a certain disjuncture between my theoretical framework, which aims to prioritise the position of young people as the participants in the research, and the reality of working with gatekeepers. Because gatekeepers are the first point of contact and have decision­ making powers which supersede those of children and young people, they are vested with the power to both agree to 'their' children's participation and also to their refusal. Not only does the decision to participate rest with the gatekeeper and is removed from the children/ young people, but the latter may not even be informed about the research in the first place, which clearly goes against moves towards listening to, and empowering, children/young people (Alderson 1995; Morrow and Richards 1996). Thus, if a gatekeeper gives consent on behalf of a child/young person, there are few structures to ensure that this child/young person does not then feel coerced to participate, or feel that they are powerless to refuse once the gatekeeper has taken that decision for them, unless it is emphasised in the research process. It would be inaccurate to present the role of gatekeepers as purely obstructive or dissempowering. Gatekeepers also have a vital role to play as a 'safety barrier' to filter out any research which is inappropriate or unsafe. As a researcher, I would be extremely suspicious of other

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researchers who were working with children/young people and actively avoided gatekeepers. This is because of power differentials which place children/young people in less powerful, and more vulnerable, positions than adults/researchers. Advocates who act in the best interests of the child/young person and who have the relevant skills, knowledge and expertise are needed to scrutinise social research and researchers before they have contact with children/young people. But these advocates should not make the decision about participation for the child/young person.

Power and ethics in focus gro u p research

The use of focus groups in social research is a relatively recent phenomenon. They were originally used in market research but have become increasingly popular in social research (Morgan and Krueger 1993; Krueger 1994; Kitzinger 1995). Focus groups were used in market research because they allowed groups of people to engage in, and discuss, an issue presented to them, whilst at the same time mitigating the time, logistical and financial constraints of other research method­ ologies (Krueger 1994). However, in the social research context, the 'interaction' of the group and the purported effects of reducing hierarchical power dynamics between the researcher and participants is often why such groups are favoured (Kitzinger 1995). Despite this, focus groups have been little used with children and young people, and where they have been there are few reflective accounts to assess the applicability and efficacy of this method (Krueger 1994; Kitzinger 1995; Hood et al. 1996; Wilkinson 1998; Kitzinger and Barbour 1999; Scott 2000; Borland et al. 2001). Researchers who do use focus groups with young people argue that the group setting can be conducive to reducing hierarchies, thus militating against power dynamics, and can also be supportive for children/young people (see Barbour and Kitzinger 1999). However, it is an oversimplification to argue that a group of children/young people can negate the complex effects of these phenomena, and additionally the power dynamics inherent within groups of people may be left unacknowledged and unexamined. Although it is argued that groups can mitigate the power balance between researcher or consultant and children (because children outnumber adults), this has been disputed as an assumption which ignores the relationships of power and control inherent in 96

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them (Baker and Hinton 1999). Furthermore, even if problems of adult influence are diminished, those of peer influence are increased. (Borland et al. 2001: 33) Conversely, the argument that the group arrangement can augment confidence is one which is often cited in the (limited) literature on focus groups with young people (Krueger 1994; Wilkinson 1998; Kitzinger and Barbour 1999). Yet, it is also argued that the group situation may inhibit shyer participants, including the suppression of the 'minority perspective', which may in turn also be influenced by the gender composition of the group (Borland et al. 2001: 33). In order to explore whether the gender composition would have an impact on the data I had mixed and single sex groups (female and male), because as Greenbaum suggests, 'boys and girls are often hostile to each other and have marked differences in interests' which may or may not be true (Greenbaum 1987, cited in Hood et al. 1996: 134). The focus groups for my research were conducted with same year group pupils, and varied in size from between three and seven pupils. Limiting the size of the group to a maximum of seven pupils was perhaps more a practical decision than a methodological one, because I was aware that I was going to have to record and transcribe the data and have to 'work out' who was speaking.5 The methodological rationale for using focus groups in my research was mainly related to reducing power differentials in the research process. One argument is that the power imbalance between an inter­ viewer and a youth interviewee is more significant in a one-to-one interview situation than in a group situation where there is more than one young person. Additionally, the focus group participant can opt out of contributing in a less conspicuous manner than would be possible in a one-to-one interview. Researchers who use focus groups, and who are conscious of the power dynamics involved in any research with children/young people, often use methods such as handing over the control of the tape recorder to the group so that they can choose when to record and when not to (Mahon et al. 1996). This method was used in my research and I found that it helped rapport because as the interviews progressed it was the young people who took control of the tape recorder, in particular informing me when the tape had clicked off and needed turning over or changed, which can be interpreted as involving and empowering them. As mentioned above, it should be made explicit that children/young people in a focus group, and in any other research setting, can never be 97

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given an assurance of com plete confidentiality because of the possibility of disclosure of abuse (M ahon et al. 1996; H am ilton 2001; The N ational Children's Bureau 1993; W illiam son et al. forthcom ing). All social researchers, from all disciplines, have a (moral) duty to pass on inform ation about disclosure of harm or abuse. To avoid excluding yount people from decisions affecting them, the researcher can fully inform the participants, before the study, that this will happen should they choose to disclose such inform ation and should discuss with the participant any m easures that will be taken. On m y consent form and at the start of the group interview the participants were informed that if they disclosed that they (or another ch ild /y o u n g person) were being harmed then I had a responsibility to discuss this issue with the school and it would perhaps be taken further (social sendees, for example). However, I explained that I w ould not tell anyone about their disclosures until I had discussed it with them first. Since it is m isleading and unethical for a researcher to give the guarantee of com plete confidentiality to a ch ild /y o u n g person, perhaps the best way of negotiating this situation is to m ake it com pletely clear to the participants before the research and have this condition attached to the consent forms inform ing the participants of who will be contacted should a disclosure be made. This is an approach advocated by the N ational Children's Bureau: Before giving their inform ed consent to participate in research all subjects, especially children, should understand how far they will be afforded anonym ity and confidentiality. We believe that there must be limits to any guarantee of confidentiality or anonym ity in situations where child protection is an issue. (N ational Children's Bureau 2003: 3) On a general ethical level, if the research topic is of a sensitive nature, the researcher has an obligation to ensure that there are facilities to help participants if they have been discussing issues which have left them with feelings that they want to discuss further. Thus, in my research I com piled a list of support services for the young people which included nam es, addresses, em ails (where available), contact telephone num bers, fax num bers, opening hours and descriptions of various local and national support services working with adults, children and young people who had or were experiencing abuse or violence or who had concerns about it in relation to them selves or others. I also included my work contact details on this sheet. I realised that the young people may not have wanted their classm ates seeing them taking the sheet, which

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would perhaps suggest that they had some involvement in domestic violence. So the sheets were placed on all the chairs prior to the participants entering the room and they were all asked to take the sheet with them. This meant that they could use the information at a later date without anyone else's knowledge. A further measure that I applied in my focus groups was to write down and discuss some groundrules which had to be adhered to. These were written on flip-chart paper and left on the wall throughout the interview. The first groundrule emphasised that the interview was confidential and that the participants should not tell other people what was discussed; although it was understood that some of the participants may have wanted to tell their friends and family about their experience and this was qualified by adding that they should not disclose specific examples of what was said by other participants.6 The second rule emphasised that the final interview transcript would be anonymous and they could choose, or be assigned, a pseudonym so that their real names would never be used in the write-up of the research. As the interview was being audio-tape recorded it was explained that it would only be me who would hear the tape and once I had transcribed the interviews only the pseudonyms would be used. Respect was the next groundrule; participants were asked to respect other people's opinions even if they differed from their own. This also included not talking over each other and allowing the person to finish what they were saying first. Additionally, it was emphasised that sexist, racist, disabilist or any other offensive language would not be tolerated (whilst they were not prohibited from swearing they were reminded that it was being tape-recorded). This might be construed as placing discursive rules which may have inhibited what the young people were saying because effectively I was telling them what was and was not appropriate language to use. In retrospect I think that perhaps I should not have included this as a groundrule because it may have affected what the young people felt was acceptable to say, but I have no way of knowing whether this did make a difference or not. Furthermore, it is also, in one respect, a contradiction of my feminist methodological framework because it is clearly an example of exerting power over the group. An additional groundrule was that the participants had the right to say 'no' and they could 'pass' on any of the discussion topics if they wished. It was also emphasised that they did not have to talk about their own personal experiences, but if they did want to, then they could do so (with the issues of [limited] confidentiality and disclosure emphasised). Finally it was explained that my written notes were only to aid the 99

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identification of who was talking on the tape when it was transcribed. After these rules had been discussed, everyone was asked if they understood and agreed with the rules and only when this was established did the interview begin. The whole explanation of the groundrules prior to the interview took approximately ten minutes, which did take up some of the already limited time, but it also meant that we had a chance to have a discussion before the interview started, which certainly helped to put the participants at ease. A drawback to these groups was that they were held in schools, and this may have affected what the young people felt they could discuss. Indeed, in general, the environment for research may also affect the power dynamics, and schools may not be an ideal location because of the association of teachers/adults being in charge. The counter view may be that the familiarity of school may reassure some participants. In my research I had no option but to work in the school; however, I ensured that we did not use a staff room and that no teachers were present, and where possible we used a more 'neutral' social space, such as the library. We always sat in a circle so there were no individual desks or 'head of the table'. This circular seating arrangement and use of my first name helped put the young people at ease and also contributed towards reducing the power imbalance. At the end of the interview, I turned the tape-recorder off and put away my pen and asked if the participants would like to be 'consultants' to the research process to evaluate and feedback what they thought of the methodological efficacy of the focus group interview. If they did not want to participate in this they were free to leave, as the 'official' interview was over. All of the participants seemed pleased to take on this role and all of them remained. In fact, one of the groups was so enthusiastic that they stayed behind through their lunch hour to continue the discussion. As a gesture of thanks and acknowledgement of the commitment the participants gave to the research, they were all given refreshments at the end.7 Most were surprised when this was done, which is perhaps indicative of how young people regard their time in school and the expectation on them to do things that adults ask them without reward (see Mahon et al. 1996).

C o n c lu d in g c o m m e n ts

This reflexive accounts of my research experience has been contextualised within wider theoretical and 'ethical' debates in relation to children's rights and social science research with children/young people. The chapter has thus endeavoured to describe how my actual 100

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research experience integrated or differed from the theoretical literature written about working with young people on a sensitive topic. Many of the issues addressed in this chapter will be contingent upon the specific context and characteristics of each research project. However, I would suggest that there are principles and approaches researchers should endeavour to consider if they have a commitment to empowering children/young people. These include: the theoretical standpoint and how one sees the role of children/young people in research; the process of obtaining and establishing consent from children/young people and gatekeepers; the role of gatekeepers in accessing children/young people and what their overall role in the research is; the changing power relations of the gatekeepers, participants and researchers; whether focus groups are the most appropriate methodology; if focus groups are to be used then thought must be given to the composition and size of the groups, the location where they will happen and the 'groundrules' that will be applied. Entering the research field is a daunting task and this reflexive account of my experience may add to the already numerous considerations researchers have to make. Nevertheless, it is important to discuss the ethics, compromises and contradictions involved in social research that are so often neglected in traditional methodological texts.

N o te s 1 2 3

This position has to be negotiated w hen 'p o w e r/fu l groups' are being investigated (Stanley and Wise 1983; See Skin ner's chapter in this book) W hen specifically talking about the participants in m y study I will refer to them as 'young people'. This distinction is used in the UK but in the USA, for exam ple, children may be differentiated according to their status. For instance, children may be considered to be em ancipated m inors if, for exam ple, they are m arried, parents them selves, or com pletely self-supporting and rem oved from parental influence and control. All these issues are interpreted as indications that these young people are capable of m aking their own decisions. Similarly, children aged betw een 12 and 14 m ay be categorised as m ature m inors if they are able to dem onstrate sufficient understanding to m ake a decision (for exam ple, in som e institutions in the UK they use 'G illick com petency' to argue that a 14- to 16-year-old does not need the consent of a parent). W hilst these term s are very vague and open to interpretation it w ould suggest that instead of being defined strictly by age categorisations children can be defined contextually through reference to their social, w orking or m arital status (A lderson 1995).

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4

5 6

7

Fourth year pupils are aged between 15 and 16; fifth year pupils between 16 and 17; and sixth year pupils between 17 and 18 years old. In the Scottish educational system, pupils can choose to leave school at the end of their fourth year; fifth and sixth year are optional. A useful method to do this is to note the name of the person and a key word in order to identify them when transcribing the tape-recordings. It was also reiterated that someone else would have to be informed if any disclosures of abuse were made, though this would not be done without first discussing it with them. With respect to payment, I share the view that whilst it may be in­ appropriate to offer money to children/young people to participate (as it may be for adults) it is only 'fair' that they are recompensed for their time and participation.

B ib lio g r a p h y

Alderson, P. (1995) Listening to Children: Children, Ethics and Social Research. Essex: Barnardo's. Alderson, P. (2001) 'Research by Children', International journal o f Social Research Methodology, 4 (2): 139-53. Barbour, R.S. and Kitzinger, J. (eds) (1999) Developing Focus Group Research: Politics, Theory and Practice. London: Sage. Borland, M., Hill, M., Laybourn, A. and Stafford, A. (2001) Improving Consultation with Children and Young People in Relevant Aspects o f PolicyMaking and Legislation in Scotland, Centre for the Child and Society, University of Glasgow and Children First. Commissioned by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre for the Education, Culture and Sport Committee, www.scottish.parliament.uk British Psychological Society (1991) Code o f Conduct Ethical Principles and Guidelines, www.bps.org.uk/index.cfm British Sociological Society Statement o f Ethical Practice, www.britsoc.org.uk/ about/ethic.htm David, M., Edwards, R. and Alldred, P. (2001) 'Children and School-based Research: 'informed consent' or 'educated consent'?', British Educational Research Journal, 27 (3): 347-65. Department of Health (1989) Children Act. London: HMSO. Gilbert, N. (ed.) (1999) Researching Social Life. London: Sage. Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority [1986] AC112. and Re R (A MinorKWardship: Consent to Treatment) [1991] 4 All ER 177; Re W (A MinorHConsent to Medical Treatment) [1992] 4 All ER 627. Goodenough, T., Kent, J., Williamson, E. and Ashcroft, R. (2001) Researching Children and Ethical Practice, Ethical Protection in Epidemiological Genetics: Participants' Perspectives Project (EPEG), Centre for Ethics in Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol (pamphlet).

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Hamilton, C. (2001) 'Offering Children Confidentiality: Law and Guidance' The Children's Legal Centre. University of Essex: Essex (leaflet). Harding, S. (1987) 'Introduction: Is There A Feminist Method?', in S. Harding (ed.), Feminism and Methodology. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Harding, S. (1991) Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women’s Lives. New York: Cornell University Press. Harding, S. (1993) 'Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What Is "Strong O bjectivity"?', in L. Alcoff and E. Potter (eds) Feminist Epistemologies. London: Routledge. Hartsock, N.C.M. (1983) 'The Feminist Standpoint: Developing the Ground for a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism', in S. Harding and M.B. Hintikka (eds) Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives in Epistemology. Metaphysics, Methodology, and Philosophy o f Science. London: D. Reidel Publishing Company. Hill, M., Laybourn, A. and Borland, M. (1996) 'Engaging with Primary-aged Children about their Emotions and Well-being: Methodological Considerations', Children and Society, 10: 129-44. Home Office (1995) Children (Scotland) Act. London: HMSO. Home Office (2003) Every Child Matters, Green Paper. London: HMSO. Hood, S., Kelley, P. and Mayall, B. (1996) 'Children as Research Subjects: a Risky Enterprise', Children and Society, 10: 117-28. Kelly, L. (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence. Cambridge: Polity Press in association with Basil Blackwell. King, N.M.P and Churchill, L.R. (2000) 'Ethical Principles Guiding Research on Child and Adolescent Subjects', journal o f Interpersonal Violence, 15 (7), July: 710-24. Kitzinger, J. (1995) 'Qualitative Research: Introducing Focus Groups', British Medical Journal, (29 July) 311: 299-302. Kitzinger, J. and Barbour, R.S. (1999) 'Introduction: The Challenge and Promise of Focus Groups', in R.S. Barbour and J. Kitzinger (eds) Developing Focus Group Research: Politics, Theory and Practice. London: Sage. Krueger, R.A. (1994) Focus Groups: A Practical Guide fo r Applied Research (2nd edn). London: Sage. Lee, R.M. and Stanko, E.A. (eds) (2003) Researching Violence: Essays on Methodology and Measurement. London: Routledge. MacKinnon, C.A. (1993) 'Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: Toward a Feminist Jurisprudence', in PB. Bart and E.G. Moran (eds) Violence Against Women: The Bloody Footprints. London: Sage. Mahon, A., Glendinning, C., Clarke, K. and Craig, G. (1996) 'Researching Children: Methods and Ethics', Children and Society, 10: 145-54. Medical Research Council (1991) Ethical Conduct o f Research on Children, www.mrc.ac.uk Morgan, D.L. and Krueger, R.A. (1993) 'When to Use Focus Groups and Why', in D.L. Morgan (ed.), Successful Focus Groups: Advancing the State o f the Art. London: Sage.

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Morrow, V. and Richards, M. (1996) T h e Ethics of Social Research with Children: An Overview', Children and Society, 10: 90-105. National Children's Bureau (1993) Guidelines for Research, www.ncb.org.uk Oakley, A. (1994) 'Women and Children First and Last: Parallels and Differences between Children's and Women's Studies', in B. Mayall (ed.) Children's Childhoods: Observed and Experienced. London: Falmer Press. Qvortrup, J. (1995) 'Childhood and Modern Society: A Paradoxical Relationship?', in ]. Brannen and M. O'Brien (eds) Childhood and Parenthood: Proceedings o f ISA Committee fo r Family Research Conference on Children and Families, 1994. London: Institute of Education, University of London. Scott, J. (2000) 'Children as Respondents: The Challenge for Quantitative Methods', in P. Christensen and A. James (eds) Research with Children: Perspectives and Practices. London: Falmer Press. Scottish Parliament (2000) Standards in Scottish Schools Act. London: The Stationery Office Limited. Smith, D.E. (1987) The Everyday World as Problematic: A Feminist Sociology. Boston: Northeastern University Press. Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1983) Breaking Out: Feminist Consciousness and Feminist Research. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Thompson, D. (2001) Radical Feminism Today. London: Sage. Thomas, N. and O'Kane, C. (1998) T h e Ethics of Participatory Research with Children', Children and Society, 12: 336-48. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) www.unicef.org/ crc/crc.htm Wilkinson, S. (1998) 'Focus Groups in Feminist Research: Power, Interaction, and the Co-Construction of Meaning', Women's Studies International Forum, 21 (1): 111-25. Williamson, E., Goodenough, T., Kent, J. and Ashcroft, R. (forthcoming) 'Conducting Research with Children: The Limits of Confidentiality and Child Protection Protocols', Children and Society. Accepted for publication.

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Chapter 6

C o m p a r is o n and collaboration: researching young p eople’s experiences and perceptions of violence in the family across Ch in a and the U K M arianne Hester and Geetanjali Gangoli This chapter explores some of the issues arising from a comparative and collaborative study across the two very different countries and cultures of China and the UK.1The idea for the research began to be developed in the late 1990s by Marianne Hester (in the UK) and He Junping (in China),2 building on their separate work on domestic violence and divorce in both China and the UK (Hester 2000; He 1998). Work on domestic violence in China had indicated the usefulness of a reflective approach involving comparison of violence in the family between such different countries as China and the UK (Hester 2000). However, there had been virtually no detailed or empirical studies of children or young people's experience of violence in the family (whether child abuse or living with domestic violence) in mainland China (Hesketh et al. 2000; Kim et al. 2000). Nor were there any studies directly comparing issues concerning children or young people's experiences of such violence across the two countries. We decided that this was an important area to explore. In the early stages we were unsure how we might go about examining the children and young people's experiences of violence in the family across the two countries, and what children and young people's experiences of violence in the family consisted of. In the UK there has in recent decades been a preoccupation with the notion of 'child abuse', and a large body of research exists examining a range of related abuses (see for example Itzin 2000), using many different research approaches. More recently children and young people's own views and experiences of violence in the family, including domestic

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violence, have been sought (Mullender et al. 2002; McGee 2000). There have also been a few recent studies on the use of discipline and punishment by parents against their children (Creighton et al. 2003). In China, by comparison, there have been a very small number of studies of child abuse, examining mainly prevalence of physical abuse (Kim et al. 2000); and examining perspectives regarding child abuse from newspapers, child health professionals, and mothers experiencing domestic violence (Hesketh et al. 2000; Liu and Chan 1999). We decided that we wanted to understand the use and experience of violence in the family 'while growing up'. We also wanted to examine a range of experiences of violence in order to explore and understand the nature and impact of abusive behaviour across the two countries. It would be important to access individuals' own views of their experiences, so that we might begin to uncover and compare possible differences in experiences as well as perceptions of violence. Other researchers had managed to carry out a survey with school children in China on prevalence of violence they were currently or recently experiencing at home, as w'ell as seeking view's from peers and teachers (Kim et al. 2000). However, we did not feel that this would provide the type and level of data we needed. Instead a more fruitful, and also more possible, approach would be to get individuals to look at their owm experiences retrospectively. We used, in the main, a survey approach with samples of university students, as these w'ere easily accessible given our roles as academics. Moreover, w'e would focus the study on use of 'discipline and punishment' as that would allow us to ask questions that included a wide range of possibly abusive behaviour and experiences. In addition, we replicated part of the Scottish Zero Tolerance study (Burton et al. 1998) asking about attitudes regarding violence against women and future relationships. In the remainder of the chapter issues and problems regarding the development and implementation of the resulting comparative research W'ill be explored w'ith particular reference to issues of importance for feminist research in the area of gender and violence. We begin by briefly outlining some of the relevant literature concerning comparative research.

D o in g com parative and collaborative research

Hantrais and Mangen (1996) define comparative research that includes cross-national aspects as follows:

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For the study to be cross-national and comparative, individuals or teams should set out to study particular issues or phenomena in two or more countries with the express intention of comparing their manifestations in different socio-cultural settings, using the same research instruments ... (Hantrais and Mangen 1996: 1) The research discussed in this chapter fits well within this definition. As outlined earlier, we set out to study a particular topic (children or young people and violence in families) in two countries (China and the UK), specifically in order to compare how this might manifest itself in very different socio-cultural settings. Flantrais and Mangen (1996) identify various research approaches used in cross-national and comparative research. For instance, they distinguish the descriptive approach where merely collection and collation of data are achieved, leaving the outcome somewhat 'culture-free'; from the societal approach that, by contrast, looks 'for explanations of differences by referring to the wider social context' (ibid.: 5). We set out with the intention of achieving the latter, including a feminist approach, wanting specifically to understand how young people's experiences and perceptions of violence in the family might differ between China and the UK. We wanted to link differences to wider societal concerns and understandings of the use of violence and discipline, as well as the location of experiences in time and space (e.g. when and where the respondents were growing up). At times, however, the difficulties and length of time involved in analysing and discussing the data, and other problems arising from our lack of a common language,3 made a more purely 'descriptive' approach seem quite attractive. In some respects a descriptive approach might also have fitted better with the Chinese tradition of social research, which is more 'positivistic' than UK social research, and especially feminist research, has tended to be (see also Gaskell and Eichler 2002). Not much is written specifically about feminist comparative and collaborative research, although feminist preoccupations with power relations, reflexivity and transparency also apply in this context (Wolf 1996; Stanley and Wise 1990). A couple of Canadian feminist researchers have discussed issues and problems involved in carrying out collaborative research in China (Gaskell and Eicher 2002). They describe their experience of a research project with Chinese women academics to study the participation of women in Chinese universities. Prior to the research they were concerned about the imperialism and colonialism inherent in the 'exporting' of Western feminist ideas to Eastern

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countries; the relative power between collaborators from a Western university and an Eastern one; the problems that lack of language skills and failure to communicate can sometimes pose; and the limitations of imposing a rigid notion of feminist or political consciousness from the West to the East.4 They began their involvement as 'experts' in Western feminist research, but without much knowledge or understanding of Chinese culture and without speaking Mandarin. By the end, they found that their presence had created a space and resources for Chinese women academics to explore their position within the academy, but that they themselves had been relatively marginalised in the research process. Their initial concerns regarding power proved to be largely unfounded as they had experienced little power during the planning of the research. Gaskell and Eichler's work does, however, highlight the problems of carrying out research in an entirely unfamiliar cultural context, and without the necessary languages. Their assumption that they could act as 'experts' in the Chinese context is indeed 'imperialist', but did not result in colonisation because the Chinese academics used Gaskell and Eichler's involvement in their own way and to their own end. However, nor did their involvement result in 'collaboration as we expect it at hom e' (ibid.: 650), although it did result in a more limited and eye-opening 'sensitivity and knowledge about national and cultural difference' (ibid.: 650). Our research on children and young people's experiences and perceptions of violence in the family differed from the work of Gaskell and Eichler in that we set out from the onset to build collaborative research, and built on a longer-term relationship between the academics involved in China and the UK. Power was an issue, but again largely in different ways to those experienced by Gaskell and Eichler, with our more collaborative approach also resulting in greater, if varying, equality. Wolf (1996) points out that power in collaborative research can be discerned in relation to three interrelated dimensions: 1) 2) 3)

'power differences stemming from different positionalities of the researcher and the researched, power exerted during the research process and power exerted during the post fieldwork process - writing and representing' (Wolf 1996: 2)

Power between researchers and researched was clearly an issue in our research, but was not discussed to a great extent within the whole research team. In our research W olf's latter categories, that is 'power 108

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exerted during the research process' and 'power exerted during the post fieldwork process', were more prominent and actively negotiated across the team. Power related to knowledge and language were especially important. Feminists have long recognised that knowledge is power, and that the use of and access to language is an important part of this (Rich 1980). The UK partners were much more experienced in researching issues of violence and abuse and in use of social science methodologies than the Chinese. To counter potential inequalities, at every stage of the research process - designing the questionnaire, planning the interviews, coding the data and transcribing the interviews - there was an effort to share the process and the experience of doing research. The Chinese colleagues rapidly became knowl­ edgeable about European social science methodology, and there was ongoing discussion about the implications of the use of different methods and of different ways of applying them.5 The main language used in the project was English, thus giving the UK partners an advantage in fluency and understanding. At the same time this excluded us from discussions in Mandarin and thus probably from some important insights into the application of the research in the Chinese context. As the Chinese partners became more proficient in English, they were able to communicate with us more easily. Our prowess in learning Mandarin was less impressive. Some of the resulting implications will be discussed further below.

De velo pin g the research

As already indicated, the research traditions in China and the UK are different, and this was also hinted at in the respective Chinese and English titles of the projects. In China the research was called 'Protecting the interests of minors, preventing domestic violence and promoting equal relationships within the fam ily', reflecting the tendency to more positivistic, inductive and often prescriptive research in China. In the UK the research was called 'Young people's experiences and per­ ceptions of violence in the family', reflecting a more deductive approach and the attempt to get at the context and meanings underlying the experiences of the violence. Yet, we were trying to (and in many respects managed to) develop a piece of research that is sensitive to cultural differences and specificities, while at the same time being directly comparable. We decided on a careful joint approach, where the methodology and instruments used would be developed through ongoing discussion 109

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mediated by interpreters between the research partners. Given the much longer history of research on such topics in the UK and the body of data already existing on the topic, it was agreed that the Chinese context would determine the overall approach taken. It was therefore decided to have a questionnaire survey as the main approach, and to use university students as a retrospective sample - rather than involving children or young people's current experiences. In addition, it was agreed that the focus would be on physical punishment and discipline, and not other experiences such as sexual abuse - which were still felt to be too difficult to broach in the Chinese context. We also wanted to include a section on attitudes, and added 10 questions that asked the views of respondents regarding relationships, sexual behaviour and violence against women which we adapted from a study by the Zero Tolerance Trust in Scotland on school students (Burton et al. 1998). We decided on the Zero Tolerance questions as this would also allow further comparison (of university students) with the original (teenage) sample in the UK. The success of the Zero Tolerance study in gathering information on sensitive issues about intimacy from a younger sample than that proposed in our research was reassuring to our Chinese colleagues, who were somewhat hesitant about asking questions that even obliquely related to sexuality or sexual behaviour. From a UK perspective we would have preferred to have begun the study with interviews which could have set the tone for and informed the questionnaire. The topic is a new area of research in China and thus interviews would be important initially to get more of a 'feel' for what to ask in an eventual questionnaire survey. However, the Chinese partners were worried about conducting interviews, though they eventually decided to do so as a follow-up to the questionnaire survey (see below). Given the language difficulties as well as cultural differences, development of the questions was complex. Overall the development of the questionnaire took 18 months. The result was a questionnaire with 30 main questions, all with numerous sub-questions. A total of more than 150 variables resulted.

T h e questionnaire

So what did the questionnaire look like? The UK questionnaire had a one-page introductory sheet summarising the aims and objectives of the research and the collaborative aspect of the work. It also had contact details for the two researchers and contact details of organisations that could help the respondents if they wanted to discuss aspects of their

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childhood or their life at present. The Chinese version had a briefer introduction that provided contact inform ation for the researchers, and did not provide details of organisations that m ight provide support, as these are few in China. In both the Chinese and the UK versions of the questionnaire the layout w as the same: with two parts. The first asked for inform ation about the respondents' childhood and experiences of discipline while growing up. The second part asked respondents to share their views about use of violence in relationships. The questionnaire began with dem ographic inform ation - gender, age, race/eth n ic origin - and then w ent on to ask for inform ation about the parents' background, fam ily situation and w hether the respondents w ere aware of their parents them selves having experienced being hit by their ow n parents. Questions were then asked about w hether the respondent had ever been hit by or experienced violence from their parents. If the answ er was 'n o ', the respondent w as asked to move on to a later section, regarding views on the best way to bring up children. If the answ er w as 'yes' the respondent w ent on to answer questions about who hit or were violent to them; their views on why they were hit; how they considered the nature and tempers of their parents; the nature and incidence of hitting; the age w hen they were hit; and the physical and em otional impact of the hitting, both when it took place and later when they were grown-up. In another study of discipline carried out in the UK around the same time as our work, the researchers used a version of the Conflict Tactics Scale, the M isbehaviour Response Scale (Creighton et al. 2003), to ascertain the views and perceptions of the parents who m ight be potential perpetrators of violent behaviour. By contrast, we were con­ cerned to ascertain the views of the recipients of the potentially violent and abusive behaviour, and we placed a greater em phasis on the contextual factors related to the use of the violent and abusive behaviour. The views of our respondents were also sought regarding possible solutions, in particular on possible and ideal means of intervention from agencies or other sources if they were hit or in other ways experienced violence. They were asked to com m ent on whether legal or com m unity interventions would have helped them when they were hit, or w hether no intervention was necessary. Finally they were asked if they thought they would consider hitting their ow n children if and when they becam e parents (this also becam e an im portant item brought up by interview ees in the follow-up interview s in the UK). The second part of the questionnaire, based on the Zero Tolerance study, w ent on to ask for respondents' views on sexual and physical

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violence against women, particularly in their own actual or potential relationships. The original research had found a discernible difference between the young men and young women taking part, with the young men markedly more likely to condone the use of both physical violence and sexual coercion (Burton et al. 1998). We wanted to ascertain if the older age group in our UK sample would respond differently, as well as examining any differences and similarities between the Chinese and UK respondents. Finally, the UK questionnaire had a detachable last page that requested contact details of respondents who were prepared to be interviewed in the follow-up stage. This was not the case with the Chinese version as they did not initially intend to carry out interviews.

O n e questionnaire or two?

While the general layout and context of both the UK and Chinese versions of the questionnaire were as outlined above, in other respects the questionnaires differed between the two countries. Some questions had to be culturally specific. In other instances we unfortunately ended up with somewhat different questions through lack of understanding and misinterpretations. De Vijver and Leung (1997) in a discussion of guidelines on comparative research have argued that: Translation is more than producing text in another language. Translators should know or be made aware of the linguistic and cultural differences that could influence responses to translated or adapted instruments. (De Vijver and Leung 1997: 43) Culturally specific questions were necessary in our questionnaire with regard to ethnicity, family situation and educational attainment. Concerning ethnicity, while the Chinese version of the questionnaire asked respondents whether they were Han Chinese (the main ethnicity) or from a minority/’ this obviously did not make sense in the UK context. Instead we changed this to a choice between white and ethnic m inority/ mixed race. With regard to family situation, in the Chinese version, asking respondents which family member they were hit by was fairly straightforward. Extended families, while changing, still continue to be the normal composition of many households. Thus, other than

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biological or step parents, the Chinese version included the possibility of being hit by one's uncle, aunt, grandparent, sister or brother. In the UK, the recognition that children can suffer punishment or abuse from a number of actors: their parents or de facto parents - foster parents, step parents or partners of their biological parents - is recognised in law (Children Act 1989). However, apart from those of South Asian and Asian origin, family households in the UK are mostly nuclear rather than extended, and child care remains the responsibility of the parents or in their absence, foster parents or state representatives. The English version therefore had to reflect these aspects. The other areas were less straightforward, or rather we made them less straightforward. W hat was interesting was how we began to 'overcompensate' in relation to cultural specificity. While the Chinese questionnaire in a question on parents' education had 'illiterate' as an option, we decided to leave it out, given that in the UK, parents are legally obliged to send their children to school until they are 16 years old. In retrospect there would have been no problem in leaving it in, and indeed it would have been interesting to see if this applied to any of the respondents' parents. We also became too 'tw itchy' about another question relating to family situation. The Chinese questionnaire asked in relation to household demographics whether one or both parents were dead. We (that is, the UK team) debated at length whether it was appropriate to ask the same of students in the UK. Finally we decided to replace it with the term 'single parent'. Another interesting issue to emerge was in the way that much more stark or 'graphic' descriptions of abuse were used within the Chinese context than would usually be the case in UK research. This was something one of us had previously found when running training sessions in Beijing on dealing with violence against women, including sexual abuse (Hester 2000), and is reflected in other questionnaire-based surveys on child abuse in China (Hesketh et al. 2000). Some of these descriptions in the Chinese questions involved specific technical or medical terms. For instance, respondents were asked whether they suffered from '5 organs bleeding' (that is, bleeding from the eyes, nose, mouth or ears) or was there 'facial nerve hit'. Other questions asked for instance if the respondent had been 'hung on a hook'. In the West, debates on child abuse and domestic violence, while including studies on the impact of child abuse, often articulate the impact in less stark, or in different, ways. Western studies deal with more 'difficult' topics but may use more academic language or less graphic descriptions to elicit answers (Ney 1994; Schaaf and McCanne 1994; Mullender et al. 2002). In China there is perhaps a greater democratisation of the language of

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impact of violence in the family, or perhaps distancing is achieved through recourse to technical or biological terms (Hester 2000). While some of the changes in the questionnaire were made deliberately (if erroneously), some others happened due to our lack of understanding of the translated questionnaire (see also De Vijver and Leung 1997). For instance, we completely misunderstood what was meant by this question: Are you the first, second, third or more child in your family? One Two Three or more We interpreted this to mean to mean the relative age of the respondents within their family - that is, were they the eldest, middle, third youngest, or only child. Our question consequently read: In your family, are you? The eldest child The middle child The third or youngest child The only child When we shared the research findings with our Chinese collaborators, we realised that the Chinese question referred to the number of children in the family - which of course makes sense in the context of the Chinese population policy. Since 1978 China has had a 'one child policy' covering the urban population (Croll 2001). Thus the sample of students would include both those who had grown up as 'one child' children, and those born before 1978, or from the countryside, who might have other siblings. In the case of other questions, the differences or errors were due to lack of communication at the right time. While initial discussions regarding the questionnaire were carried out face-to-face, during visits to either China or the UK, the final version was edited via exchanges over emails and email attachments. To give an example, the respondents who had been hit or physically punished as children were asked: 'How did you feel when you were hit?'. The Chinese version had as one of the possible responses: 'felt unfairly treated', but this was omitted from the UK questionnaire. This option was (unfortunately) very popular, with 149 students out of 269 (55%) Chinese respondents giving this response.

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In April 2002, we tested the questionnaire on 24 students in the UK to get an idea of how the questions would read to UK-based respondents. Since some of the questions had a 'translated from Chinese' quality, we anticipated some problems. But we did not anticipate the extent to which we had become 'chinosified'. The most overwhelming response we got was in relation to the question: 'Have you been beaten or otherwise subjected to physical violence by anyone within your family?'. It transpired that the problem was our use of the word 'beaten'. Some respondents proclaimed that they disliked the word 'beaten' in the questionnaire on the grounds that they had been 'smacked' not 'beaten'. Some of the comments from the respondents read: 'I was not beaten, was smacked.' 'The word beaten should not be used.' '(The questionnaire) needs to be clearer about what is beating/ slapping.' Nonetheless, we found that some of the respondents had undergone severe beating /violence. Clearly, we needed to include both experiences. The problem was that we had translated the Chinese word too literally, and should of course have used 'hit' instead of 'beaten'. We thus decided in the remainder of the study to substitute 'beaten' with 'hit', but also kept 'physical violence'. The response to our use of the word 'beaten' also raised some further questions. The respondents appeared to think that smacking is less serious than being beaten, and the latter was perceived as a particularly value laden word. While it may be argued that 'smacking' may also be seen as encompassed within beating, as a part of violence against children and young people, this was clearly not a view shared by the respondents within our pilot sample.

C o lle ctin g the data

Following the example of earlier attitudinal surveys with young people in the UK (Kelly et al. 1991; Burton et al. 1998), the survey data was collected using the classroom situation. In the UK this was done by going to a class at the start or the end of a lecture and handing out the questionnaire with a short introductory statement by the researcher(s). The students would then fill in the questionnaire in situ and hand it back to us. The Chinese used a similar approach. In the UK those who were willing to give us their contact details left the contact sheet on a separate

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pile so that their responses would remain anonym ous. Prior to the questionnaire-answ ering session the students had been asked about their w illingness to participate and provided verbal consent for the study to go ahead. As the Chinese did not initially intend to carry out interview s, this stage was omitted. The advantage of this method, using the classroom situation, was that the response rate was bound to be much higher than if we had just handed the students the questionnaire and asked them to fill it out in their private time and return it to us by post. This was borne out in practice, with a return rate of 98% - m uch higher than studies using postal questionnaires, where response rates of anyw here betw een 35 and 50% is not unusual (Oaksford and Frude 2001). It was also a way to ensure that our respondents could com m unicate with us before, during and after filling in the questionnaire if they desired. We also felt that the classroom situation m ight ensure some privacy for the students while filling in the form. However, this was not strictly the case. In the UK we noticed that som e students were leaning over and reading and sharing each oth er's forms, which may have dissuaded som e respondents from revealing that they had been hit. Our Chinese colleagues said that this had not been the case in China, possibly pointing to cultural differences w ithin classrooms. It appeared that in the Chinese classroom situation students are not as willing or able to m ove about or to peer into their friends' questionnaires.

T h e sa m p le

A num ber of factors impacted on the process of getting access to students in the UK. For instance, the UK classes that we accessed were sm aller (around 40 students average) com pared to the Chinese classes (averaging 150 students). This m eant that we had to cover more ground in order to obtain sim ilar numbers. Just before assignm ent subm ission dates or exam inations we would som etim es go to classes where only four or five students were attending the lecture as opposed to the 40 or 50 expected to attend. O ur Chinese colleagues were surprised at this and pointed out that this would rarely happen in their University. Thus we had to spend a longer time getting access to students that matched our com parative sample requirements. We were aiming at a sam ple of 500 university students in each country. In order to obtain com parable groups of students we matched sam ples by using law and social science students on sim ilar under­ graduate courses and in sim ilar universities. In the end the num bers

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were only slightly lower, with 498 respondents in China and 481 in the UK (see fa b le 6.1). Table 6.1

Sam ple

size

and

gend er

of

respondents Totals C hina UK

498 481

W om en 286 336

57.4% 69.9%

Men 212 42.6% 145 30.1%

The proportion of female students in both countries was higher than that of male students, reflecting the sim ilar differences in the gender division of students in law and social science courses in the two countries. In the UK the proportion of women was even higher than in China, with 70% as opposed to 57% of the students responding being women. O ther aspects, such as being born in a rural or urban location, and ethnicity, varied betw een the two country sam ples and reflected the student dem ographics w ithin each of the countries. Thus, in the UK m ost students, including sim ilar proportions of w om en and men, had been brought up in urban areas (72% wom en, 73% men). In China, however, m ost of the female students were brought up in urban areas (84%) while ju st over half of the m ale students had been brought up in the countryside (51%).

T h e follow -up interview s

As indicated earlier, initially the Chinese partners decided that inter­ views would be problem atic. We resolved nonetheless to go ahead with our follow-up interview s, feeling that these w ere im portant to enable us to understand more about how respondents had used the questionnaire, and to obtain more detail about how punishm ent and discipline might cross over into abusive experiences and impacts for some children. Once we had begun the interview s in the UK and were able to share the transcripts, the Chinese team also becam e convinced that interview s would be possible. As the Chinese questionnaire had not included a contact sheet, the Chinese team developed an interview sam ple by having a student ask the student groups who had filled in the question­ naire if anyone would be willing to be interview ed. The research team felt that, as they were the teachers of the groups concerned, it would not be appropriate for them to ask for interview ees, as students m ight feel

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obliged to say yes. This approach resulted in a sample of 15 interview ees, all under the age of 25. Fifty-eight individuals (12%) from the UK questionnaire sam ple had said they were prepared to be interview ed and had filled in their contact details. Contacting them all, however, proved difficult, with a large num ber of non-responses to our emails, phone calls or letters. Four respondents who agreed to be interviewed did not turn up for the interview s. Ultim ately we interview ed 11 respondents - eight w om en and four men. O f those, seven respondents were white European in origin and four were from an ethnic minority. M ost were under 25. The interview s in the UK were conducted in a variety of locations the researchers' offices, student com mon rooms, cafes, and the hom es of the respondents. The criteria were that both student and researcher should be safe and feel com fortable, although the onus of choice regarding location and time of the interview w as m ainly with the respondents. Three of the interview s were conducted over the telephone, to enable respondents a greater degree of privacy and anonymity. H alf agreed to allow us to tape the interviews. Taping was not an option in two cases: one where the interview was conducted in a corner of the student com m on room and another in a cafe (conducted away from others so that they would not hear). Taping would in these instances have drawn attention to the interview, and we relied instead on notes and m emory to com pile the transcript (which was compiled soon after the interview to ensure greater accuracy). All interview ees in the UK were provided with and signed a consent form. In the case of the telephone interview s, the consent form was emailed to the respondents. In all cases, the respondents were given the option to read the transcripts and to m ake any additions or deletions to the interview m aterial. Only two took up this option but returned the transcripts with no changes. We developed two UK interview schedules: one for respondents who had experienced being hit by their parents and another for those who had not, although these were largely used as aide m em oires, with the interview s following an unstructured approach. We were mainly interested in seeing w hat issues the respondents thought were im portant or would bring up. In the Chinese context one interview schedule was developed using sim ilar questions to those in the UK schedules, and a sem i-structured approach was also adopted. As is often the case with research with victim s/survivors of violent and abusive experiences (Kelly 1988; Scully 1994) conducting the interview s was in some instances an extrem ely moving experience, with respondents speaking about intim ate aspects of their lives in great

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detail, and perhaps talking about events that they had not before shared w ith others. For instance, in the UK two fem ale respondents told us about their experience of being raped as teenagers, one by her step brothers. Another woman told us at length about the violent marriage that she had ju st escaped from. In these cases, the respondents brought up the issue when the interview w as well under way, presum ably after they had perceived and experienced trust in the interview process and the interviewer. Som e interview s were thus a more intense experience for the interviewer, who had to be able to respond to stated requests (need for inform ation about law s or contacts for counsellors in one case) and unstated expectations (a sym pathetic ear, continued contact with respondent). For us as researchers there was the issue of needing to be detached yet em pathetic. We had to walk the tightrope of being friendly but having to rem em ber that we were not actually friends of the respondents. There w as also a sense of responsibility for having brought up unpleasant issues for respondents, and not w anting to leave them in a state of distress. One issue to emerge from the interview s in the UK was that respondents who had not experienced physical punishm ent from their parents or suffered abuse felt that the questionnaire was potentially more 'difficult' or 'u nfair' to men. This was not the case for those who had experienced violence and abuse. As one wom an, who had not experienced violence or abuse, explained: The questionnaire w asn't hard but it does create bad perceptions about men and violence. It raises your feelings about your family and men and violence. I d id n't find it difficult but I haven't experienced any thing bad in the fam ily or w ith any man. It would be difficult to answ er for som eone who has experienced violence. (Interview with Geeta, 22-year-old Asian w om an in the UK) W hile another respondent who was a survivor of rape stated that she 'found the questions very exhausting, very tiring' (interview with Fabia, 27-year-old Asian wom an), but did not feel that the questionnaire was unfair or biased. Indeed she felt that there was still a tendency for violence against women to becom e invisible and there was a need for m ore public discussion, rather than less: ... no one wants to talk about violence against women. They don't think it's abnorm al ... There's the attitude of 'so w hat if he hits his wife, it's just a slap ...' (Interview with Fabia, 27-year-old Asian woman in the UK)

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The Chinese interviewees7 talked about the violence and punishment they had experienced as children. This ranged from being smacked on the bottom, to being kicked in the head so that the child was hospitalised. A major theme was the use of and acceptability of punishment in the Chinese context - in particular, and following Confucian notions, that punishment is important to enable the child to know what is right and wrong and to grow up stronger. (In many respects this echoes recent debates in the UK regarding whether or not smacking should be legislated against.) One of the students in China pointed out that: I am sure that I will [beat my children]. As the old saying goes, beating and scolding are love. It is not good to indulge children. Through battery, it is suitable for them to correct their mistake and to remind them. It is beneficial to their growth. Parents should give a suitable lesson to their children. (Interview with Jie, young male Chinese student) There were also signs of a developing critique of the use of more 'severe' violence to punish children, and some students were beginning to define such violence as 'domestic violence' (see also Hester 2000). These ideas are reflected across the following quotes: Parents should not beat their children endlessly or severely, which children cannot bear. I suffered my parents' beating because I was very naughty as a child. Through their beating, I remembered my mistake. So, I do not hate my parents. The purpose of their beating is good in order to discipline me. (Interview with Zhao, young male Chinese student) No matter what they have done, beating children, by my present opinion, should belong to domestic violence. I hope that parents do not beat their children. They should be modest and un­ assuming and communicate with their children. (Interview with Li, young female Chinese student)

A n alysin g the data

The third phase of the research - analysing and writing up of the data is still in progress as we write. Two issues have been important: the

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extent to which we should, or might be able to, share our data sets; and how to go about analysing the data. The two data sets, both quantitative and qualitative data, were originally created separately in Chinese and English. With regard to the interview data, the Chinese data has been translated into English. The quantitative data posed more problem s, however. Given that we had generally asked the same questions and had discussed where w e had not done so, creating an SPSS database that included all the variables, both the shared and the country-distinct variables, seemed the obvious answer. Ultim ately this is w hat we did do; however, there were many problem s. W hen w e began the research the Chinese team were not fam iliar with SPSS, and were not aware of other (Chinese) program s that worked in a sim ilar way. M oreover they were reluctant to hand over the questionnaire data for inputting in the English team 's SPSS database as they did not know how to access the data. It was not clear to us at that time if a M andarin version of SPSS existed. There were obviously issues related to power and control regarding the data and analysis if the bulk of the processing were to be carried out by the UK team. It was im portant for the continued equality betw een the partners for the Chinese data to be processed in China, the UK data to be processed in the UK, and then to share the findings. Initially we adopted a very laborious and time consum ing approach. The UK data was inputted into SPSS and the print-outs shared across the whole team. The Chinese data, however, w as com puted by hand, w ith data only being analysed by 'gen d er'. This data was also shared across the whole team. This partial processing of the data allowed us to begin discussion about the answers to the questions and thus to begin to understand and write up the contextual factors and possible reasons for the patterns, both sim ilarities and differences, across the two countries. However, this approach only provided a very partial picture of what m ight be going on in the data, and we could not test other variables. At this time the Chinese team obtained access to a M andarin version of SPSS. However, they could not operate it themselves, and thus had a research student in another university doing the inputting and providing cross tabulations. This resulted in analysis by gender and by location (rural versus urban), taking our discussions and analysis further, but still providing only a partial picture. N onetheless, the discussions and sharing of data resulted in greater understanding of how data sharing across two quite different languages and use of quite different letters or characters might work. It also resulted in som e exciting initial findings from the data, including ones

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that were not directly about punishment and discipline. For instance, the Chinese women students were generally describing themselves as 'extrovert' while the Chinese men more readily described themselves as 'shy'. This was also correlated with location, as more of the Chinese women students came from the cities, and the men, mostly from the countryside. It has been apparent in the media in China that young women are seen as increasingly confident. However, our research has seemingly provided the first documentation of this. We eventually managed to combine the two data sets onto one SPSS database, and one member of the Chinese team was trained in use of SPSS. We are now preparing a jointly authored book that takes the form of a comparison of the results and a 'conversation' between the two countries.

Con clu sio n

Other researchers have found that it is very difficult to compare data on violence against children and young people from one country to another. It has been suggested that comparisons between studies can be extremely problematic because of the discrepancies and differences in definitions, methodology and sampling (Ghate 2000). Researchers working on child abuse and violence against children have con­ sequently pointed to the need to focus on '... homogeneous methodologies, using large sample sizes o f ... p opulation s... to facilitate comparisons between studies' (Oaksford and Frude 2001). Yet the problem with such an approach is that it is likely to impose methodologies from one country or culture, in other areas where different cultural meanings are operating, but without this becoming apparent. Such an approach is especially likely to result in the application of already dominant, and possibly limited, methodologies as has been the case with the widespread use of approaches based on the Conflict Tactics Scale (Creighton et al. 2003; Kim et al. 2000). As we have expressed throughout this chapter, our particular concern has been to use an approach that allowed us to explore difference and that tried to minimise cultural imperialism. In order to do this we focused on and used explicit 'bias' - that is, applying mainly specific Chinese-oriented, and to a lesser extent specific UK-oriented, questions in both contexts, with use of follow-up interviews. We encountered many problems on the way, but the process has also been an enriching experience, and the findings will provide lessons for policy and practice in both countries.

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N o te s

1

2

3

4

5

6 7

The UK aspect of the research was carried out in England although it replicated some work previously carried out in Scotland - hence we use the term UK rather than England. Later, Tian Lan (in China) and Geetanjali Gangoli (in the UK) joined the research team. Chen Wen Qi and Ye Qihua have also worked as translators at different times throughout the work. The Chinese partners spoke limited, if increasing amounts of, English. The UK partners had an even more limited understanding of Mandarin. Language use, and problems resulting, is discussed further later in the chapter. Increasingly feminists are using the terms 'North' and 'South' to discuss power and wealth distributions globally. In this chapter the terms West and East are more explicit and thus appropriate. We talk here about 'European' research rather than 'Western' research. The research traditions in Europe and for example North America have tended to be different, with a greater emphasis on ethnomethodological ap­ proaches in the European context. This emphasis on context has also tended to be reflected in European, and especially UK research on violence against women. In China there are 55 nationalities other than the majority Han, including the Zhuang, Man, Hui, Miao, Weiwu'er, Yi, Tujia, Menggu, Zang, etc. We don't have the ages of the Chinese interviewees as the interviews possibly did not ask the respondents for their ages. However, the average age of Chinese respondents was lower than the UK ones, as the analysis of the questionnaires reveals - 68.9 % of Chinese students were between the ages of 19-20 while only 56.2% of UK students were between these ages. There were no Chinese students above the age of 23 as compared to 22.9% of UK students.

B ib lio g r a p h y

Burton, S., Kitzinger, J., Kelly, L. and Regan, L. (1998) Young people's attitude towards violence, sex and relationships: a survey and focus group study. Glasgow and Fife: Zero Tolerance Charitable Trust. Creighton, S., Ghate, D., Hazel, N., Field, J. and Finch, S. (2003) 'Putting the Conflict Tactics Scale in context of violence from parent to child', in R.M. Lee and E. Stanko (eds), Researching Violence. London: Routledge. Croll, E. (2001) Endangered Daughters: Discrimination and Development in Asia. London: Routledge. De Vijver, F.V. and Leung, K. (1997) Methods and data analysis fo r cross-cultural research. Thousand Oaks, CA and London: Sage.

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Gaskell, J. and Eichler, M. (2002) 'W hite women as burden: On playing the role of fem inist "exp erts" in China', Women's Studies International Forum, 24 (6): 637-51. Ghate, D. (2000) 'Fam ily Violence and Violence Against Children', Children and Society, 14: 395-403. Hantrais, L. and M angen, S. (eds) (1996) Cross-national research methods in the social sciences. London: Pinter. He, J. (1998) 'Special protection of w om en's rights in China', in C. McGlynn (ed.), Legal Feminisms: Theory and Practice. Aldershot: Ashgate. Hesketh, T., Shu Hong, Z. and Lynch, M.A. (2000) 'Child abuse in China: the views and experiences of child health professionals', Child A buse and Neglect, 24 (6): 867-72. Hester, M. (2000) 'D om estic Violence in China', in J. Radford, M. Friedberg and L. Harne (eds) Women, Violence and Strategies fo r Action. Feminist Research, Policy and Practice. Buckingham: Open University Press. Itzin, C. (2000) Home Truths about Child Sexual Abuse: Influencing Policy and Practice, A Reader. London: Routledge. Kelly, L. (1988) Surviving sexual violence. Cam bridge: Polity Press. Kelly, L., Regan, L. and Burton, S. (1991) An Exploratory study o f the Prevalence o f Sexual Abuse in a Sample o f 16-21 Year Olds. London: Polytechnic of North London. Kim, D.H., Kim, K.I., Park, Y.C., Zhang, L.D., Lu, M.K. and Li, D. (2000) 'C hildren's experience of violence in China and Korea: a transcultural study', Child Abuse and Neglect, 24 (9): 1163-73. Liu, M. and Chan, C. (1999) 'Enduring Violence and Staying in Marriage. Stories of Battered Women in Rural China', Violence Against Women, 5 (12): 1469-92. McGee, C. (2000) Childhood experiences o f domestic violence. London: Jessica Kingsley. Mullender, A., Hague, G., Imam, U., Kelly, L., M alos, E. and Regan, L. (2002) Children's Perspectives on Domestic Violence. London: Sage. Ney, P. G. (1994) 'The Worst Com binations of Child Abuse and N eglect', Child Abuse and Neglect, 18 (9): 704-14. Oaksford, K. and Frude, N. (2001) 'The prevalence and nature of child sexual abuse: evidence from a female university sample in the U K ', Child Abuse Review, 10 (1): 49-59. Rich, A. (1980) On lies, secrets and silence: selected prose 1966-1978. London: Virago. Schaaf, K.K. and M cCanne, T.R. (1994) 'Childhood Abuse, Body Image Disturbance and Eating Disorders', Child Abuse and Neglect, 18 (8): 607-15. Scully, D. (1994) Understanding sexual violence: a study o f convicted rapists. London: Routledge. Stanley, L. and W ise, S. (1990) Feminist Ontology and Epistemology. London: Routledge. Wolf, D. (1996) Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork. Boulder, CO: W estview Press.

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Chapter 7

Researching w o m e n political prisoners in N o r t h e r n Ireland: ethnographic problem s and negotiations Mary S. Corcoran

Contemporary ethnographies of political violence define research in the 'conflict zone' in two very different ways. The conventional ethno­ graphic 'tradition' conceives of the autonomous researcher 'in the field' who makes incursions into the closed world of paramilitarism or the dark corners of state violence (Feldman 1991; Urban 1992). The critical successor to 'classical' conflict studies understands such research to be a series of embodied, situated interventions in a socialised 'space' or environment which is permeated by material, ideological and discursive structures and relations of power (Duncan 1996; Maher 1997; Pickering 2001). This distinction is important to critical scholars who have sought to challenge precepts of the semantic unity of researching 'violent conflict' or 'terrorism ', and create explanatory frameworks for exploring how (para)military1 violence interacts with, sustains, or even exacerbates existing forms of social oppression and 'm undane' violence (Nordstrom and Martin 1992; Sluka 1992; Aretxaga 1999). The latter approach has characterised the feminist criticism of 'conflict studies' for obscuring or marginalising the experience of violence by 'noncombatant' women and children. Similarly, feminist studies of war have generated powerful analyses of women as objects of multifaceted relations of gendered, 'ethnic', sexual, cultural, physical and psycho­ logical violence and coercion (Brownmiller 1974; Elshtain 1995; Stiglmayer 1994). Such interventions have not only revealed the complex problems of researching women in communities affected by violence, but have prompted the development of appropriate analytical frameworks which are both sensitive to the particular oppressions to

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which such women are subject, and reflect the intersecting relations of violence which shape their lives. In this context, the question of researching women in conflict zones is not confined to establishing subjective relations with potential respondents, but also recognises that various structured and insti­ tutionalised forms of power and violence prefigure 'access'. This chapter explores how these issues had a bearing on the processes of researching and interviewing women former political prisoners in Northern Ireland during 1997 and 1998. It will examine the research terrain in terms of a grid or matrix of three intersecting 'fields' - the state, 'paramilitary' violence, and the intrusiveness or potential violations represented by the research process itself. Each of these fields is bound by a particular set of prohibitions which emerged from the organisation of power within them, and was mediated through the practices of individuals acting in their particular social contexts. The discussion outlines firstly the role of the state in constraining access to women confined in prison, and in decisively shaping the definitions of 'legitimate' and 'illegitim ate' research. Secondly, the chapter explores the influence of paramilitary 'discipline' on the research process, with particular reference to prohibitions it generates on 'telling' to 'outsiders'. Thus, community discipline not only refers to the enforce­ ment of territorial 'integrity' and the violent policing of informers by paramilitaries, but to the codes and values of non-disclosure which were endorsed and practised within Nationalist and Loyalist areas. The third 'field' consists of the distribution of social norms and gendered controls in the community, the openings and closures that they generated with regards to gaining access to women former prisoners, and the strategies of negotiation that they prompted. However, the very focus on 'reaching' women who were former paramilitary combatants problematises an element of current epistemology of women and violence. Firstly, women have pre­ dominantly figured in conflict research as victims and witnesses (Stiglmayer 1994), but far less frequently as participants in, or sup­ porters of, political violence (Pickering 2001). In this context, the bipolar construction of women as either 'victims' or 'perpetrators' of violence, which is central to both feminist and conflict studies, is critically confronted by women whose actions need to be explained with reference to both factors in their experiences, motives and relationships with political violence (Daly and Maher 1998). Secondly, conventional conflict research continues to valorise (or fails to interrogate) dominant ideologies of masculinity and the deployment of the researcher's social power in the 'field'. This is evident in some researchers' assumptions 126

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about their rights of access to different social spaces, the coherence of their own agency vis-a-vis the researched 'other', or a residual assertion of anthropological conquest in accounts of 'penetrating' the conflict territory and decoding social systems and codes. Feldman's account of interviewing male paramilitaries in Northern Ireland demonstrates the problems: My access to certain restricted circuits of paramilitary discourse and culture depended on my recognition of thresholds of secrecy. This recognition had to be visibly displayed by me in dialogue and in everyday interactions. ... In a colonised culture, secrecy is an assertion of identity and of symbolic capital. (Feldman 1991: 11) The research process outlined in this chapter takes as its theoretical basis post-structural, feminist and discourse-analytical critiques of field research as a semantically unified or subjectively coherent process, by emphasising the contingent and relational dimensions of the ethno­ graphic encounter (Maher 1997; Aretxaga 1999; Pickering 2001). Such interventions critically engage with the explicit and implicit power positions between the researcher and the researched, as well as clarifying the importance of the political, gendered and cultural dimensions which frame interpersonal negotiations in the 'field'. The fieldwork itself commenced in 1997 and continued up to and beyond the signing of the Belfast Agreement on 10 April 1998. Thirtyseven respondents were interviewed, including 14 women former prisoners, of whom 12 had been affiliated with Republican organi­ sations and one Loyalist. The dominance of Republican women in the research process is explained below. In addition, a non-political prisoner was interviewed as she had worked with Republican prisoners to challenge institutional bullying at Mourne House, the women's unit at HMP Maghaberry. Nine people from the voluntary sector who had worked with political prisoners were interviewed, including former and current members of the Boards of Visitors, a doctor, a welfare worker from the non-state sector and three prison chaplains. Pastoral workers played a significant mediating role, as political prisoners refused to work with the statutory probation or w'elfare sector on the basis that the requirement to acknowledge their 'crime' was antithetical to their political status. Three members of the 'prisoners community' that is, advocates for the prisoners' wellbeing - were interviewed: a lawyer, a prisoner's relative and a community worker active in community-based prisoners' welfare organisations. Finally, 11 former 127

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and serving staff were interviewed, from uniformed officers to senior governors and prison administrators.2

R esearching prisons in N o rth e rn Ireland: the state as ‘gatekeep er’

Prison research is a deeply political process which is bounded by extensive institutional and epistemological obstructions to the critical scrutiny of penal institutions (Cohen and Taylor 1972/1981; Scraton et al. 1991; McEvoy 2001; McKeown 2001). Research into the internal administration of the prison system in Northern Ireland was additionally restricted during the Troubles' as a consequence of the 'protective' mechanisms adopted by the government, on the basis of the need to protect employees from exposure to harm, and to minimise potentially adverse affects to 'national security' (Gormally and McEvoy 1995). A second layer of 'safeguards' was provided by emergency legislation designed to constrain the dissemination of information which purportedly 'aids terrorism' (Hogan and Walker 1989: 155-162). The legal apparatus potentially criminalises some research activities under the regular secrecy provisions as well as anti-terrorist legislation (ibid.: 158). The legislation also supported an official culture of non­ disclosure, which deterred civil servants and senior administrators from speaking to researchers by the widespread, if often informal, ethos of official reticence, for fear of demotion or removal from special duties (Stalker 1988: 87). A third layer of protection from scrutiny involved delegitimising certain research topics and objectives (Nordstrom and Martin 1992: 3). 'Conflict research' is often categorically divided into 'legitimate' research enterprises, which uphold the legal and discursive norms of 'peacekeeping', and 'illegitimate' concerns, which allegedly issue moral support for paramilitaries and their supporters (Taylor 1988). More generally, an institutional nexus between the state and the academy underlines dominant parameters of 'legitimate' research, where critical scholarship is either invalidated by an official preference for ideologically 'neutral', policy-oriented and practice-relevant re­ search, or where research which does not meet these criteria is assigned to a marginal, 'counter hegemonic' position. A corollary problem with the research into a particularly contested aspect of the conflict - the penal treatment of women political prisoners - involved competing claims as to its potential 'propaganda' value to different political interests or movements.

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Indeed, the issue of 'legitimacy' pervaded the research process and acquired contradictory nuances over and above the usual quandaries about addressing critical academic an d /o r governmental or policy con­ stituencies. In societies in conflict, the question of whose perspectives are sought becomes a radically polarising one, where the selection of one potential group of respondents is likely to exclude another. In this sense, the issue of 'access' is politically determined, and whereas the likelihood of establishing the plausibility of the research project across antagonistic groups is not completely foreclosed, the researcher's options are narrowed and 'choices' are starker. Like McKeown (2001: 4), and McEvoy (2001: 371), I conducted interviews with political prisoners after their release, because the possibility of gaining access to serving prisoners inside the prison was remote. In 1997, I wrote to the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) with a request to visit the prison and to interview staff. I did not seek official endorsement for the research project itself, as its objective - which was to examine the relationship between the organisation of prison punishment, and resistance to it by women imprisoned for politically motivated offences - was liable to be view'ed as overly 'theoretical', politically sensitive or contentious. However, I was equally concerned not to conceal these aspects of my research, nor to misrepresent them in the hope of getting access to HMP Maghaberry or to staff without their informed consent. I did not receive a reply to my letter, but followed it up with telephone enquiries as to the fate of my request. Despite cordial exchanges with one official, I was circumspect about agreeing to the formal submission of interview schedules unless I could ascertain whether I would get any further than that stage. Like McKeown (2001: 4), I was also unwilling to allow the screening of the research proposals in case it become obligatory that I altered the core objectives in order for the fieldwork to proceed. Moreover, I was already aware that NIO-sanctioned access would have invariably excluded me from prisoners' organisations, or access to former prisoners in the community. I was also mindful that the serving prisoners would not have consented to being interviewed in the prison. In October 1996, before I went into the field, I had received a letter from the Republican commanding officer (O /C ) in Mourne House, the women's prison unit at HMP Maghaberry, outlining why the Republican group declined to allow me to interview them. They said that they had recently co-operated with an unspecified research project, and were 'angry' and 'disappointed' with the misrepresentation of themselves and their perspectives (Correspondence, Maghaberry O /C ,

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October 1996). However, she did support my stated intention to contact the Republican prisoners' organisations. During the fieldwork in 1997, it was indicated to me that this refusal was also influenced by larger concerns connected with the ongoing political process, which had led to a change in the prisoners' previous strategy of seeking to publicise individual cases or collective grievances against the prison administration. This was because the broader political process fostered an emphasis on negotiation between senior prison administrators, NIO officials and the prisoner groups about a variety of concerns, including rights of access to their political representatives, special temporary releases, compassionate parole, transfer from prisons in Britain, and other individual cases. In March 1998, I was updated by a group of prisoners' representatives who had returned from visiting the women at Maghaberry. Consequently, the problems with accessing serving prisoners were created in part because of their negotiating priorities at a particularly delicate stage, as well as their desire to protect their interests and political profile from 'outside' interference, while permitting limited information to be mediated by their representatives. Some months after my initial approaches to the NIO, I contacted other, more sympathetic administrators within the prison service directly, and was given clearance for an escorted visit to Maghaberry prison, where I interviewed some officers and arranged to interview others outside of the workplace.’ The strategy of accessing personnel in the security forces in Northern Ireland by 'getting around' insti­ tutionalised obstacles blurs some of the conventional distinctions between 'overt' and 'covert' research, and requires specific ethical approaches and perspectives. The solutions to gaining access to personnel in the criminal justice agencies in Northern Ireland have been variably 'resolved' either by recruiting sympathetic internal respon­ dents, or by conducting research with personnel outside of the workplace (Brewer and Magee 1991; McEvoy 2001). Exclusion from official agencies has both necessitated and reinforced the decision to make clear choices about working outside of official lines of authori­ sation, interviewing across official and political divides (Feldman 1991: 11), or tentatively using existing institutional openings, such as prison visits, to contact individuals (McKeown 2001: 4). Similarly, Hobbs noted that while he gained the trust of his respondents as 'both the insider and the researcher', his role as a participant observer of London's criminal networks did not exclude the necessity of having to make a firm choice as to 'whose side [he] was on' (Hobbs 1989: 15-16). While former political prisoners-turned-researchers were able to lay clear claims to being regarded by respondents as 'a safe pair of hands' (McKeown 2001: 130

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5), this did not eliminate considerable personal dilemmas about revealing 'disagreements and schisms within the community or [among] Republican prisoners' (ibid.: 8). Alternatively, researchers have taken personal risks or broken the law in order to become participant observers of events which are otherwise closed to public scrutiny. Margaretta D 'arcy's Tell Them Everything (1981) is, to date, the most comprehensive 'insider' account of the women's prison protests. D'arcy, a feminist activist and writer, refused to pay the fine that was imposed on her for public order offences during a women's vigil outside Armagh prison in 1979. She was imprisoned for three months in Armagh in 1980, where she elected to 'join' the Republican no wash strike. As a protesting prisoner, she served her whole term, and on release wrote her account of the Armagh protests. Whatever forms of 'covert' research are conducted, this does not exempt the researcher from considerable responsibilities and dilemmas w'hen offering ethical transparency and informed consent. 'Covert' research was especially counterproductive in Northern Ireland, where disclosure could have had lethal consequences for participants, which made it incumbent on researchers to be receptive to the risks, to avoid exposing either oneself or respondents to danger, and to ensure the safety of research data. The strategies for negotiating mutual solutions to the risks that were borne by women in participating in research in a conflict setting are now discussed.

Researching w om e n in the conflict zone: n egotiatin g access in violently divided co m m u n ities

The field of conflict research produces a range of demarcations and prohibitions for the researcher as well as the 'researched' which present ethical and methodological predicaments associated with crossing divides. According to Feldman (1991) and Sluka (1992) the geography of conflict in Northern Ireland centred on the militarisation of social space by the state, and the reciprocal recolonisation of territory by the confessional (Catholic-Nationalist or Protestant-Loyalist) communities. However, the 'conflict zone' in these accounts is problematically conceived of in terms of territorial antagonism between the state and (male) paramilitaries as 'defenders of the community', while levelling out other strata of power and violence. The policing of community 'discipline' by paramilitary organisations, for example, has reinforced other forms of gendered regulation in the public sphere (Lentin 1997; Dowler 1997), suppressed the recognition of violence against women

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within communities in conflict (Rooney 1995), and reauthorised patriarchal order through severe physical sanctions such as punishment beatings or shootings, as well as expulsions for 'anti-social behaviour' (Bloomfield 1998). Although neither Loyalists nor Republicans have generally viewed journalists and researchers as 'legitimate targets' in the past, some have been 'warned off' from pursuing particular lines of research or for working in particular localities, and others have been attacked or intimidated. The potential risks for those co-operating with researchers was greater, as over 120 murders, as well as countless assaults, were inflicted on alleged 'informers' in the course of the conflict (McKittrick et al. 1999). Although the links between being interviewed by researchers and being targeted as an 'inform er' cannot be conclusively drawn, the sanction acted both as a collective deterrent and a palpable disciplining mechanism. As numerous feminist researchers have noted, it is incumbent on ethnographers not only to recognise the ways in which women negotiate the material risks that are part of their daily experiences, but to confront the potential which the researcher's presence has for dis­ rupting or even unravelling their strategies (Maher 1997: 207-222; Pickering 2001). In seeking to speak to women former prisoners in Republican and Loyalist communities, it was necessary for me to defer to the complex realities of the pervasive presence of the security forces (their 'w ithdrawal' from the streets because of the political process notwithstanding), the embedded routinisation of self-surveillance, and the inescapable necessity for collective reticence about engaging with researchers and other outsiders. As security concerns were woven into the daily practices and consciousness of interviewees and researcher, they also created the necessity for establishing mutually agreed locations in which to conduct the interviews. I left it to respondents to nominate the place in which we would meet, in the knowledge that their access to districts outside of their neighbourhoods was difficult and undesirable. Most of the respondents chose to be interviewed in their homes, at local community facilities or in their places of work. Others preferred locations outside of their immediate neighbourhoods. Even being interviewed at home did not prevent the curiosity and alertness of respondents' neighbours to the presence of an unfamiliar face at their doorstep.4 The choice of location also took into account a habitual reflex in respondents to limit the circulation of information about their participation in research. None of this is to imply that any respondent was engaged in concealing or denying their participation to their community, but, in responding to the normalisation of self-awareness

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and extended networks of com m unity surveillance, some individuals expressed a desire to exercise control over 'their own business'. Concerns with personal safety were not the only factor in choosing the location. Limited time and money and the dem ands of childcare and work m eant that personal resources were in short supply, and it was im portant that respondents should not incur any greater costs in participating than they already bore. As M aher (1997: 231) observes, the very nature of ethnographic research involves participants in relations of risk, problem s and exploitation, so 'it is im perative that we do not impose additional burdens or expectations on the w om en w e research'. Nevertheless, the researcher's presence, how ever unwitting, is unavoidably intrusive and im poses burdens and obligations on the researched to 'take responsibility' for the safety of outsiders. Addressing the shared risks of research entailed accom m odating m yself to a 'com m on sense' awareness about personal security both in m aking my w ay around unfam iliar territory, and in developing appropriate reactions to the presence of security forces. I used precautions such as leaving details of my destination and estim ated time of return with a trusted third party, and had alternative plans for inform ing people of any change in our arrangem ents. An additional, unavoidable, burden involved the care and concern of interview ees in ensuring my personal safety while travelling to and from interview s, which included arranging lifts, organising local cabs where there was no public transport, or escorting me to main thoroughfares. I also had to acknow ledge my lim itations. There were times when I did not feel safe, and did not proceed to a meeting. Similarly, fam ily em ergencies or other developm ents caused som e respondents to cancel, and for one reason or another, we did not meet again. The im pulse to get an interview at all costs exposes both researchers and interview ees to unnecessary risks, and further underlines the exploitation of respondents. Therefore, I stepped back w hen the conditions required it, and reflected and reconsidered, even letting opportunities go, if there were any potentially adverse outcom es. 'Intervention in the field' was necessarily redefined by reflexive ethnographic practices in which, ultimately, the researcher relies on the researched to negotiate the field. It also engages the material limits to field research which are shaped by the disparities of power, as well as concrete differences in class, age, cultural, national, confessional and other attributes. These elem ents are considered in the following discussion of interview ing former political prisoners in the community.

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In and ou t of the com m u n ity: n egotiatin g access to w om e n in the co m m u n ity

McKeown has observed that embarking on qualitative research with former prisoners in the community in Northern Ireland is contingent on the researcher's insider or outsider status. The mutual bonds brought about by common experiences of imprisonment enabled him to establish relationships with his respondents through a shared 'conceptual fram ew ork... a familiar language and awareness of nuances that an "outsider" might m iss' (McKeown 2001: 5). Never­ theless, the 'insider position' creates its own predicaments because, in belonging to one closed community, a researcher's access to other closed groups, such as the prison administration, former staff or other prison communities, may be foreclosed (ibid.: 8). As an outsider, I had anticipated some of the difficulties that arise in accessing political prisoners in the community. As McKeown comments: Because of the nature of their politics and the organisation they belong to, any 'outsider' approaching them for research is first referred to the Republican Movement for clearance. Should the Movement advise against participation, the research ends before it has even begun. In those instances where approval is given to the study, the researcher is usually directed towards a number of pre­ selected prisoners or ex-prisoners. The process can be a lengthy one with no guarantee that the people whom the researcher most wants to interview will actually agree to participate. (McKeown 2001: 3). My initial entry into the former prisoners' groups generally corresponded with M cKeown's description. I had introduced myself in a letter to the Sinn Fein Prisoner of War (PoW) Department, and there­ after, to a range of community organisations outlining the objectives of the research, and including assurances about the confidentiality of the information. I described the main areas of interest in interviewing former women prisoners as: their experiences of everyday punishment in prison, their strategies for maintaining morale and identity, the impact of criminalisation, their political culture and structures, and their insights into specific incidents in Armagh and Maghaberry prisons. The extent to which this correspondence may or may not have been vetted is unknown to me. I was not asked to submit questions in advance by any organisation in the community, nor by any individual respondents or gatekeepers, and only one respondent, not a former prisoner, refused to 134

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permit the interview to be recorded. Two former prisoners whom I approached refused to be interviewed, although they assisted me in other ways. The political organisations tend to refer requests such as mine upwards for a final decision, and I was eventually met by a representative from Sinn Fein's PoW department with whom I had a preliminary discussion. Following this, I was put in touch with some individual women, and in the meantime, referred to the other, community-based, ex-prisoner organisations, where I went through the same procedure. In one sense, I was initially neither encouraged nor discouraged by the central political organisations, in that, while my requests were facilitated, the decision to participate in interviews lay with individual respondents. This is not to understate the invaluable assistance of 'gatekeepers' - that is, former prisoners who acted as mediators in introducing me to respondents. Thereafter, I met other respondents through personal introductions from women who had been interviewed. The period of fieldwork also coincided with a very dynamic time for new community-based initiatives and development programmes for prisoners and their families, which were publicly funded since 1995 as part of the 'peace dividend'. In this context, I was also vouchsafed by community-based researchers, who were assessing the needs of prisoners and their families, in the event that a prisoner release programme would be implemented as a consequence of any political settlement.

N e g o tia tin g c o m m o n interests: en cou n terin g t h e ‘o th e r’ in the research process

In the heavily researched field of the 'Troubles', a combination of 'research fatigue' and 'resistance from below ' was a characteristic response to intrusive journalistic or academic gazes in the community. In my initial contacts with potential respondents, I had to address their scepticism about engaging in another research project about 'women and the Troubles', and their concern to know 'what was different' about my research aims.5 The first area of contention involved issues of representation, or misrepresentation, as most respondents rejected the social fiction of themselves as 'women-terrorists' (MacDonald 1991; Lloyd 1995). The second concern reflected long-standing differences between Republicans and feminists as to whether female Volunteers were subordinated within their paramilitary organisations or colluded 135

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in the victimisation of other women (Loughran 1983: Buckley and Lonergan 1984: Fairweather et al. 1984: Shannon 1989, 74-107: Rooney 1995). Some indicated a reluctance to be recast, in the words of one respondent, as 'feminist heroes' [sic], while others made it clear that they were not interested in co-operating with 'fem inist' analyses of false gender-consciousness because of their previous roles as combatants. A second problem, indicated in the comments in the correspondence with the IRA O /C in Maghaberry during 1996, was related to the loss of 'ownership' over their narratives. This was evident not only in the previous concerns about representation, but in questions about the destination of interview material and my arrangements (discussed below) for ensuring its safety and confidentiality, and ensuring their rights of reply. None of the respondents' critical observations seemed to imply an unreasonable exercise of power over their stories, nor did I perceive them to be attempts to influence the overall research goals or to suppress any interpretations. Instead, there were lengthy discussions with gatekeepers and potential respondents about the broader relevance of their experiences. Some respondents wished to establish how their experiences might inform other prison campaigns, especially with regard to the imprisonment of women, strip-searching and securitisation. Others participated because they wanted an account of the women's prison experiences to be written, although many also added that the lack of time, resources and institutional support, which I had as a researcher, constrained them from producing their own accounts. As in ethnographic research generally, other, less tangible factors influenced the decision to participate, including word of mouth recommendations from other former prisoners; a sense of duty or responsibility about representing the prisoners' perspective; an element of curiosity to meet one of the cluster of researchers ('over funded and over here') who descended on Northern Ireland during the period to research various aspects of the 'peace process'; and an accustomed sense of hospitality and courtesy to 'well-meaning' outsiders. Access to respondents was also eased in some groups, and constrained in others, because of the gendered, national and 'Catholic' inferences that could be drawn from my name and accent. In this sense, my 'otherness' was both related to what I was (Southern Irish, middleclass, an academic) and was not (Northern Irish, working class, political or community activist). Conversely, some of these same attributions positioned me as politically and culturally alien to Unionist and Loyalist women, who felt it necessary at times to explain aspects of their political

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and cultural perspectives when talking about our 'com m on' interest in w om en in prison. Access to Loyalist w om en form er prisoners presented a different range of problems. The experiences of Loyalist women have been belatedly addressed in studies of the conflict, and studies of their roles and status in political and public activism are ju st emerging (M cW illiams 1995; Ward 2002). I had no political or social contacts in the Loyalist community, although I eventually established contact with political representatives of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) who referred me to the Ex-Prisoners Interpretative Centre (EPIC). Loyalist groups have been traditionally viewed as being more reticent and 'defensive' towards outsiders than their Republican counterparts (Price 1995; Drake 1996). The Loyalist representatives were candid in their assessm ent of w hat they perceived to be their relatively marginalised profile in public and international consciousness. The obstacles they described are in part structural, in that they lacked the form idable organising experience of the Republican com m unity: 'the Provos have had a 20 year head start on us in terms of organisation and their publicity m achine' (Loyalist representative). O thers argued that negative m edia, academ ic and political representation of Loyalism as sectarian and reactionary had turned the tide of opinion against them. Loyalist organisations, like their Republican counterparts, were also in the process of researching their prison com m unity's needs in antici­ pation of a program m e of prisoner releases, and had yet to establish how many w om en had served sentences under the aegis of their prisoner structures. An extensive news clippings search on my part, and a search through M cKittrick et a l.'s Lost Lives (1999) suggests that at least 11 Loyalist wom en, and perhaps no more than 20, served sentences betw een the 1970s and the early 1990s. I was also advised that although my efforts would be partly facilitated, I was unlikely to make significant progress because of socio-cultural values within the m ovem ent which influence perceptions of w om en's contribution to the prison struggle. In the end, although three women initially agreed to be interview ed, my contact then told me that they had decided to select one to represent their view's in an interview. I was told: Certainly wom en have been there [in the m ovement] and there is a place for them, I'm not denying that. But ... [unlike Republican women] Loyalist women will not be used as some kind of body shield or a flag-w aving exercise in front of men. They will not be discredited, or abused or used in that manner. I would say that

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Loyalist men, they are Ulster men, they will have a lot of respect and a sense of protectiveness to the Loyalist women. (Loyalist representative) This quotation is not intended to reflect a definitive or conclusive view about the position of women within Loyalism, but rather reflects the intersection of sectarian, nationalist and gendered discourses in the construction of the political 'other' through the idealisation of womanhood, which is common to the narratives of numerous 'national struggles'. The need for the confidentiality of research material and the anonymity of participants was paramount. I took care to outline in advance the precautions that would be taken to preserve the anonymity of participants and the safety of the interview material. Confidentiality and anonymity were connected with the integrity and quality of the data that were gathered, because of the need to respect respondents' control over identification for a variety of reasons. Tapes and notes were stored outside of the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. I followed a standard method of organising interview data in published prison ethnographies, which often involves 'splicing' separate quotations from different respondents into thematic clusters, and giving the speaker a pseudonym. This method was developed in the context of researching sensitive or contested events in prisons in order to preserve the anonymity of respondents who were still serving sentences (Carlen 1983; Scraton et al. 1991). Examples of this method were photocopied and shown to respondents as a way of showing how their interviews would appear on the page. I also removed information that might identify individuals, or lead to charges being brought against them for activities before or during their imprisonment. Formally, as prisoners were released on licence under the terms of the Belfast Agreement (1998), or under the terms of their parole if released earlier, individuals were still liable to prosecution if any outstanding or fresh offences came to light. In addition, I did not ask respondents for details about their charges or their trials or information about others involved. Some also requested that identifiable speech patterns or personal details be removed from their transcripts in case it led to their being identified. Finally, moving back 'out' interposed other ethical responsibilities for continuing to comply with the prevailing rules of disclosure. Because I 'did not have to live here' (a frequently used phrase), it was imperative that the process of collecting data was firmly grounded in the ethics of accountability and negotiated responses and protections, so that the

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outcomes of research did not leave a destructive backwash after my departure.

A n alysin g the interviews: w riting the lives o f w om e n prisoners

Just as false assumptions should be avoided about 'levelling' the inequalities that inhere with ethnographic fieldwork, so also should the process of writing the lives of others be view'ed as fraught with power relations. From the early 1970s, sociological 'realist' approaches adopted 'equalising' methods in life-history writing by regarding respondents as the primary site of truth and adopting techniques for minimising 'interference' with oral texts (Denzin: 1989). Life-history writing, it was argued, should also facilitate an understanding of events over time from the perspective of individuals or groups directly involved in them. Subsequent feminist standpoint theorists in turn identified the pitfalls with 'literal immediacy' as investing narratives from below with complete authenticity and verisimilitude, and of engaging in a nominal inversion of traditional power relationships between the researcher and the researched (Stanley and Wise 1993: 48). Rather, it was argued, the core problem lay less with adjusting techniques for gathering and presenting histories from below, than in confronting the ontological and epistemological privilege to which sociological and criminological disciples have laid claim. In this context, feminist standpoint epistemology challenged the humanist worldview at the heart of sociological 'truth', and directed questions of power, ethics, social location, identity and knowledge-claims at the researcher as well as the researched (Bordo 1987; Harding 1991). This reconception of the 'researcher' from being a privileged arbiter of knowledge to being a socialised, embodied mediator entailed writing herself into the structuring and production of knowledge. Stanley (1992), and Stanley and Wise (1993), went further by arguing for the decentring of the researcher as 'auteur' in favour of collaboration and the critical exposition of the power relations in the life-writing act itself. The 'textual turn' in sociological research thus cast the researcher as a contingent mediator of social knowledges, and interrogated the differences in power between the researcher and researched. Prison life-history writing has also engaged in the critical enterprise of decentring sociological 'truths' by requiring researchers to engage with the structural conditions of the production of prison narratives (Carlen et al. 1985; Sommers 1995). Prison life-writing has been adopted

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as a logical solution to the various problem s associated with the official suppression of prisoners' perspectives. Similarly, collaborative lifewriting has taken place at a distance when researchers have been excluded from institutions or from continuous face-to-face interactions with prisoners, prom pting the versatile use by researchers of written correspondence, diaries, prisoners' w ritings and autobiographies, and activist material (Cohen and Taylor 1972/1981; di Giovanni 1990; Scraton et al. 1991: Churchill and Vander Wall 1992). The radical turn in writing the life-history of w om en in prison occurred w hen the analytical focus shifted from classical sub-cultural or insider accounts to more 'holistic' analyses of their lives before, during and after im prisonm ent (Carlen 1983). At the centre of this critical body of research is a concern with penal power, both as an apparatus of social control, and in its capacity to generate myriad forms of subordination at the institutional level through num erous invasive, disciplinary, surveillant and correctional practices (Carlen 1998; Bosw orth 1999; H annah-M offat 2001). In this context, 'p ow er' becam e a prim ary concern both of the content of the interview s, and in explorations of the multiple layering of the punishm ent and regulation of w om en within intersecting structures of prison, gender, social control and violence. Thus, while the principal objective of the interview s was to gather material about w om en's responses to prison punishm ent, the con­ versations frequently developed into a broader exploration of the constitutive gendered and political m eaning of procedures such as strip searching, and the conditions within which their strategies of prison resistance arose in response to everyday m anifestations of prison power.

E th n o gra p h ic pow er,‘tak in g sid e s’ and the lim its o f c o lla b o ratio n

N otw ithstanding the value of the insights and views of the different players in Northern Ireland's prison conflict, the narratives of women form er prisoners were viewed as the prim ary objects of the field research. This was justified by the positions adopted in the ethnographic process which focused on the production of oral narratives in various networks of pow er relations, silencing strategies, and the 'invisibility' of certain forms of agency and subjectivity in dom inant research traditions. In these contexts, ethnographers have been com pelled not only to confront the structural and material obstacles to writing sensitive or suppressed histories, but to m ake consistent decisions as to their choice of subjects, collaborative methods and interpretative practices. Viewed like this, the researcher continuously com es up 140

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against the problem as to 'w hose side she is on' at all stages of the ethnographic process. Moreover, this very question was less resonant of subjective 'bias' or preference on the part of the researcher, than of the multifaceted, structural exclusion of certain subjects and know ledges from academ ic or political frames of reference. Equally, the com m itm ent to 'collaborative' approaches betw een researchers and respondents could not conclusively elim inate asym m etrical relations of power. As M aher notes: N either ... a com m itm ent to feminist practices such as 'em pow erm ent' or 'dialogical' research can override the in­ equalities and hierarchical ordering which inhere in researching dispossessed women. (M aher 1997: 231-2) The decision to 'privilege' the narratives of w om en form er prisoners consciously addressed both an 'insurrection of subjugated know ledges' (Foucault 1980: 82), and the concrete risks taken by the researched in challenging traditions of silence. In the context of these intersecting silences, the research process was less a unified and unproblem atic enterprise, than a process of consciously developed, unifying strategies. Indeed, my capacity to write at all was related to m y efforts to reshape the task of 'w riting about', or even more onerously, 'w riting for' other people, into a project of 'w riting w ith' them. Som e six years later, however, I also continue to be troubled by the consciousness of having a highly contingent 'licence' to m ediate their narratives. N otw ithstanding the value of standpoint epistem ology to enhancing an aw areness of power, this recognition alone did not resolve the persistent differences betw een m yself and respondents, even where there were also som e social com m onalities. This raises a reminder against conflating social identity with 'truth', or m aking tenuous claims of political sym pathy with respondents, on the basis of an assumed unity or false identification with the 'objects' of research (Finlay 2001: 64). Such assum ptions were not available to me in the context of constant rem inders of political, social and 'cultural' differences betw een m yself and both Northern N ationalist and U nionist wom en, as well as my position as an academ ic 'o th er' to activists and prison professionals alike. Furtherm ore, even sociological traditions with an im peccable com m itm ent to levelling disparities tend to endow the researcher with the power to exercise ethical choices, or not. The com prom ises or dilem m as faced by respondents are often not so obvious in the literature. In this instance, too, the high levels of political aw areness and

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social co n scio u sn ess of fo rm er p olitical p riso n ers d ep arted from the m ore co m m o n p en o lo g ica l p attern o f d oin g research w ith the 'v u ln e ra b le ', 'v ictim ised ' and 'so cia lly -h a rm e d ' fem ale law breaker. N ev erth eless, even the m o st reflexiv ely a cco u n ta b le m o tiv es and strateg ies rem ained stro n g ly b ou n d by vario u s 'field rea lities'. W h ile the m o st ob v iou s one, p h y sica l v io len ce, did n ot im p o se total closure, the a lig n m en t of social co n stra in ts and sectarian co n flict m ea n t that q u estio n s of vio len ce and d ifferen ce w ere in esca p a b ly b ou n d up w ith research in g w om en in war.

N o te s

1

2 3

4

5

In line with the critical approach to conflict studies, this chapter is concerned with deconstructing the portrayal of violence and its perpetrators as representations rather than socio-political 'truths'. Thus, the term (para)military does not assume an equivalence between state and 'terrorist' violence, but neither does it label violence as the monopoly of one side or the other. Because of the additional need to preserve the anonymity of respondents, details which would identify them are kept to a minimum here. I was able to film Armagh prison, where women prisoners had been held from the beginnings of the conflict until it was decommissioned in 1986. Two visits were made there with former prisoners who identified cells, passageways and other sites of events described in interviews. I was later told, to the amusement of respondents, that people had made casual inquiries about the 'student' or the 'social w orker' who had visited them. My usual reply to this question was that my research interest was fundamentally about women's imprisonment, and that their experiences cast important insights into the punishment of women in prison. As discussed below, this generated more positive responses than if I had sought, as one gatekeeper put it, to 'tell them about the importance of their prison struggle'.

B ib lio g r a p h y

Aretxaga, B. (1999) Shattering Silence: Women, Nationalism and Political Subjectivity in Northern Ireland. Chichester: Princeton University Press. Bloomfield, K. (1998) We Will Remember Them: Report o f the Northern Ireland Victims Commissioner. Belfast: Stationary Office Northern Ireland. Bordo, S. (1987) The Flight to Objectivity: Essays in Cartesianism and Culture. New York: University of New York Press.

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Bosworth, M. (1999) Engendering Resistance: Agency and Power in Women's Prisons. England: Ashgate, Dartmouth. Brewer, J.D. and Magee, K. (1991) Inside the RUC. Oxford: Clarendon. Brownmiller, S. (1974) Against Our Will: M en, Women and Rape. London: Seeker and Warburg. Buckley, S. and Lonergan, P. (1984) 'W omen and the Troubles', in Y. Alexander and A. O ' Day (eds), Terrorism in Ireland. London: Croom Helm, 75-87. Carlen, P. (1983) Women's Im prisonment: A Study in Social Control. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Carlen, P. (1998) Sledgehammer: Women's Im prisonment at the M illennium. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Carlen, P., Hicks, J., O ' Dwyer, J., Christina, D. and Tchaikovsky, C. (1985) Criminal Women. Cambridge: Polity Press. Churchill, W. and Vander Wall, J.J. (1992) Cages o f Steel. The Politics o f Im prisonment in the United States.Washington D.C.: M aisonneuve Press. Cohen, S. and Taylor, L. (1981) Psychological Survival: The Experience o f LongTerm Imprisonment (1st edn 1972). Harm ondsworth: Penguin. D'arcy, M. (1981) Tell Them Everything. London: Pluto. Daly, K. and Maher, L. (eds) (1998) Criminology at the Crossroads: Feminist Readings in Crime and Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Denzin, N.K. (1989) The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological M ethods. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. di Giovanni, C. (ed.) (1990) Light From Behind the Bars. Slough, England: St. Paul Publications. Dowler, L. (1997) 'The M other of All Warriors: Women in West Belfast, Northern Ireland', in R. Lentin (ed.) Gender and Catastrophe. London: Zed Books, 77-90. Drake, C.J.M. (1996) 'The Affair of Conservative Terrorism', Terrorism and Political Violence, 29-46. Duncan, N. (ed.) (1996) Body/Space. London: Routledge. Elshtain, J.B. (1995) Women and War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Fairweather, E., M acDonough, R. and M cFadyean, M. (1984) Only the Rivers Run Free. Northern Ireland: The Women's War. London: Pluto. Feldman, A. (1991) Formations o f Violence: The Narrative o f the Body and Political Terror in Northern Ireland. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Finlay, A. (2001) 'Reflexivity and the Dilemmas of Identification: An Ethnographic Encounter in Northern Ireland', in M. Smyth and G. Robinson (eds), Researching Violently Divided Societies: Ethical and M ethodological Issues. London: Pluto Press, 55-76. Foucault, M. (1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, C. Gordan (ed.). Brighton: Harvester W heatsheaf. Gormally, B. and McEvoy, K. (1995) 'Politics and Prison M anagem ent: the Northern Ireland Experience', in L. Noaks, M. Levi, and M. Maguire (eds) Contemporary Issues in Criminology. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 276-313.

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Hannah-M offat, K. (2001) Punishment in Disguise: Penal Governance and Federal Imprisonment o f Women in Canada. Toronto: Toronto University Press. Harding, S. (1991) Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking Through Women's Lives. Buckingham: Open University Press. Hobbs, D. (1989) Doing the Business: Entrepreneurship, the Working Classes and Detectives in East End London. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hogan, G. and Walker, C. (1989) Political Violence and the Laiv in Ireland. Manchester: M anchester University Press. Lentin, R. (1997) '(En)gendering G enocides', in R. Lentin (ed.) Gender and Catastrophe. London: Zed Books, 2-17. Lloyd, A. (1995) Doubly Deviant, Doubly Damned: Society's Treatment o f Violent Women. Harm ondsworth: Penguin. Loughran, C. (1983) 'Arm agh and Feminist Strategy', in T. Lovell (ed.) British Feminist Thought. London: Basil Blackwell, 170-83. M acDonald, E. (1991) Shoot the Women First. London: Arrow. Maher, L. (1997) Sexed Work: Gender, Race and Resistance in a Brooklyn Drug M arket. Oxford: Clarendon. McEvoy, K. (2001) Paramilitary Im prisonment in Northern Ireland: Resistance, M anagement and Release. Oxford: Oxford University Press. M cKeown, L. (2001) Out o f Time: Irish Republican Prisoners, Long Kesh, 19722000. Belfast: Beyond The Pale Press. McKittrick, D., Kelters, S., Feeney, B. and Thornton, C. (1999) Lost Lives: The Stories o f the M en, Women and Children who Died as a Result o f the Northern Ireland Troubles. London: Mainstream. McWilliams, M. (1995) 'Struggling for Peace and Justice: Reflections on Women's Activism in Northern Ireland', journal o f Women's History, 6 (4 )/ 7 (1): 13-48. Nordstrom, C. and M artin, J. (1992) 'The Culture of Conflict: Field Reality and Theory', in C. Nordstrom and J. M artin, (eds), The Paths to Domination, Resistance, and Terror. Oxford: University of California Press, 3-17. Pickering, S. (2001) 'U nderm ining the Sanitised Account: Violence and Em otionality in the Field in N orthern Ireland', British journal o f Criminology, 41: 485-501. Price, J. (1995) 'Political Change and the Protestant Working Class', Race and Class, 37 (1): 57-94. Rooney, E. (1995) 'Women in Political Conflict', Race and Class, 37 (1): 51-6. Scraton, P., Sim, J. and Skidm ore, P. (1991) Prisons Under Protest. M ilton Keynes: Open University Press. Shannon, E. (1989) I am o f Ireland: Women o f the North Speak Out. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. Sluka, J.A. (1992) 'The Anthropology of Conflict', in C. Nordstrom and J. Martin (eds) The Paths to Domination, Resistance, and Terror. Oxford: University of California Press, 18-36. Som m ers, E.K. (1995) Voices From Within: Women Who have Broken the Law. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

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Stalker, J. (1988) Stalker: Ireland, 'Shoot to Kill' and the 'Affair'. London: Penguin. Stanley, L. (1992) The Auto/Biographical I. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1993) Breaking Out Again: Feminist Ontology and Epistemology. London: Routledge. Stiglmayer, A. (ed.) (1994) Mass Rape: The War Against Women in BosniaHerzegovina. London: University of Nebraska Press. Taylor, R. (1988) 'Social Scientific Research on the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland: The Problem of Objectivity', The Economic and Social Review, 19 (2): 123-45. Urban, M. (1992) Big Boys' Rules: The Secret Struggle Against the IRA. London: Faber and Faber. Ward, R. (2002) 'Invisible Women: The Political Roles of Unionist and Loyalist Women in Contemporary Northern Ireland', Parliamentary Affairs, 55 (1): 167-78.

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Chapter 8

Listening to w o m e n ’s voices: the participation o f d o m e stic violence su rv iv o rs in services Gill H ag u e and Audrey Mullender

In tro d u c tio n

This chapter is about the voices and views of domestic violence survivors and w hether these voices are heard - and, more importantly, listened to - by professionals. How much are domestic violence agencies and policy-m akers accountable to, and engaged in, con­ sultation with abused w om en who have used their services? The im m ediate answers do not appear to be very encouraging. W hen asked to throw light on these rather hidden issues, three survivors of domestic violence had this to say: It is all about power, all about power. You have to understand that in a very deep way - it's not all obvious or straightforward - power takes many, often hidden, forms. Survivors d on't have it. People in the agencies have to let go som e of their power. And they don't want to - they just want to com e to m eetings and discuss it! You can struggle on as best you can but unless they let go of some of the power, it's a hopeless task, hopeless. How do they know what to do if they d on't ask wom en in the situation? It doesn't make sense, does it? It's stupid if they go and set up things w ithout w om en know ing about it and w ithout asking w om en w hat they need, d oesn't make sense to me. We have no influence in their decisions. N ot really, just pretend! The agencies pretend! 146

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Em pow erm ent of w om en has alw ays been the watchword of the w om en's activist m ovem ent against violence and abuse, w hich becam e particularly active in the 1970s, and has been cam paigning, setting up services and developing good policy and practice ever since. The principles of this m ovem ent include both an adherence to an analysis of dom estic violence based on understandings of gender and power, and also a stated com m itm ent to raising the voices of abused women and children and to insisting that society, men, the state and both statutory and voluntary sector agencies take the abuse of w om en seriously (see Dobash and Dobash 1992; M ullender and Hague 2001). Now, after years - indeed m illennia - of neglect, domestic violence by men against women is in the public view as never before. The result has been the developm ent of new services, good practice and policy guidance, inter-agency dom estic violence forum s and improved responses from the police. This increase in service provision has been w elcom ed by practitioners and activists in the field and by survivors of dom estic violence - som etim es with a certain measure of disbelief. M uch of this new attention has its roots in the m ovem ent against dom estic violence. Thus, over the years, activism , backed up by research and service developm ent, has transform ed both our understandings of the issue and the practice of many agencies throughout the statutory and voluntary sectors (see Hague and M alos 1998; Taylor-Browne 2001). New policy and practice initiatives now include the developm ent of a rather piecem eal and under-funded governm ent strategy on violence against w om en - but the beginnings of a strategy nonetheless (see W om en's Unit of the Cabinet O ffice 1999; Home Office 2000). It is a fair question to ask, in this context, w hether the em pow ering m essages of the original m ovem ent have found their way into the new strategic and policy approach. In this chapter, w e address this question: how much do both the perspectives of abused wom en, and ideas about em pow er­ ment, inform current policy and service developm ent on domestic violence? Are the negative experiences of the wom en quoted at the beginning of the chapter typical across the board, or are there possibilities for change and im provem ent?

T h e research on w hich th is c h a p te r is based

This chapter is based on a study which explored the views of abused women in regard to dom estic violence policy, and was one of only 20 in the Econom ic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Violence Research Program m e, a m ajor ESRC program m e and an im portant and 147

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innovative research initiative on violence overall. The study discussed here was conducted jointly by the Violence Against Women Research Group (formerly the Dom estic Violence Research Group) in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol, which led the study, and the Centre for the Study of Safety and W ell-being at the University of W arwick.1 They both work in partnership with other fem inist researchers and service providers w henever possible, as a m atter of principle, and attem pt to place their research within an activist, feminist frame. In line with these com m itm ents, the study w as conducted as collaboratively as possible. The director of the W om en's Aid Federation of England acted as consultant to the project, which also had an Advisory Group com prised of specialists from dom estic violence projects, m ost of whom were them selves declared survivors of domestic violence. The project was further assisted by a support group of dom estic violence survivors in a local community. The guiding methodological principles were broadly derived from feminist epistem ological approaches (see Kelly 1988; A lcoff and Potter 1993; Stanley and Wise 1993; M aynard and Purvis 1994) in terms of raising w om en's voices as research subjects, challenging power differentials in the research and policy process, and building on understandings derived from standpoint and other theories. The study was conducted over two years and aimed to exam ine how much the views of dom estic violence survivors are heard and acknow ledged, specifically by inter-agency domestic violence forum s, agencies in the state sector, refuges, w om en's support and outreach projects, and the various new services and policies that are developing up and down the country. A m ulti-m ethodological, multi-stage approach was em ployed to assess the extent and nature of user partici­ pation, com prising national 'm apping' questionnaires and detailed field work in a variety of localities. The latter included interview s with 112 w om en service users and 83 w orkers in both statutory agencies and refuges, supplem ented by additional case studies of practice examples in selected local authority areas.

E m p o w e rm e n t and raisin g voices

W hilst analysing em pow erm ent and the raising of voices of domestic violence survivors, we can learn from the som etim es inspiring contri­ butions of other service user m ovem ents which have self-organised over recent years to challenge poor or discrim inatory services. Thus, a 148

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key tool - both in effectively listening to, and in theorising from the views of service users - is the body of literature on service user involvem ent more generally. The m ovem ents concerned have both cam paigned for better services and produced guidance on how to conduct consultation effectively (see Lindow 1995; D epartm ent of Health 1996). The disability m ovem ent and the m ovem ent of psychiatric service survivors have been particularly active in this way, and have also theorised responses to social issues from the perspectives of those involved (for disabled people, see Sw ain et al. 1993; O liver and Cam pbell 1996; Priestley 1998; for psychiatric service survivors, see Barker and Peck 1987; Cham berlin 1988; Brandon 1991; Sayce 1999). Service user involvem ent is w idely viewed as difficult to achieve and as hampered by social exclusion and by inadequate understandings of the operation of power (see, for exam ple, Beresford and Croft 1995; Stewart and Taylor 1996). The positive outcom es are seen, however, to far outweigh these difficulties in term s of achieving more focused and responsive services, more dem ocratic policy-m aking, and the indi­ vidual and collective em pow erm ent of those using services. In regard to dom estic violence, it is clear that, since the 1970s, understandings of m en's violence towards women derived directly from w om en's actual experiences have informed the developm ent of both fem inist theories and practice (see, for exam ple, Schechter 1982; Kelly 1988; Dobash and Dobash 1992; Hague and M alos 1998). The w om en's activist m ovem ent which has been listening and responding to the needs of w om en experiencing domestic violence throughout this time, and the first responses to domestic violence in the 1970s, grew out of the self-organisation of w om en's groups (Dobash and Dobash 1992). In the UK, this m ovem ent currently consists of the W om en's Aid federations and other refuge providers, together with a range of w om en's services, projects and cam paigns, including specialist provision for women and children from m inority ethnic and other com m unities and organisations like Southall Black Sisters and Im kaan.2 Refuges, advocacy and outreach projects continue them selves to em ploy as w orkers and volunteers a high percentage of domestic violence survivors and to engage in survivor representation. O verall, W om en's Aid has alw ays had strong w ritten principles and policies about raising the voices of abused w om en and children, w hen­ ever possible. O ther grass-roots w om en's projects and cam paigning groups have also consistently voiced both the injustices experienced by abused w om en and their aspirations since long before the subject of dom estic violence began tentatively to m ove into the mainstream (see, for exam ple, H arw in 1998). 149

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S o w h a t a b o u t w id e r policy and service deve lopm en t?

N ow that provision for abused w om en is m ore widely available, it is im portant to know w hether dom estic violence survivors them selves are happy with the services which have been provided, and if the provision has been fully inform ed by w om en's voices. From both the literature to date and the study reported in this chapter it is clear that m uch of the m ainstream response to domestic violence has focused on 'top-dow n' policy developm ent and has not necessarily been marked by involving or consulting w om en who have experienced abuse directly. M ost domestic violence projects and inter-agency forum s do not involve abused wom en directly except in so far as they are also professionals (see, for exam ple, H ague et al. 1996; M ullender and Hague 2001), and none of the police domestic violence units in our study consulted their users, except informally, although some do have com m unity-based advisory groups. A tendency for statutory agencies to 'take ov er' dom estic violence forum s has been identified in research studies, and w om en's advocacy and outreach projects them selves have som etim es been marginalised within wider policy developm ent (Hague et al. 1996; Hom e Office 2000), m aking it even harder to hear abused w om en's voices. In the past, however, testim onies from abuse survivors have referred, time after time, to inadequate or unsafe services, spread rather haphazardly between a range of agencies, and often difficult to access. Abused w om en using services have repeatedly described self-serving policies, cutbacks, a lack of helpful resources, and the long trek from agency to agency to obtain help (Mama 1996; Hague and M alos 1998; M ullender and Hague 2000; 2001). W omen's experiences of public sector services in particular have traditionally been that they are patchy and judgm ental (see, for exam ple, Binney et al. 1991; Dobash et al. 1985), and that these difficulties may be com pounded for m inority groups by discrim ination and disadvantage (Jam es-Hanm an 1994; M am a 1996; Rai and Thiara 1997). Things have, of course, improved greatly in recent years, with significant developm ents taking place since the late 1980s. Professionals in the field can take some solace from the widespread developm ent of new policies and practices, supported by the publication of numerous self-help books, personal testam ents and academ ic accounts of wom en's help-seeking efforts (Glass 1998; W om en's Aid Federation of England 1989; Hoff 1990; Kirkwood 1993). Unfortunately, however, women and children escaping abuse still face inadequate services in many instances. Studies have continued to uncover dissatisfaction am ong service users, 150

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long waits for assistance (e.g. with housing) and inconsistent professional responses both betw een and within agencies (Humphreys et al. 2000; M ullender and Hague 2000). This was certainly the case in the research reported here. The m ajority of the wom en interview ed felt that service providers overlooked their views to a considerable extent, and that their needs were not adequately met. They felt silenced, regarded as not im portant and unable to achieve the type of service and policy responses which they sought. In fact, 45% did not feel that they had been believed by the agency they had approached, and nearly half had continued to be unsafe and un­ protected over long periods of ineffective service intervention. However, m any (almost 60%) also felt - often at the sam e time - that agency practice had indeed got better in various w ays over recent years. Im provem ents, where these had occurred, included increases in num bers of services and more understanding or sym pathetic officers. Interview ees especially identified im provem ents in the last five to eight years w ithin the police and probation service (although m arkedly less so in the rest of the criminal justice system ), and in housing in some cases. The police were felt by the largest percentage of w om en to have im proved the m ost, but the findings of the study in this respect were contradictory. Despite transform ations in service in many areas, police responses to dom estic violence appear to remain patchy overall. A notable exception in our study was provided by domestic violence units and liaison officers (the latter som etim es working w ithin police vulnerable persons, com m unity safety or child protection/fam ily violence units). These were regarded very positively. In fact, alm ost all the im provem ents reported in the study were associated with these specialist units and officers, and very few with the uniformed general service, a vote of confidence in this type of dedicated provision. Disturbingly, however, specialist police domestic violence services are under threat in many localities. The agencies which all studies to date have found to best understand w om en's needs, (despite poor - though im proving - physical conditions in some instances), are refuges and w om en's outreach services (Humphreys et a l 2000; H um phreys and Thiara 2002). In this research too, refuge and outreach organisations came out the best, with positive com m ents from wom en service users across the board. However, this encouraging response to specialist service provision by w om en's advocacy and support projects needs to be viewed against the background of chronic under-funding of these voluntary sector organisations. This may not be adequately addressed by the present governm ent's 'Supporting People' initiative, which is funding refuges

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from 2003, despite the stated com m itm ent of some of the new officers w ithin this initiative to both refuge and outreach provision. In sum, it can be seen, from the above discussions, that there are two contrasting situations at play in regard to consultation with abused women. The first of these is that, until recently, w om en survivors of dom estic violence have frequently reported unhelpful responses, poor services, and the experience of being silenced or stigm atised by statutory agencies, which may also engage in cosm etic or ineffective consultation if they engage in any at all. The second is that, in this field of work, unlike some others (for exam ple, child protection), there is an activist grass-roots m ovem ent cham pioning survivors and trying to raise the actual voices of women and children who have been abused. So, in the improved situation currently, how m uch are agencies in the form er category being influenced by the latter? Have the new services and statutory responses taken a cue from w om en's refuge and advocacy services in terms of an em pow ering engagem ent w ith those using the services?

W o m e n ’s refuge, su p p o rt and o u tre ach services

In the study reported here, it seemed to be the case that the influence had often been the other way round to some extent. Rather than statutory services becom ing more participative, w om en's refuge organisations and support projects appear to have becom e som ewhat less so. M any of these services now seem to involve sendee users less in their m anagem ent and operation than they did formerly in terms of women residents being able to participate directly in decision-m aking. The trend towards 'professionalisation' and the dem ands of funders for a more m anagerial approach frequently cut across com m itm ents to collaborative or participative organisation. It has often been observed that projects tend to becom e less radical, and innovatory dynamism is som etim es lost, as a response to m ainstream ing and professionalisation. Over the years, there have been m any debates about such issues in terms of the relationship betw een the w om en's m ovem ent and the state, and the possible co-optation of the former when the latter gets involved (see Lovenduski 1993; Hague and M alos 1998). O ur study adds some fuel to these debates in terms of the price of m ainstream ing on activism in many (but by no m eans all) w om en's projects. However, overall, w om en's refuge and support organisations are still much better at both service user and more general survivor involve­ 152

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m ent than other agencies, and rem ain the voice and representatives of abused women and children overall. These organisations need to be heard, as survivors them selves need to be heard, in order to keep w om en's services centre stage, and to m ake sure that new service and policy developm ents are responsive to abused w om en's real needs and views. Confirm ing the findings of many previous studies (for an overview, see M ullender and Hague 2000; 2001), the research reported here found that w om en's refuge and outreach projects had the best practical record in terms of consulting women and children using their services (even w here they did so in a less principled and system atic way than in the earlier days of the w om en's refuge m ovem ent). For example, 90% of refuge groups directly consulted dom estic violence survivors in 2001 - 2 . In our study, refuge services often involved w om en residents, ex­ residents and other survivors in the design and production of leaflets and publicity m aterials, in training provision, and in representing their organisation to external bodies. Encouragingly, children could take a role in decision-m aking in 52% of refuge groups and 69% held children's meetings. These findings on children are supported by the independent findings of a recent m apping study of services for fam ilies where there is dom estic violence w hich found sim ilar percentages (see Hum phreys et al. 2000). Importantly, however, while far more refuge groups than domestic violence forum s consulted, there was little difference betw een them in term s of service users having real power to participate actively in decision-m aking about the project. This is a telling finding for refuge services, which often take pride in their principles of dem ocratic sharing and listening in regard to their service users. Some 40% of refuge groups had residents' rights policies in operation, but in only 24% could current residents attend m anagem ent m eetings, despite a previous com m itm ent throughout the refuge movem ent (particularly evident in the 1970s and 1980s) to collectivity in this respect. In 52%, however, ex-residents sat on m anagem ent com ­ mittees, often after a certain time period to allow them to m ove on from their personal crisis, a strategy developed over m any years of practice. Som e refuge groups have a policy that ex-users can only join the m anagem ent com m ittee after they have not been resident for six months or after all the w omen they knew when they were in the refuge have left, which appears to be a sensible, practical provision. However, if women experiencing abuse are willing to participate earlier, our study found that there may be room for a more flexible approach, cognisant of the com plex emotional difficulties involved. 153

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In alm ost all refuge groups consulted in our study, wom en who had experienced domestic violence were represented as professionals, and refuge providers continue to offer an often creative engagem ent betw een women who have experienced dom estic violence and those who have not. The W omen's Aid federations have been w orking over recent years to im prove the accountability and effectiveness of managem ent structures in refuge projects, and W om en's Aid in England is currently considering re-visiting issues of survivor participation and accountability in order to w ork towards new policy and practice guidance on the issue across the federation nationally.

A g e n c y resp o n se s and inter-agency fo ru m s

O utside w om en's services, then, what price service user involvem ent? Have w om en's activist projects influenced statutory and voluntary sector agencies to involve domestic violence survivors more fully; and are these services, projects and policies directly accountable in any way to w om en service users them selves? As we have indicated, it is no surprise that the short answer to both these questions is 'not m uch'. Our study found that alm ost all dom estic violence forums and other services believed that consultation w ith w om en who had experienced domestic violence, and their involvem ent in policy and service developm ent, were important. However, very few had any idea of how to go about it effectively. M ost had scarcely thought about the issue.

A b egin n in g w ay in: co n su ltatio n in new legislation and policy

Consultation is the m ost basic form of service user involvement. It is a far cry from situations where those using services have real power within decision-m aking and where services are actually accountable to them. However, it is a start. There is some hope to be had in the fact that consultation is now an alm ost universal part of official discourse and features in much new legislation and policy. It is beginning to be com m on practice in many types of service provision to engage in the routine seeking of the views of service users in relation to 'custom er satisfaction' and service evaluation. The m ainstream ing of service user participation in this way, and its em bedding in new social policy and legislation, has placed a duty of consultation on all designated authorities. Thus, throughout the policy field, service user consultation has becom e a key m anagem ent responsibility in many statutory 154

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agencies, both at an overall strategic, and also at a practical, operational level. It is required, for exam ple, within Best Value and by Crim e and Disorder audits and strategies. It is possible for grass-roots groups to make use of these provisions and, in particular regard to domestic abuse, women who have experienced violence are specifically named as required participants in som e instances (within the 1998 Crim e and Disorder Act, for exam ple). Disturbingly, however, on a general level, while rhetoric about the issue has becom e widespread, m ost service user m ovem ents report that concrete strategies have been lacking, often leading to ineffective or cosm etic outcom es, or to a bureaucratic type of consultation w ith no subsequent effect on policy or change. Our research found that long-w inded consultation m echanism s used by som e domestic violence forum s and agencies often resulted in rather formal and stilted results, or in the consultation losing participants. However, where required consultation, as part of legislation, is carried out im aginatively and creatively with domestic violence service users, and is acted upon practically, the use of such em bedded procedures can give the consultative process more w eight and authority. It can ensure that agencies do not push the consultation to one side or forget to do it, and may result in policy change through accepted channels defined by legislation. W here, on the other hand, consultation is not part of required procedures, there may be a tendency for agencies to overlook it or not to take it seriously. Thus, it can be seen that official requirem ents in this respect can provide a useful step forward if used with care.

Sen sitivities and stre n gth s

Starting from basic consultation, it is then possible to move on to include strategies for fuller, more m eaningful participation of service users and other abuse survivors. This type of fuller involvem ent of, and accountability to, wom en experiencing abuse can be key in achieving both focused, efficient responses within agencies and the em pow erm ent of those involved. However, in all its various forms, it is a difficult thing to do well unless specific sensitivities and difficulties are recognised and addressed. For the women participating, these obstacles may include the im pacts of poverty, of social class and of cultural im peratives and differences; the silencing effects of dom estic violence; the im pact of abuse on self-esteem ; the stigma of experiencing violence; and personal difficulties in dealing w ith painful m em ories and rem em bered traumas. In som e cases, seeking service user views and involvem ent can result in 155

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the exploitation of the women being consulted and in a type of 're­ victimisation' - in this case, by the services concerned, rather than by the original abuser. If these issues can be dealt with sensitively and supportively, however, the experience can lead both to individual empowerment for abused women and to collective empowerment through the strength of the group. Being part of decision-making, being listened to and respected can build self-respect and confidence and enable participants to engage in activities that they had never previously been able to contemplate. One woman whom we interviewed had this to say: If they listen to us it is just so good. It makes the services better, just much better. No one has ever listened to us before. And then suddenly these posh organisations are. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Difficult issues, procedures and questions

How then to achieve such positive outcomes and to deal with the complexities involved? Our research found that there is a clear and indisputable need for some sort of agreed procedure within an agency for the involvement of abused women, rather than relying on a strategy of just hoping it will happen. Nevertheless, we identified examples of inter-agency forums, in particular, adopting the latter approach, especially where there was a refuge on board which might, just by its presence, be assumed by others to ensure that consultation and survivor participation had happened - even though no such consultation or participation had been discussed, agreed or conducted! On the other hand, while an agreed procedure for survivor involvement is essential, we also found that an overly bureaucratic approach and too much procedure could actually kill it off. It needs to be developed with the full involvement of survivors themselves and to include: • the actual participatory strategy or consultation; • a mechanism for converting the result into real action and effective, concrete policy change; • a mechanism for reviewing this and making sure it happens (including feeding the results back to those who participated).

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As regards consultation specifically (rather than real involvem ent, in w hich survivors can m ake or contribute to decisions and have some actual power), some organisations in the dom estic violence field, as in others, consult and then fail to do anything with the results. This outcom e is not only dism issive of those being consulted, but could also be said to be 'setting dom estic violence survivors up to fail' a n d /o r to becom e cynical about the idea of participation. To move towards a fuller type of involvem ent, it is vital that the agencies involved have all signed up to survivor participation and have formally contracted to act on the results as part of their standards of service. O ther key issues to be addressed in any attem pt to involve abuse survivors in policy or service developm ent include the need for their safety and confidentiality to be param ount at all times, an essential requirem ent which can w ork against transparent consultative processes and can m ake it hard for survivors to feel confident enough to join in. Further contentious issues to be considered include the accountability of those being consulted (to be distinguished from its reverse, the account­ ability of agencies to them). Are the survivors involved accountable to anyone and, if so, to whom ? Service users clearly only represent them selves unless they are m em bers of a survivors group or are representing one, but this may or may not matter. Their voices still fill a gap which professionals cannot plug and, arguably, it is unrealistic to expect com plete representation. A further issue of considerable im portance and com plexity is how to address equality and diversity w ithin survivor representation. There is a clear need to ensure that dom estic violence survivors being consulted are drawn from all sections of the community. Otherw ise, it can be all too easy for agencies to consult with white survivors only, for exam ple, or to forget to include disabled wom en, or to only engage with those who are the most articulate or the most sym pathetic to the agency. A teasing m atter concerns what happens when survivors being consulted express different views to their representatives or to those of advocacy and support agencies and feminist activists. W hat is to be done if 'they' - abused women - do not say what 'w e' - the feminists want them to? W hile this can be a painful and difficult outcom e, it may be the case that robust differences of view can lead to the developm ent of more rounded policy over time, and that those with the most recent experience of abuse can challenge potential com placency in others who may believe that their hard work and political analysis have solved problem s w hich, in fact, still remain.

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Su rvivo r participation cann ot be done on the cheap

In order to avoid the risk of exploiting abused women, mentioned above, our study identified a whole raft of issues around making the 'giving' two-way, so that women participating also 'receive'. Taking part in consultative and participative structures is clearly work for those involved, just as it is for the professionals involved. We need to ask ourselves why service providers are funded and supported while engaging in such activities, while abused women are expected to participate in their spare time and out of kindness, goodwill or personal commitment. It is essential good practice that women who have experienced domestic violence and who offer their services in this way should be offered expenses at the very least, together with transport and childcare. Better still, proper payment for the work conducted needs to be considered and provided wherever possible, although to date this has rarely been possible. Payment in kind can be more achievable. Interpreting and translation facilities are also needed to reach women whose first language may not be English, although care needs to be taken over confidentiality and the selection of appropriate and sympathetic interpreters from relevant communities (who should never be the woman's children or other family members). Cultural sensitivity and careful attention to all equality issues, including disability, need to form an integral part of participatory processes. Agency workers are likely to be offered in-service support and training in order to undertake such work. The question then needs to be asked as to why women service users participating in agencies are not. Abused women may need training, support and, possibly, consultancy of their own, especially if they form an ongoing group, in order to help them act as effective representatives. Thus, it can be seen that successful participation is something that cannot be done on the cheap. Our study found that resource shortage is the most likely reason for such processes to fail. For user participation to be an effective, viable and integrated part of service delivery, it needs to be taken seriously and properly resourced as an automatic part of funding strategy, service/policy development and relevant budgets.

W h a t w orks and w hat does not

Our research found that there is no one way of consulting and involving domestic violence survivors. What evolves in a locality will clearly depend on local conditions - and sometimes on local personalities. 158

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M any m ethods were being tried during the research. In the study, we found that some of these m ethods 'flow ered' or 'blossom ed' for a while and then died away, to be replaced by another approach, an outcom e which should not be regarded negatively. Our suggestion was that the flow ering should be celebrated, rather than leading to disillusion because of the subsequent dying away. The m ost com m on method which has been tried by inter-agency forum s and other projects involves service users attending policy or forum m eetings. However, our study found this approach rarely works (unless rem arkable personalities are involved), especially if everyone else at the m eeting is representing an agency. If w om en attending policy m eetings are representing a w om en's project or support group, this may w ork better, but in general it is a difficult thing to achieve. Som e women we interview ed had this to say: It's hard for survivors to attend m eetings, how ever welcom ing they try to be. You still feel small and as though you shouldn't be there when they are all professionals. It's probably best to consult survivors in other ways. Having w om en on the com m ittees and doing survivor accountability - good idea but only if the w om en are confident enough. But they can be cosm etic ... In fact the survivors on the com m ittee have no power at all. But if there is a w om en's group, rather than being on your ow n - you w ould not be so isolated but would be representing the group. It is easy for the forum to overlook you - even if they pretend they are not doing so! They overlook you w hen it is an im portant issue, make the 'real decisions' quietly behind your back etc., call a special m eeting you are not invited to - or ask you to leave at the key moment! So you have to build it one bit at a time. You can't do it in a hurry - it takes a while, plus input and resources, but it can be done. It can be seen from these quotes that survivors' voices are often muted by the official milieu. Service users attending m eetings of this type are likely to be heavily outnum bered and som e of our interview ees reported feeling patronised and also overwhelm ed by m anagem ent and agency procedure and confidence. Other service users who were interview ed reported constant am azem ent at the 'talking shop' nature of many official m eetings and the apparent waste of time involved. 159

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They are better than they were, much better. But there is so much talk, conferences, forums, publications, fanfare, but on the ground it's all the same. They say in their fancy suits that they are doing all these things at their meetings - the 'talk culture', always the 'talk culture' - but for women it's still mainly the same. Policy-making may be unnecessarily time-consuming, boring and tedious, and there are also issues to be considered in relation to the use of language and of potentially patronising working practices. All of these matters necessitate the provision of support and training for abused women conducting this work. An interviewee pointed out: Language, you know, 'middle-class meeting' language. Sometimes it helps, it is shorthand for something. But usually it is actually unnecessary - alienating and intimidating. Domestic violence is to do with power - so the problems with getting the agencies to share plays into all of that. It all gets reinforced by the language. On the other hand, if the survivor accountability works, it is the most wonderful thing, quite amazing and it challenges all that other stuff. Once again, these issues are compounded for ethnic minority women. In the following quote from a black woman survivor and project worker, domestic violence forums, strategies and policy-making are charac­ terised by three 'Bs': 'Bureaucratic ... big ... no black people.'

Innovative approaches

Innovative methods that were being tried during the research included the use of domestic violence survivors forums or advisory groups to advise the local domestic violence forum. These are usually facilitated, and may be support groups as well as advisory ones. Successful examples include the Phoenix Group in Westminster and Voice for Change in Liverpool. They work best with sensitive and careful development and support, and where their existence has been accepted by all members of the wider forum as an integral and funded part of the work. As with other participation strategies, issues to be addressed include the representiveness of the group; equality issues; safety; confidentiality; possible payment for participants; support, training, supervision and consultancy; the provision of childcare, expenses and transport; translation and interpreting; accessibility; maintaining 160

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mem bership and com m itm ent over the long term; and getting policy­ makers to listen to the outcom es. The evidence from the study showed that dom estic violence survivors forum s or advisory groups are only successful where they include an elem ent of personal support and enjoym ent, as well as policy work; where adequate resourcing is available; and, usually, where skilled facilitation is provided by an experienced facilitator who is well-versed in domestic violence issues. A second approach to survivor participation involves the active involvem ent of W om en's Aid and refuge and outreach groups to represent abused w om en's voices and to act as a conduit for inform ation exchange. This involvem ent needs to be agreed and structured for it to work. It was clear in our study that W om en's Aid groups cannot be expected to do this w ork w ithout either the funded time or the additional resources w ith which to do so. However, where user involvem ent of this type is properly resourced, the views expressed by w om en service users can be effectively fed backwards and forwards by W om en's Aid representatives. A draw back is that these views will mainly be limited to refuge and support service users. Further m ethods involve: w om en's focus groups for abuse survivors; exit questionnaires after service use; service user surveys and research projects seeking abused w om en's view s; regular feedback and consultation slots at all policy m eetings (possibly conducted by a representative delegated to the task); and Internet consultation (see Bossey and Colem an 2000). Special one-off arrangem ents may also be set up. An exam ple would be the chair of an agency or forum holding a special m eeting with a group of abused women. Such events are usually pow erful and galvanising for the policy-m akers involved. Listening to w om en's voices can also be accom plished, importantly, through liaison with activist groups and w om en's advocacy projects and through work with cam paigns and activist projects. Political and feminist or com m unity theatre, art and poetry can be an innovative source (draw ing parallels, for exam ple, with Legislative Theatre and the Theatre of the Oppressed, the political theatre m ovem ent started by Augusto Boal). Importantly, w om en's self-organisation is a vital way forward in which abused women control their own projects, where appropriate. Self-help groups and advocacy projects consisting solely of abuse survivors exist in various localities but very few have a powerful role in local policy-m aking. Similarly, it is vital that women survivors are in a position actually to propose and design services and also to participate in, or to control, the design of consultative and other strategies, rather than have them imposed from above. It is significant that many of the

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mechanisms which are currently being tried were designed by pro­ fessionals, sometimes with some input from service users and other survivors, but usually not. Survivors have been the 'object' of the exercise, not its 'subject' and guiding hand. This is a telling lack. Women who have experienced violence and used relevant services and who have taken on these types of duties may go on to engage in professional training and career development as a result. Some in the field regard this as unwelcome professionalisation, in that survivors often then enter the very world which they may previously have criticised as service users. However, the empowering possibilities for the individuals concerned and the authenticity of the resultant practice responses are clearly enhanced.

A tribute: professionals w ho have experienced violence

An important issue which we wish to raise from our study, and which has often been overlooked to date, is the enormous contribution to the field made by professionals who are also survivors of domestic violence, whether disclosed or undisclosed. Professionals in this situation have often worked quietly for many years, frequently against the odds, often under-paid and under-recognised, attempting to improve agency responses on behalf of other women who have experienced violence. Their work has had a transforming, but unacknowledged, effect on policy and practice. Everyone in the field knows on some level about this issue, but it is rarely mentioned. It is time to acknowledge these important contributions, to break the silence.

To conclude

You can do something to give back some of the things you have learnt ... and say 'look it can be done' and make a contribution. People listen to me and I feel strong now, and that I can help out other women. We all have to help each other, that's the only way to beat this thing. It's slow but we're getting there ... We're getting there ... In conclusion, our study found that the involvement of abused women can be an emotionally powerful and passionate process for all concerned, including the policy-makers themselves. It is an essential process in order to keep government, local authority, police and other 162

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policy developm ents on track, and to m ake services effective and geared towards w om en and children's real needs. It is not an 'optional extra'. The involvem ent of dom estic violence survivors is clearly a difficult and sensitive issue, however, and needs to be carried out not just as a formality, but as a process which has practical effects and which leads to policy change and action. Our study found that few agencies and professionals are attem pting it at the m om ent, and the em pow erm ent of abused wom en which it could herald remains principally confined to the w om en's activist m ovem ent (and seem s to be decreasing there to som e extent). Agencies need to build on the currently existing examples of good practice, in a sensitive, creative and non-exploitative way. There is no one easy answer. Perhaps the m ost im portant lesson that we learned from the testim onies of both w om en participants and workers w ho are presently involved in trying out possibilities is that, to be effective, user participation needs to be carried out in a deeply human and meaningful way, and not ju st as an adm inistrative mechanism . If the personal is political, the political, social and organisational (policy and practice) are also highly political. The hum anness of trying it is w hat is so im portant and is often overlooked by boring procedures and doing it because you feel you have to, not because you are com m itted to it. You need the hum anity of it. You need to do it on a deep 'felt and lived' level as hum an beings, as equals in the endeavour. Survivor accountability is a real hum an thing and it touches all levels. W hat we have learned from trying to do it here is that the people who are doing it need great com m itm ent and hum anity and depth. (The last two quotes are from domestic violence ex-service users now active in consultation strategies and policy work.)

F u rth e r in fo rm atio n

The issues discussed in this chapter are discussed in more depth in a book: Is A nyone Listening? Accountability and women survivors o f domestic violence by Gill Hague, Audrey M ullender and Rosemary Aris, published in 2003 by Routledge; and a guide-book on how to go about it: 'Professionals by Experience': A guide to service user participation and consultation fo r domestic violence services by Gill Hague and Audrey Mullender, published in 2002 by the W om en's Aid Federation of England. 163

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F u rth er in form ation and p o ssib le con tacts for d om estic violen ce su rv iv o rs foru m s are av ailab le from the V iolen ce A g a in st W om en R esearch G ro u p , S ch oo l for P olicy S tu d ies, 8 P riory R d, B ristol BS8 1TZ. Tel: 0117 954 6722.

N o te s

1

2

The Violence Against Women Research Group, University of Bristol and the Centre for the Study of Safety and Well-being, University of Warwick, are both feminist research groups working on gender-based violence. Both conduct international, national and local research studies and offer wideranging teaching, training and consultancy, working in an activist frame alongside the women's activist movement challenging violence against women. Southall Black Sisters is a pioneering campaigning organisation and service provider for South Asian and African-Caribbean women. Imkaan assists in co-ordinating the network of Asian women's refuge and support projects providing training, policy and research services.

B ib lio g r a p h y

Alcoff, A. and Potter, E. (1993) Feminist Epistemologies. London: Routledge. Barker, I. and Peck, E. (eds) (1987) Power in Strange Places: User Empowerment in Mental Health Services. London: Good Practices in Mental Health. Beresford, P. and Croft, S. (1995) 'It's our problem too! Challenging the exclusion of poor people from poverty decisions', Critical Social Policy, 44-45. Binney, V., Harkell, G. and Nixon, J. (1991) Leaving Violent Men: a Study o f Refuges and Housing fo r Abused Women. Bristol: Women's Aid Federation of England. Bossey, J. and Coleman, S. (2000) Womenspeak: Parliamentary Domestic Violence Internet Consultation. Bristol: Women's Aid Federation of England. Brandon, D. (1991) Innovation without Change: Consumer Control o f Psychiatric Services. London: Macmillan. Chamberlin, J. (1988) On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System. London: MIND. Department of Health (1996) Community Service Users as Consultants and Trainers, Leeds: The NHS Executive Community Care Branch (produced by Vivien Lindow on behalf of the National User Involvement Evaluation Group). Dobash, R., Dobash, R. and Cavanagh, K. (1985) 'The contact between battered women and social and medical agencies', in J. Pahl (ed.) Private Violence and Public Policy: The Needs o f Battered Women and the Response o f the Public Services. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 164

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Dobash, R. and Dobash, R. (1992) Women, Violence and Social Change. London: Routledge. Glass, D. (1998) All my Fault. London: Virago. Hague, G. and Malos, E. (1998) (2nd edn) Domestic Violence: Action fo r Change. Cheltenham: New Clarion Press. Hague, G., M alos, E. and Dear, W. (1996) M ulti-agency Work and Domestic Violence. Bristol: The Policy Press. Harwin, N. (1998) Families without Fear. Women's Aid Agenda fo r Action on Domestic Violence: Recommendations fo r a National Strategy. Bristol: W omen's Aid Federation of England. Hom e Office (2000) Briefing Notes. Reducing Domestic Violence: What Works. London: Hom e Office. Hoff, L. (1990) Battered Women as Survivors. London: Routledge. Hum phreys, C. (2000) From Good Intentions to Good Practice: M apping Services Working with Families where there is Domestic Violence. Bristol: The Policy Press. Hum phreys, C., Hester, M., Hague, G., Mullender, A., Abraham s, H. and Lowe, P. (2000) From Good Intentions to Good Practice. Bristol: The Policy Press. Humphreys, C. and Thiara, C. (2002) Routes to Safety. Bristol: W omen's Aid. Jam es-H anm an, D. (1994) Domestic Violence: Help, Advice and Information fo r Disabled Women. London: London Borough of Hounslow. Kelly, L. (1988) Sexual Violence. London: Polity Press. Kirkwood, C. (1993) Leaving Abusive Partners: From the Scars o f Survival to the Wisdom fo r Change. London: Sage. Lindow, V. (1995) Service user involvement: Synthesis o f Findings and Experience in the Field. York: York Publishing Services. Lovend uski,). (1993) Contemporary Feminist Politics: Women and Power in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mama, A. (1996) The Hidden Struggle: Statutory and Voluntary Sector Response to Violence A gainst Black Women and Children in the Home. London: W hiting and Birch. M aynard, M. and Purvis, J. (eds) (1994) Researching Women's Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor and Francis. Mullender, A. and Burton, S. (2001) 'D ealing with perpetrators' in J. TaylorBrowne (ed.) Reducing Domestic Violence: What Works? London: W hiting and Birch. Mullender, A. and Hague, G. (2000) Reducing Domestic Violence. What ivorks? Women Survivors' Views, Hom e Office Briefing Notes. London: Home Office. Mullender, A. and Hague. G. (2001) 'W omen Survivors' Views', in J. TaylorBrowne (ed.) Reducing Domestic Violence: What Works? London: W hiting and Birch. Oliver, M. and Cam pbell, J. (1996) Disability Politics. London: Routledge. Priestley, M. (1998) Disability Politics and Community Care. London: Jessica Kingsley. 165

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Rai, D. and Thiara, R.(1997) Re-defining Spaces: The Needs o f Black Women and Children in Refuge Support Services and Black Workers in Women's Aid. Bristol: Women's Aid Federation of England. Sayce, L. (1999) From Psychiatric Patient to Citizen: Overcoming Discrimination and Social Exclusion. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Schechter, S. (1982) Women and Male Violence. London: Pluto. Stanley, L. and Wise, S. (1993) Breaking Out Again: Feminist Ontology and Epistemology. London: Routledge. Stewart, M. and Taylor, M. (1996) Empowerment and Estate Regeneration. Bristol: The Policy Press. Swain, J., Finkelstein, V., Oliver, M. and French, S. (eds) (1993) Disabling Barriers, Enabling Environments. London: Sage. Taylor-Browne, J. (ed.) (2001) Reducing Domestic Violence: What Works? London: Whiting and Birch. Women's Aid Federation of England (WAFE) (1989) Breaking Through: Women Surviving Male Violence. Bristol: Women's Aid Publications. Women's Unit of the Cabinet Office and Home Office (1999, now under revision) Living Without Fear: An Integrated Approach to Tackling Violence Against Women. London: Cabinet Office.

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Chapter 9

Researching violent fathers

Lynne Harne

W h y study violent m en?

The importance of feminists critically studying men in order to produce useful knowledge about the way gendered power relations work has been stressed by feminist historians and sociologists. One way in which this has been undertaken is through a critical assessment of work by male authors (see, for example, Coveney et al. 1984). Another avenue of critique has been through studying such power relations through women's accounts: for example, through women's accounts of male violence. However, there are differences between these approaches and the kinds of knowledge produced from in-depth studies with men directly (Scott 1984; Laws 1990; Scully 1990; Kelly et al. 1994; Lundgren 1995, Cavanagh et al. 2001). Scully, for example, was able to broaden understandings of male sexual violence through her interviews with imprisoned rapists in the US and has emphasised the importance of critically examining such men's meanings and motivations through qualitative research; a theme taken up by O'Connell Davidson (1995) in her research with sex tourists. Lundgren (1995), in her research on men's sexualised violence in partner relationships in Norway,1 stressed the significance of men's accounts in understanding how violence is used to constitute masculinity through the control of women. Feminist research on the evaluation of programmes for domestic violence perpetrators in the UK2 (Dobash et al. 1996; Burton et al. 1998; Lee 1999; Cavanagh et al. 2001) has also increased understandings of the meanings men attribute to their violence and the discursive strategies they use to redefine it in legitimising ways in order to resist change. 167

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This, in combination with research by pro-feminist men (see, for example, Ptacek 1988; Hearn 1998), has been profoundly significant in developing knowledge about the purposes of men's violence towards women, and in exploding myths that it is 'irrational, subconscious or uncontrollable' (Scully 1990: 137). Despite recognition of its value, and the challenge to the idea that feminist research on men's violence should only be with women, there are few reflexive accounts of the problems and issues involved in undertaking direct qualitative research with violent men by feminists.5 Nor how to cope with the gendered power dynamics of the research process in this context. Moreover, since it can be anticipated that undertaking such research can be an unpleasant and risky business, there may be a view that it should be left to men to undertake. However, whilst acknowledging that studies by men approached from critical masculinity4 and pro-feminist perspectives produce useful knowledge, there can be a difference between the kinds of knowledge developed from these studies and from studies undertaken by women because of the way the materiality of gendered power relations affects the whole research process (Hearn 1993). This can range from the kinds of research questions asked, to the dynamics of the research context, to the type of data produced, as well as to the higher status that may be given to the knowledge that is developed by men within the academic and policy contexts (Kramerae and Spender 1993; Hearn 1993; Kelly et al. 1994). This chapter therefore highlights and discusses some of these issues through focusing on qualitative research with violent fathers as a case study. In particular, it highlights the dilemmas for the lone feminist researcher in an academic context and discusses issues of safety; difficulties in accessing a relevant sample; ethical dilemmas; inter­ viewing strategies; and problems of interpreting and analysing such accounts.

C o n te x t to the research

This research was undertaken in a family law policy context, where domestically violent fathers are nearly always given contact with children when separated from their partners. In general, policy has assumed that violent men's parenting practices are disconnected from their violence towards women and that they can still be 'good enough' fathers despite this behaviour (Smart and Neale 1997; Hester and Harne 1999; Eriksson and Hester 2001). In these cases, although there may be some recognition that children may be 'distressed' in the short term by 168

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such contact, the courts have assumed that children w ill suffer greater harm in the long term if they do not have an 'enduring relationship' w ith both 'natural parents' (Re: M [1995] 1FLR 274; O (Contact: Im position of Conditions) [1995] 2 FLR 124). M ore recently there has been som e formal recognition that very severe violence m ight be a 'cogent' reason to lim it or deny direct contact (Children Act Sub-Com m ittee 2000; Re: L,V,M,H [2000] 2 FLR: 334). D espite this, policy and practice has tended to shift further towards enforcing contact in this context (Saunders 2001). There may, however, be som e occasional recognition that a violent father needs to address his own conduct and that the safety of m others and children may be a problem and in these cases contact may initially take place in a contact centre a n d /o r be supervised by others (Children Act Sub-Com m ittee 2002; Aris et al. 2002). However, arguments put forward by fathers' rights groups, that m others are unable to separate their own fears from the needs of the child and are deliberately blocking their contact for irrational and selfish reasons, have generally been accepted by professionals and policy­ m akers (Children Act Sub-Com m ittee 2002). In this context, m others' concerns about such fathers' direct abuse or neglect of children are frequently viewed as false allegations by the fam ily courts (Humphreys 1997; Radford et al. 1999; Brown et al. 2000). In addition, where children refuse or express reluctance to have contact with such fathers, they are often regarded as having been unduly influenced by their m others in taking such a stance and their m others may be accused of having 'parentally alienated' their children from their fathers in legal argum ents for enforcing contact (M aidm ent 1998).5 In contrast to these discourses, feminist researchers have highlighted the risks to children in the context of living w ith domestic violence and in situations post-separation w hen violent fathers continue to have contact with children. For exam ple, there is now substantial evidence from fem inist and other research that 'the abuse of w om en and the abuse of children co-exists' (M cGee 2000: 215) and is m ainly carried out by violent fathers in fam ilial relationships (H ester et al. 2000; Hum phreys and M ullender 2000). Such research has indicated the con­ nections between physical child abuse and dom estic violence from the same perpetrator (Stark and Flitcraft 1988; Farm er and O wen 1995; Ross 1996; Edelson 1999), which suggests that dom estically violent fathers are three times more likely to physically abuse children than are mothers. Other research with children as well as with m others, and studies of child protection case records, has indicated that a majority of children living with a dom estically violent father experience multiple 169

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forms of abuse which includes not only physical abuse but direct emotional and psychological terrorisation from their fathers, in addition to the impact of witnessing violence towards their mothers, and that a substantial minority also experience sexual abuse (see for example, Abrahams 1994; Farmer and Owen 1995; Hester and Radford 1996; Hester and Pearson 1998; McGee 2000; Brown et al. 2000). Research with mothers post-separation indicates that such children continue to be abused in the post-separation context (Hilton 1992; Abrahams 1994; Forman 1995; Hester and Radford 1996; Hester and Pearson 1998; Radford et al. 1999; Rendell et al. 2000; Harne 2004). Such research has also highlighted further overlaps between domestic violence and child abuse where children may be abused at the same time as the mother. For example, children may be deliberately used to witness the m other's abuse and humiliation, or they may be forced to participate in the abuse (Abrahams 1994; Kelly 1994; Hester and Radford 1996; Radford et al. 1999; McGee 2000; Mullender et al. 2002). Moreover they may be the simultaneous targets of the violence, both when living with violent fathers and following separation, when violence and harassment of the family as a whole can intensify (Hester and Radford 1996; Radford et al. 1999; Humphreys and Thiara 2002 ).

Research aim s

Although there has been previous research with violent men, there has been no UK research which has specifically interrogated their views of themselves as fathers and the meanings they ascribe to their violence and abuse in this context. Moreover, despite the evidence briefly outlined above that children are often at risk, professionals have largely ignored or avoided examining specific fathering practices when such men are involved with their care. For example, in relation to child abuse they may accept violent fathers' own denials and minimisations or strategies to transfer the blame onto mothers, or merely regard it as 'excessive' discipline in the context of different expectations of fathers' and mothers' roles in relation to children (see, for example, Humphreys 2000; Farmer and Owen 2000). Thus, in this context, gender neutral concepts such as parents and parenting may also disguise different gendered assumptions about fathering and mothering and what is acceptable behaviour in their treatment of children/’ This research, therefore, aimed to begin to fill this gap and provide insights into fathers' own meanings in order to highlight the need for 170

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professionals to look more closely at dom estically violent fathers' parenting practices, particularly where their contact with children is being considered post-separation. This m eant exploring violent fathers' perceptions of their violence and their relationships with children, when still living with fam ilies and when they may have contact with children in the post-separation context.

T h e research process - issues and difficulties

Regardless of the research process, there are specific m ethodological concerns for w om en directly studying men, particularly in relation to qualitative research, involving ongoing face-to-face interaction, such as in-depth interviews. Since these issues were crucial to my own study, they will be discussed here before I go on to a detailed consideration of the m ethods I chose. The nature of these difficulties is illustrated in some of the few reflexive discussions about the experience of w om en directly researching men. For exam ple, M cKee and O 'Brien (1983), in an account of their research with fathers which involved in-depth interview ing, contrast their experiences with one study on new fathers where wives were usually present at the interview s and another where they were interview ing lone fathers in their hom es and on their own. In the latter study, they were advised by their fem ale supervisor not to ask the men questions about their sexual experiences because this 'in itself' may be sexually arousing for som e men and could cause unnecessary com plications for the interviewer. This example illustrates that the research questions w om en ask men in certain research contexts may be informed by the 'om ni-presence', of m en's potential for 'sexual violation' of w om en (M cKee and O 'Brien 1983: 157). They can, therefore, act as a form of control of women researchers in limiting the research questions they wish to explore or what type of research gets done by women. Even where women are avoiding asking such questions, the interview situation and the content of the interview itself may be used as a means to sexually harass women and to assert m ale dominance. Taylor (1996) discusses this in her research account of interview ing male managers, where one of the research aims was to explore com panies' attitudes to women returners. She describes how one m anager used the interview to express m isogynist views on 'w om en in general and women returners' which 'm ade the hairs on the back of [her] neck stand on end' (Taylor 1996: 114). M cKee and O 'Brien also relate how, in their

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lone fathers sam ple, som e men used the interview as an opportunity to rail against w ives and w om en in general, which had the effect of m aking them feel generally uneasy. Both these research accounts give examples of where a few of the men used more overt forms of sexual and physical harassm ent when they were being interview ed in their own homes. These included, for Taylor, a man preventing her leaving the house by physically placing him self in front of the door, and for M cKee and O 'Brien, being pestered after the interview s for further contact, and for one of them, not being let out of the car when the interview ee was driving her to the station after the interview. In addition, Taylor describes how the m ale m anagers she interview ed always controlled the boundaries of the interview situation by cancelling the interview at the last m inute, arriving late, or not letting her get away when the interview had ended. These accounts challenge com m on notions of 'the tw o-tier power hierarchy' of the researcher and researched, and ideas that the researcher is always the one with power. They also contrast with those approaches which have been taken in fem inist research with w om en w hich aim to em pow er the research participants and view the research process as colloborative endeavour for know ledge (Lundgren 1995; W illiam son 2000). W hilst power dynam ics and forms of manipulation by both interview ers and interview ees are com plex and can be present in any interview situation (O 'Connell Davidson and Layder 1994; Skinner this volum e), gendered power dynam ics where particular strategies are used by some m ale participants to reinforce male pow er often remain invisible in research accounts. Women do, of course, develop their own strategies to resist such control, although some of these may be singularly ineffective and appear to place the blam e on women researchers them selves for not 'avoiding' or for 'provoking' dangerous situations, or for not appearing professional enough (Taylor 1996). For exam ple, M cKee and O 'Brien talk about em ploying a variety of strategies to 'offset any risk of sexual confrontation', by 'taking conscious decisions' about 'm ake-up and clothes', and m aintaining a 'professional m anner' when am biguities arose, and as illustrated earlier, by avoiding asking certain questions. But these strategies did not alw ays w ork and can serve to obscure the constraints placed on women in undertaking this kind of research, as well as putting them in actual danger. The above authors also m ade light of the incidents of sexual and physical harassm ent that they experienced and this may be one strategy to dim inish the lack of power they felt in the interview context. However, as Taylor points out, this 'trivialisation' of sexual harassm ent 172

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can continue to 'protect the power im balances betw een m en and women that are already in place' (Taylor 1996: 118). A different approach, which was taken by Laws in her research on m en's social constructions of m enstruation, is to view the whole research process as 'a power struggle' (Laws 1990:218). Laws relates this not ju st to the interview context, but to the data analysis process and to considerations of ethics in relation to research participants. She dis­ cusses how the process of transcribing a group discussion by men made her feel 'upset and angry', and 'ground dow n' and that she had to find a w ay to reduce these m en's views to 'd ata' and to 'use them for her own ends' (Laws 1990: 218). In addition, she points out that traditional ethical considerations in relation to the research participants do not take into account situations w here the researcher may be in a less powerful social position than the research subjects. In her own research with liberal middle class men she states that whilst she continued with her contract to protect their identities she felt she did not 'ow e them anything m ore' and did not give them 'privileged access' to the interview transcripts or to the research results. These exam ples illustrate that it is not ju st my own research focus on violent fathers which posed particular difficulties, since these difficulties are likely to be present in many research situations for women which involve direct research with male participants. Although they may vary in degree depending on the subject matter, the physical and institutional context and w om en's and m en's ow n social positioning in relation to class, 'race' and ethnicity, the gendered and sexualised nature of pow er relations betw een men and women are still likely to have an impact. On the one hand they m ay affect what research gets done, because feminist researchers may avoid undertaking research directly w ith men for these reasons (Laws 1990). On the other, they may be reinforced through the various stages of the research process itself through the silences that surround them. At a very basic level, the silences surrounding gendered power dynam ics fail to address specific issues of personal safety for women researchers and highlight the need for safety procedures in research contexts and for safety aw areness in all research training (Taylor 1996). Although, at the time of writing this chapter, there is more acknow l­ edgem ent of safety issues in relation to gender for social science researchers undertaking field work (see, for exam ple, Social Research Association 2002), when I began considering the design of my em pirical study in 1997 there was a general absence of any guidelines in the academ ic post-graduate research training I received. Moreover, even 173

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though there may be more research guidance on recognising safety risks, a failure to acknowledge the specific gendered power men may have as interviewees in certain research contexts, may remain. For example, it may still be viewed as the responsibility of the individual woman researcher to avoid sexualised violence from men through 'avoiding engaging in provocative behaviour' (Social Research Association 2002: 5).

Research strategy

Thus, in relation to this research, my whole thinking about the research strategy was initially informed by the need to think about ways to protect my own safety whilst at the same time trying to find ways of resisting the constraints this placed on me. Such safety considerations are, of course, reinforced when both the focus of the research and the research participants are defined by their violence. For example, Scully in her research with convicted rapists describes how for security purposes she 'took the precaution of removing [her] home address from all public records, such as the university and local telephone company and having [her] phone number unlisted'. She also describes how early on in the project 'a generalised sense of anxiousness was intensified by anonymous phone calls and several threatening letters she received' (Scully 1990: 13). Drawing on this experience and those discussed above, I had to think about ways of protecting my own 'anonymity' so that, for example, it would be less easy for the violent men interviewed to find out where I lived. These considerations were underlined by a personal awareness that other feminist researchers on domestic violence and child contact had been threatened over the telephone at home by members of fathers' rights groups.7 Safety considerations also informed my thinking about where I would find the m en's sample and the location of the field research, as well as the interview context itself (see Hearn 1993). For example, it was important that the interviews should be able to take place in a public space and not in the interviewee's own home, and that preferably there would be others nearby, in case any threats of violence arose in this context. In the context of domestic violence and child abuse, however, safety is not only a consideration for the researcher. In my research the ex­ partners and children of these men were the indirect subjects and their safety could be affected by this intervention. For example, at the beginning of the research process I considered interviewing the mothers 174

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and ex-partners of the violent fathers in order to provide com parative perspectives to the fathers' accounts. However, other feminist research in this area (see, for exam ple, Hester and Radford 1996) had raised concerns that this could provide the men with further opportunities for violence and abuse and that all subjects m ight have fears over the confidentiality of what they said to me (see also Sm art and N eale 1999). These safety issues ultim ately led to me seeking a separate sample of separated mothers to interview, who were not connected to the fathers sam ple, to provide com parative perspectives.

S a m p lin g difficulties and ga in in g access to vio le n t fathers

O ther problem s also inform ed the sam pling strategy and are com m on to all research where views are being sought from those who have carried out socially disapproved of a n d /o r crim inal behaviour; and to pur­ posive sam pling w here the aim s of the research mean that participants need to fulfil certain criteria. The aims of my own research m eant firstly that the men needed to be identified and recognised as having carried out dom estic violence by others such as welfare or criminal justice agencies, or the civil courts, or to have admitted them selves at some m inimal level to being violent. This aspect was im portant because previous research has shown that w here w om en state that partners have been violent the men may deny it, or m ake counter-allegations suggesting that it is a m utual phenom enon (Hearn 1998). Moreover, since aspects of their behaviour are illegal, finding a sam ple of m en who were identified as dom estically violent and were willing to be interview ed posed considerable prob­ lems. As Hearn has noted, 'because of the legal and criminal processes, there are major difficulties in constructing a sam pling fram e for men who have been violent to known w om en' (Hearn 1998: 46). These difficulties were com pounded in this study by my second criteria, which was that they needed to be separated fathers and should preferably have som e ongoing face-to-face contact with their children, or at a m inim um be seeking contact. In relation to this criteria it could be anticipated that family law and child protection processes m ight make such men reluctant to volunteer. In addition, it excluded men from prison populations, since I required some separated fathers, at least, to have their children for contact where they stayed overnight. I also initially intended to obtain a sam ple which would represent a range of men from different geographical areas and social and ethnic back­ grounds. Subsequently, this aim becam e more difficult to achieve, when

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the problems of finding any research participants willing to be interviewed who fitted the criteria became clear. In addition, whilst I was aware that other researchers investigating fathers and child contact have sought men through fathers' rights organisations such as Families Need Fathers (see, for example, Smart and Neale 1999), given the aims of this research and my own knowledge of these organisations (Harne and Radford 1994), it seemed highly unlikely that any of these men, although they might be keen to be interviewed, would be prepared to talk about violence/abuse towards ex-partners and / or children - a view that was confirmed by others who were undertaking concurrent research about fathers' views on child contact.8 In the first instance, I therefore decided to make contact with a number of family lawyers, including black lawyers in different geographical areas since earlier research undertaken with mothers had found a sample through this route (see, for example, Hester and Radford 1996). A leaflet was developed providing some basic information about the research to be given to clients by their lawyers. However, although several lawyers were willing to inform relevant male clients about the research, no men volunteered in these circum­ stances. One lawyer suggested that this was because of the men's continued anxieties about confidentiality. It was perhaps unsurprising that these men were unwilling to be interviewed on the topic of their fathering practices in the context of domestic violence, since there could be fears that this would ultimately compromise their own contact arrangements with the children. Attempts at getting research partici­ pants were also made with social workers in contact with domestically violent fathers through child protection agencies, but this again produced no volunteers within the required time frame. Ultimately the sampling strategy combined elements of purposive and convenience sampling, since two perpetrator projects, whose staff were specifically interested in the research focus on fathering, were willing to provide access to men attending their programmes. As a result of this interest and to ensure some consistency in terms of the sampling frame, I contacted six other programmes to see if they would provide access. The final sample was therefore drawn from men on four programmes in the north and south of England and this enabled some geographical spread in terms of representativeness. Gaining access to men on perpetrator programmes also had the advantage of addressing safety issues for myself as the researcher in terms of location, since all four programme organisers were prepared to allow me to undertake interviews on their premises. Moreover, two of 176

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the program m e organisers undertook the arrangem ents for the inter­ views themselves - and partly because of this, m ost of the men were draw n from these two program m es. Even so, although I had arrange­ m ents to interview 30 men from the four different program m es, ten did not turn up or subsequently m ade them selves unavailable (one because he was taken into custody). This indicates, as Hearn (1998) has sug­ gested, that dom estically violent men can be a particularly unreliable group to research. In m any ways m y sam pling strategy was exploratory, since there was no previous research I could refer to which had specifically focused on violent men as fathers, and there were considerable difficulties in finding a sample appropriate to my research aims. Moreover, in relation to the final sam ple, I was concerned initially that drawing fathers only from perpetrator program m es would mean that I w ould have access only to 'less seriously' violent men, some of whom may already be on the road to change, or who at least would have learnt how to represent them selves in this way through the program m es (see Burton et al. 1998). In practice, however, this did not prove to be the case, since the men who participated reflected a range of varying experiences of violence and abuse towards w om en and children in different fam ily type settings, and all indicated that they had carried out serious physical and often sexual violence against their partners. They were also drawn from varying social backgrounds and included a num ber of professional men. In addition, it becam e clear from their accounts that they had very different m otivations for being on a programme. For exam ple, w hilst a few described themselves as 'volunteers', others were only attending as a way of avoiding a prison sentence a n d /o r as a means of gaining contact with their children, which otherwise would have been denied by the fam ily courts. A further factor was that alm ost half the sam ple had been violent not only in first but also in second familial relationships. This widened the focus of the research and the content of the interview s, in relation to exploring their understandings of their violent and abusive practices and its im pact on children from second as well as first families. The perpetrator program m e context also added an extra dim ension to the research, in that it m eant that the im pact of the program m es on the m en's accounts needed to be explored, whilst at the sam e time providing an opportunity to look at their impact on fathering in this area. One of the serious lim itations of the final sam ple, however, was that it did not represent a range of minority ethnic experiences. For exam ple, only one of the men interviewed was black, and whilst this may have reflected an unwillingness of such men to be interviewed by a 177

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white female researcher (see, for example, Scully 1990), or, that black men may be treated more severely by the criminal justice system so are not attending community programmes, it is possible that specifically seeking a sub-sample of minority-ethnic men through the programmes could have made a difference to obtaining more representation in this area. Overall, the efforts to obtain an appropriate sample tends to reflect the messiness of much exploratory research and the particular difficulties which are involved in researching aspects of m en's violence. However, although the sample was not as large nor as representative as I originally intended, it did serve to fulfil the main criteria of ethno­ graphic qualitative research in that it provided enough 'information rich cases' to fulfill the research aims (O'Connell Davidson and Layder 1994).

Interview ing strategies - the interview as social interaction

All interviews involve a process of social interaction, where both researcher and research participants will have their own agendas and frameworks of meaning which they bring to the interview context (Lundgren 1995). However, as noted earlier, interviewing perpetrators about their violence and abuse obviously raises different issues from interviewing survivors about their experiences (see, for example, Williamson 2000) and their motivations to be interviewed will be different (Cavanagh and Lewis 1996). For example, other research with domestically violent men has indicated that they may view the interview as an opportunity to redefine their violence and abuse in different ways through denial and minimisation; shifting the blame and responsibility onto women; making counter-allegations and justifying and excusing it. They may also use it to rail against perceived unjust treatment by the courts and to re-present themselves as the 'real' victims (see, for example, Dobash et al. 1996; Hearn 1998; Cavanagh et al. 2001). It needs to be recognised, however, that in other settings and with other men, it may be perfectly acceptable to talk about actual or fantasised violence against women and sometimes children. Such talk is often sexualised in content and may be viewed as an 'acceptable' form of particular masculine cultures (see Lees 1997; Walklate 2001). In research and professional contexts, however, where men have been specifically identified by agencies as being 'unacceptably' violent to women an d /o r children in familial relationships, they are likely to be more reluctant to talk specifically about the violence and this can be a 178

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major problem when this forms a main focus of the research. In this respect, previous evaluation research has developed the use of violence and abuse indexes or checklists, since it has been found that subjects may be more prepared to admit to certain violent acts on paper, rather than through a face-to-face interview. I therefore used these to provide specific contextual information on the men interviewed. At the same time I needed to develop a specific checklist in relation to child abuse, as this was an area that had been mainly omitted in previous checklists in research with domestically violent men. This checklist included aspects of intimidatory, emotional and physical abuse of children, but did not include sexual abuse, as it was not felt that the fathers interviewed would be prepared to admit to sexual abuse of children in this context.'* However, since one key aspect was to explore how the fathers interpreted their violence towards mothers and its impact on children and any directly abusive practices towards children themselves, it was necessary that they were prepared to talk about at least some of this in their interviews. This meant that I needed to consider what inter­ viewing strategies would enable this to happen.

Confidentiality and ethics

In the first instance this raised crucial issues of confidentiality and ethics10 and, as has been highlighted earlier, this issue is far more complex when undertaking research with those from dominant groups who have harmed others, and where there is the potential for continuing harm (Hearn 1998). W hilst standard research guidance (see, for example, British Sociological Association 2002) emphasises protecting the confidentiality of the research participants, in the context of this research, consideration had to be given to the victims and potential victims of the research participants and what happened if the participants talked not just about past harm but indicated ongoing harm or threatened future harm during the course of the interview, par­ ticularly towards children. This meant I had to consider qualifying the usual guarantees of confidentiality, but I was also concerned about making such qualifications and whether they could defeat the purposes of the research, since they could inhibit the men from talking about any of their abusive behaviour. Other researchers in this area have qualified confidentiality to that which is within the law (see, for example, Hearn 1993), but this does not cover all aspects of domestic violence or child abuse. This type of research therefore reflects the dilemmas for the researcher in wanting to obtain useful data from such men that may 179

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have long-term benefits in terms of informing policy and practice while also being aware of immediate issues of protection for the indirect subjects of the research. My own approach was therefore to inform the men at the beginning of their interviews that confidentiality was guaranteed unless they told me about harm which was clearly ongoing or potential future acts of harm. However, because 'harm ' and 'abuse' are contested and relative concepts (see Department of Health 1999) this was to become a 'grey area' in the course of the m en's interviews, since their own definitions of harm to children were clearly different from those which have been developed through feminist understandings of child abuse and its impacts. It also became apparent that although all the programmes the men were attending were addressing some of the impacts of domestic violence on children, this impact could be greatly underestimated in the post-separation context, where the men had contact with the children. Moreover, there were indications that some programmes did not necessarily recognise the direct harm violent fathers could inflict on children when they were looking after them, and this became one of the main findings of the research (see Harne 2004). As a consequence, fathers' lack of acknowledgement of harm towards children was challenged during their interviews and these concerns were also raised with programme leaders following the inter­ views with the fathers. In retrospect, however, it would have probably been better to negotiate a specific child protection protocol with the programmes from which the fathers were drawn.

Q u e stio n in g strategies

Although qualitative interviewing is often focused on specific topics, it needs to be open-ended so that the meanings and contexts of particular actions and experiences of the research participants can be explored. This has been highly significant in feminist and pro-feminist research on the use of violence in personal relationships, since the use of highly structured questioning involving closed responses can ignore the dif­ ferent gendered meanings of violence, its impacts and the contexts in which such acts of violence occur (Nazroo 1995). For example, family violence researchers in the US, Straus and Gelles (1986), have claimed that women are equally if not more violent than men. These conclusions have been deduced from their national selfreport surveys using a quantitative research instrument, known as the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), which asks only about specific acts of 180

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violence. UK crime surveys using sim ilar m ethods (M irrlees-Black 1999; Scottish O ffice 2003) have also indicated high levels of violence by wom en. However, a follow -up study with the men who indicated that they had experienced dom estic violence in the Scottish crime survey found that a large num ber had m isinterpreted the m eaning of the term dom estic violence and believed that they w ere being asked about property crime in the hom e, and only one in ten had experienced frightening violent incidents from partners (Gadd et al. 2003). Such studies indicate the problem s with such methods, although m ost of these surveys also recognise that wom en are far more likely to be seriously injured and frightened by m en's violence (Gelles 1997; M irrlees-Black 1999). N azroo's qualitative research on 96 couples' experiences of domestic violence found that, although through the use of CTS questionnaires women appeared to be as violent as men, w hen the m eanings and the context of w om en's and m en's violence were explored through qualitative interview ing a very different picture emerged, where w om en's 'violence' w as largely regarded by the men as 'harm less', 'laughable' and 'non-threatening'. On the other hand, both the m en's and w om en's accounts indicated the m en's violence was designed to inflict harm and created considerable anxiety for the wom en. He therefore concluded that, when the m eanings, context and impact of dom estic violence are explored through in-depth interview ing, gendered pow er differences becom e apparent, w ith m en's use of violence being clearly linked to the 'successful domination of their partners' (Nazroo 1995: 489). D ifferent questioning strategies have been used in previous exploratory interview ing with violent men, which can involve focusing on critical violent events (see, for exam ple, Dobash et al. 1996) or life story approaches (Thurston and Benyon 1995), although the latter approach in particular m ay lead violent men to focus more on their own childhood experiences, as an excuse for their violence. Using a topic sheet with a list of the issues I wished to explore, I utilised certain aspects of these techniques, but com bined this with asking open-ended and probing questions about their histories of violence and abuse towards children and m others and their m otivations and conceptualisations of its impact in a num ber of different ways. This 'detective' method of interview ing involved returning to these topics when the opportunity arose in other parts of the interview, such as when the men were talking about the meanings of fatherhood and their fatherhood role and their perceptions of their relationships with their children.

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In practice, whilst the men initially wanted to use the interview to deny their violence and convince me w hat good fathers they were, once some rapport was established (see below ), and bearing in mind that it is difficult to conceal one's ow n views and experiences in conversation over a period of time, some men were prepared to talk about these areas of their lives with seeming frankness. Moreover, further into the interview s, some seem ed to forget that they had previously denied any violence and abuse towards m others and towards children and began to contradict these, and switched to a com bination of justifying and excusing this behaviour. These interview ing strategies highlight some of the advantages of open-ended non-standardised questioning over standardised and more closed forms, in getting a more credible picture of violent fathers' own m otivations in carrying out abuse towards mothers and towards children.

T h e c o n tra d ic tio n s o f ‘ra p p o rt’ in in te rvie w in g vio le n t fathers

Establishing some rapport with the violent fathers and appearing to m aintain a non-judgem ental 'facade', was also im portant in initially facilitating their talk of violence and abuse. This was assisted by beginning the interview with less threatening questions and leading up to the more potentially 'em barrassing' and 'sensitive' topics gradually (see also Scully 1990). Yet as Scully has pointed out, there is a fine line betw een establishing rapport and appearing non-judgem ental, and colluding with violent m en's views. She describes the difficulties in her own research of having to listen to stories which were 'horrible', and yet having to retain a 'neutral' stance in order to elicit their accounts, since 'no one tells his secrets to a visibly hostile and disapproving person' (Scully 1990: 18). There were sim ilar difficulties in this research in having to listen to violent fathers' justifications for their violent and abusive behaviour, which frequently contained a great deal of mother and child blam e and the expression of m isogynist views. Despite attem pting to retain a non-judgem ental stance, there were a few fathers who perceived som e or all of the questioning as threatening the 'rightness' of their own views, and there were also occasions when such questioning made them so hostile and aggressive that I had to term inate the interview s at this point. In addition, as indicated earlier, there were times when I challenged their interpretations and m eanings and this could also lead to a refusal to discuss the topic further. On the other hand, there were fathers who used charm and hum our to attem pt to obscure their goals for using violence and to trivialise its 182

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im pact, with some m aking jokes about their abusive behaviour. There w ere also a few who cried w hen talking about 'past' abuse of children and sought my advice about child-rearing practices. Moreover, some fathers wanted to use the interview as a 'personal therapy' session where they talked at length about their ow n psychological and em otional problem s and aired their bitterness about ex-partners leaving them. As others who have interview ed or have experience of working with dom estically violent men have show n, such tactics can be highly m anipulative and are aimed at gaining the sym pathy of the listener and representing them selves as the 'real' victim s (Pence and Paym ar 1993; Hearn 1998). Horley (1991, 2000), from her own work on domestic violence, has stressed how dom estically violent perpetrators can 'charm ' professionals in different agencies and deflect blam e onto wom en; thus m aking it harder for them to believe that such personable m en are capable of being violent or abusive. In the research context, w hilst such 'charm ' tactics can be used with both male and female interview ers (see, for exam ple, Hearn 1998), since w om en are expected to be more deferential to m en's views they m ay be perceived by violent men as being more susceptible to this kind of m anipulation.

In te rp re ta tio n and analysis o f the fath e rs’ accou n ts

Interpretation is essential to the analysis of qualitative accounts. Such 'texts' do not just speak for them selves (Denzin 1994; Lundgren 1995). For exam ple, w ithout a prior in-depth know ledge of fem inist under­ standings of dom estic violence and child abuse and an understanding of the manipulative strategies that violent men use to legitim ise their own m eanings, it m ight appear from these m en's accounts that nothing much happened to these m others and children (see also Kelly and Radford 1991). Moreover, if their accounts were taken at 'face value', it could seem that their violence was m erely a response to w om en's 'violence' or in the case of direct abuse towards children, a mere uncontrollable loss of tem per in response to children's 'unreasonable' behaviour. For exam ple, three- and four-year-old children who made dem ands on fathers, or failed to live up to fathers' expectations of how they should be, were frequently seen as 'provoking' their abuse and deliberately 'annoying' these fathers, which then justified their abusive behaviour towards them. It was also im portant to have the contrasting perspectives from the m others' accounts, which highlighted the gendered differences in 183

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meaning in specific areas. In this regard, few fathers were prepared to acknow ledge that children observing their violence towards m others, or their direct physical and intim idatory abuse of children could have long-term impacts on them, or affect the way children m ight feel about their fathers (see also M ullender et al. 2002). Such understandings em phasise the need not only to analyse the overt text, but to look behind it - at the m eanings of what is not said, the silences, the contradictions - and what is im plicit and hidden. This approach m eans that the accounts have to be exam ined as a whole in order to find 'clues' to interpret and analyse the fathers' conceptual­ isations of their own fam ilial relationships and behaviour. W hen the texts were read in this way, they revealed overall assum ptions of dom ination where both w om en and children were required to m eet the m en's needs and expectations and violence and abuse were used to enforce these requirem ents. Moreover, there was rarely any indication that children's own interests or perspectives were considered at all and there were profound silences in this area. For exam ple, in their reasons for wanting contact w ith children, these fathers frequently argued that this was because the children would give them 'unconditional love' or increase fathers' own sense of security, but there was usually no acknow ledgem ent that children m ight have their own interests or needs which needed to be addressed when they had contact with them. In addition, w ithout an understanding of the w ider institutional context (see Holland and Ram azanoglu 1994), and the often hidden but continuous reconstitution of the social relations of male pow er - where fam ily and child welfare discourses and practices oppress w om en and children who have experienced domestic violence and child abuse, through discounting their own voices - these fathers' stories would appear as if the fathers are at least the equal if not the prim e victim s of conflictual and 'dysfunctioning' family relationships. Thus, post­ fem inist and post-structuralist interpretations could, for exam ple, read these violent fathers' accounts as merely illustrating their own subjective pow erlessness vis a vis the pow er that women and children have in fam ilial social relationships (see, for exam ple, Featherstone and Trinder 1997). Such interpretations would, however, deny the material reality of m en's violence and abuse and the m aterial harm it does to and control it exherts over women and children's lives.

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C o n c lu s io n

U n d ertak in g q u a lita tiv e research w ith v io le n t m en from a critical fem in ist p ersp ectiv e can p ro d u ce usefu l in sig h ts into m e n 's co n c ep tu a l­ isatio n s, and inform u n d ersta n d in g s o f d ifferen t a sp ects o f v iolen t m ascu lin ities and strateg ies for action. A t the sa m e tim e it need s to be reco g n ised th at u n d ertak in g su ch research is n o t w ith o u t p e rso n a l costs. F or exam p le, in this research, h a v in g to listen to and an aly se v iolen t fath ers' m in im isatio n s and ju stifica tio n s for th eir ab u se o f ch ild ren and th eir co m p lete d isregard o f ch ild re n 's ow n feelin g s, in terests or n eed s, w as extrem ely harrow in g and often left m e w ith a sen se o f p o w e rle ss­ n ess. T h is e xp erien ce w as also rein forced w h en the v io len t fa th ers drew on cu rren t fam ily law p o licy d isco u rses to ju stify and leg itim ate their ow n co n ta ct and 'rig h ts' to th eir ch ild ren , in th eir in terview s. N ev erth eless, som e o f d ifficu lties and d ilem m as raised in u n d erta k in g this kind o f research m ay be lessen ed for fem in ists, w h ere they can be u n d ertak en in a team settin g and d iscu ssed and shared w ith others.

N o te s

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Lundgren's research was undertaken with men and women in a charismatic religious sect. Perpetrator programmes for domestically violent men may take men who have been mandated by the criminal courts as well as those who volunteer to attend for various reasons. More recently the family courts have directed some men to attend as a condition of them getting contact with their children. Jeff Hearn has extensively discussed the issues and difficulties of researching violent men for men (see Hearn 1993, 1998), and some of the problems he has raised have also been useful in undertaking this research. I define critical masculinity perspectives as those which critique normative constructions of masculinity and acknowledge that these have developed through assumptions and practices of dominance over women and children. See, for example, Brittan (1989). The concept of parental alienation has not, however, been recognised by the psychological profession, nor by 'child mental health specialists' (Sturge and Glaser 2000: 622). The language used to describe harm to children also reflects the differential power relationships between children and adults. Thus terms such as 'abuse' and 'maltreatment' in contrast to terms such as 'violence' can denote the lesser status given to such harm. To avoid confusion, however, I will continue to use the term 'abuse' when referring specifically to violent men's harm to children in familial relations.

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7 8 9 10

Personal communication with the author. Personal communications with the author. Although fathers were not expected to disclose sexual abuse of children, this did not mean it was not taking place. Confidentiality of research participants has been further emphasised by the Data Protection Act, 1998, but can be overridden where there are child protection concerns (see Department of Health, 1999).

B ib lio g r a p h y

Abrahams, C. (1994) The Hidden Victims: Children and Domestic Violence. London: NCH Action for Children. Aris, R., Harrison, C. and Humphreys, C. (2002) Safety and Child Contact: an Analysis o f the Role o f Child Contact Centres in the Context o f Domestic Violence and Child Welfare Concerns. London: Lord Chancellor's Department. Bowker, L.H., Arbitell, M. and McFerron, J.R. (1988) 'On the relationship between wife-beating and child abuse', in K. Yllo and M. Bograd (eds), Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. British Sociological Association (2002) Statement o f Ethical Practice. www.britsoc.co.uk/library/ethicsguidelines2002.doc? Brown, T., Frederico, M., Hewitt, L. and Sheehan, R. (2000) 'Revealing the existence of child abuse in the context of marital breakdown and custody and access disputes' Child Abuse and Neglect, 24 (6): 849-59. Burton, S., Regan, L. and Kelly, L. (1998) Supporting Women and Challenging Men: Lessons from the Domestic Violence Intervention Project. Bristol: The Policy Press. Cavanagh, K., Dobash, R.E., Dobash, R.P. and Lewis, R. (2001) 'Remedial work: men's strategic responses to their violence against intimate female partners', Sociology, 35 (3): 695-714. Children Act Sub-committee (Advisor}' Board on Family Law) (2000) A Report to the Lord Chancellor on the Question o f Parental Contact in Cases Where there is Domestic Violence. London: Lord Chancellor's Department. Children Act Sub-Committee (Advisory Board on Family Law) (2002) Making Contact Work. London: Lord Chancellor's Department. Coveney, L., Jackson, M., Jeffreys, S., Kay, L. and Mahony, P. (1984) The Sexuality Papers: Male Sexuality and the Social Control o f Women. London: Hutchinson. Denzin, N. (1994) 'The Art and Politics of Interpretation', in N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (eds) Handbook o f Qualitative Research. London: Sage. Dobash, R.P., Dobash, R.E., Cavanagh, K. and Lewis, R. (1996) Research Evaluation o f Programmes fo r Violent Men. Edinburgh: The Scottish Office. Edleson, J. (1999) 'Children's witnessing of adult violence', Journal o f Interpersonal Violence, 14: 839-70. Eriksson, E. and Hester, M. (2001) 'Violent men as good-enough fathers?: a look at England and Sweden', Violence against Women, 7: 779-98. 186

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Farmer, E. and Owen, M. (1995) Child Protection Practice. Private Risks and Public Remedies. M essages from Research. London: HMSO. Farmer, E. and Owen, M. (2000) 'Gender and the child protection process', in C. Itzen (ed.), Home Truths about Child Sexual Abuse: Influencing Policy and Practice. A Reader. London: Routledge. Featherstone, B. and Trinder, L. (1997) 'Fam iliar Subjects? Domestic Violence and Child Welfare', Child and Family Social Work, 2: 147-59. Forman, J. (1995) Is There a Correlation Between Child Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence? An Exploratory Study o f the Links Between Child Sexual A buse and Domestic Violence in a Sample o f Intrafamilial Child Sexual A buse Cases. Glasgow: W om en's Support Project. Gadd, D., Farrall, S., Dallimore, D. and Lombard, N. (2003) Domestic Abuse against M en in Scotland: Crime and Criminal Justice Findings No. 61. Edinburgh: Scottish Office. Gelles, R. (1997) Intimate Violence in Families (3rd edn). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Harne, L. and Radford, ]. (1994) 'Reinstating patriarchy: the politics of the fam ily and the new legislation', in A. M ullender and R. Morley (eds) Children Living with Domestic Violence: Putting Men's Abuse o f Children on the Child Care Agenda. London: W hiting and Birch. Harne, L. (2004) 'Childcare, violence and fathering - are violent fathers who look after their children, likely to be less abusive?', in R. Klein and B. Wallner (eds) Gender, conflict, and violence, Vienna, Studien-Verlag. Hearn, J. (1993) Researching Men and Men's Violences. Research Paper 4. Bradford: University of Bradford, Departm ent of Applied Social Studies. Hearn, J. (1998) The Violences o f M en: How M en Talk about and How Agencies Respond to Men's Violence to Women. London: Sage. Hester, M. and Radford, L. (1996) Domestic Violence and Child Contact Arrangem ents in England and Denmark. Bristol: The Policy Press. Hester, M. and Pearson, C. (1998) From Periphery to Centre: Domestic Violence in Work with Abused Children. Bristol: The Policy Press. Hester, M. and Harne, L. (1999) 'Fatherhood, children and violence: placing the UK in an international context', in S. Watson and L. Doyal (eds), Engendering Social Policy, Buckingham: Open University Press. Hester, M., Pearson, C. and H arwin, N. (2000) M aking an Impact: Children and Domestic Violence, A Reader (2nd edn). London: Jessica Kingsley. Hilton, N.Z. (1992) 'Battered w om en's concerns about their children witnessing wife assault', Journal o f Interpersonal Violence, 7 (1): 77-86. Holland, J. and Ramazanoglu, C. (1994) 'Com ing to conclusions: power and interpretation in researching young w om en's sexuality', in M. Maynard and J. Purvis (eds), Researching Women's Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor and Francis. Horley, S. (1991) The Charm Syndrome: Why Charming Men M ake Dangerous Lovers. London: Waterstones. Horley, S. (2000) The Charm Syndrome: Why Charming Men M ake Dangerous Lovers, 2nd edition. London: Waterstones. 187

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Humphreys, C. (1997) 'Child sexual abuse allegations in the context of divorce: issues for mothers', British Journal o f Social Work, 27: 529-44. Humphreys, C. (2000) Social Work, Domestic Violence and Child Protection: Challenging Practice. Bristol: The Policy Press. Humphreys, C. and Thiara, R. (2002) Routes to Safety. Bristol: Women's Aid Federation of England. Kelly, L. (1994) 'The interconnectedness of domestic violence and child abuse: challenges for research, policy and practice', in A. Mullender and R. Morley (eds) Children Living ivith Domestic Violence: Putting Men's Abuse o f Women on the Child Care Agenda. London: Whiting and Birch. Kelly, L. and Radford, J. (1990)' "Nothing really happened": the invalidation of women's experiences of sexual violence', Critical Social Policy, 30: 39-53. Kelly, L., Burton, S. and Regan, L. (1994) 'Researching women's lives or studying women's oppression', in M. Maynard and J. Purvis, (eds), Researching Women's Lives from a Feminist Perspective. London: Taylor and Francis. Kramerae, C. and Spender, D. (1993) 'Exploding knowledge', in C. Kramerae and D. Spender (eds) The Knowledge Explosion: Generations o f Feminist Scholarship. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf. Laws, S. (1990) Issues o f Blood: The Politics o f Menstruation. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Layder, D. (1998) Sociological Practice. Linking Theory and Social Research. London: Sage. Lee, S.J. (1999) Do Programmes fo r Men -who Abuse their Partners Constitute an Effective Response to Domestic Violence? A Case Study. PhD Thesis, Nottingham University. British Library No. DX 206793. Lees, S. (1997) Ruling Passions. London: Sage. Lundgren, E. (1995) Feminist Theory and Violent Empiricism. Aldershot: Avebury. Maidment, S. (1998) 'Parental alienation syndrome - a judicial response?', Family Law, 28: 264-66. McGee, C. (2000) Childhood Experiences o f Domestic Violence. London: Jessica Kingsley. McKee, L. and O' Brien, M. (1983) 'Interviewing men: taking gender seriously', in E. Gamarnikow, D. Morgan, J. Purvis and D. Taylorson (eds) The Public and the Private. London: Heinneman. Mirrlees-Black, C. (1999) Domestic Violence: Findings from the BCS SelfCompletion Questionnaire. Home Office Research Study 191. London: Home Office. Nazroo, J. (1995) 'Uncovering gender differences in the use of marital violence: the effect of methodology', Sociology, 29: 475-95. O' Connell Davidson, J. (1995) 'British Sex Tourists in Thailand', in M. Maynard and J. Purvis (eds) (Hetero)sexual Politics. London: Taylor and Francis. O' Connell Davidson, J. and Layder, D. (1994) Methods, Sex and Madness. London: Routledge. Pence, E. and Paymar, M. (1993) Education Groups fo r Men Who Batter: The Duluth Model. New York: Springer. 188

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Ptacek, J. (1988) 'Why do men batter their wives', in K. Yllo and M. Bograd (eds) Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse. Newbury Park: Sage. Radford, L., Sayer, S. and AMIGA (1999) Unreasonable Fears? Child Contact in the Context o f Domestic Violence: A Survey o f Mothers' Perceptions o f Harm. Bristol: Women's Aid Federation of England. Rendal, K. Rathus, Z. and Lynch, A. (2000) An Unacceptable Risk: A Report on Child contact Arrangements ivhere there is Violence in the Family. Brisbane: QLD Women's Legal Service. Ross, S. (1996) 'Risk of physical abuse to children of spouse abusing parents', Child Abuse and Neglect, 20 (7): 589-98. Saunders, H. (2001) Making Contact Worse? Report o f a National Survey o f Domestic Violence Refuges Services into the Enforcement o f Contact Orders. Bristol: Women's Aid Federation of England. Scott, S. (1984) 'The personable and the powerful: gender and status in sociological research', in C. Bell and H. Roberts (eds) Social Researching: Politics, Problems and Practice. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Scottish Office (2000) Scottish Crime Survey. Edinburgh: The Scottish Office. Scully, D. (1990) Understanding Sexual Violence: A Study o f Convicted Rapists. London: Harper Collins. Smart, C. and Neale, B. (1997) 'Arguments against virtue: must contact be enforced?', Family Law, 27: 332-36. Smart, C. and Neale, B. (1999) Family Fragments? Cambridge: Polity Press. Social Research Association (2002) A Code o f Practice fo r the Safety o f Social Researchers, www.the-sra.org.uk/safe.htm Stark, E. and Flitcraft, A. (1988) 'Women and children at risk: a feminist perspective on child abuse', International Journal o f Health Service, 18 (1): 97-118. Straus, M.A and Gelles, R.J. (1986) 'Societal change and change in family violence from 1975 to 1985 as revealed by two national surveys', Journal o f Marriage and the Family, 48 (3): 465-79. Sturge, C. and Glaser, D. (2000) 'Contact and domestic violence: the experts' Court Report', Family Laiv, 30 (September): 615-29. Taylor, K. (1996) 'Keeping mum: the paradoxes of gendered power relations in interviewing', in E. Burman (ed.), Challenging Women: Psychology's Exclusions. Buckingham: Open University Press. Thurston, R. and Beynon, J. (1995) 'M en's own stories, lives and violence', in R.E. Dobash, R.P. Dobash, L. Cavanagh and P. Noaks (eds), Gender and Crime. Cardiff: University Press. Walklate, S. (2001) Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice. Cullompton, Devon: Willan. Williamson, E. (2000) 'Caught in contradictions: conducting feminist actionorientated research within an evaluated research programme', in J. Radford, F. Friedberg and L. Harne (eds), Women, Violence and Strategies fo r Action. Buckingham: Open University Press.

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Balls and permissions: theorising the link between football and dom estic violence Jill Radford and Eve H udson

Introduction

This chapter reflects on the ways in which football, supporting football and football-related violence in public areas are connected with violence in the private sphere, specifically domestic violence. It is based on a reflective methodology and draws on a range of research methods including a focus group interview with ten Middlesbrough Refuge residents; another with ten members of Middlesbrough Refuge's Women's Group, a survivors group; interviews with 20 local football supporters; analysis of literature from the local football club; and reflections on the authors' own observations and experiences while living and working in Middlesbrough in the late 1990s.

Coincidence

The chapter represents an attempt to make feminist sense of coinciding social phenomena in the late 1990s in Middlesbrough, where both authors are actively involved in responding to and combating domestic violence. One dimension of the coincidence was the uncharacteristic periods of activity at local Women's Aid refuges firstly between February and June 1997 and again between February and June 1998. Both periods were marked by dramatic increases in demand on all refuge services: advice calls; the number and 'turnovers' of residents; and 'out of area' referrals due to local refuges being constantly full. While there is always some seasonal patterning in activity levels of 190

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refuges, these prolonged periods during which the refuges were des­ cribed as 'heaving' were unusual. Noticeably, these periods coincided w ith episodes of escalating 'football m ania' in M iddlesbrough associated with two late seasons of high drama at the local football club - the 'Boro'. This represents the second dim ension of coincidence. As the 1 9 9 6 /7 football season drew to a close, the rise and subsequent fall in the fortunes of the Boro becam e national news. It was a season in which the Boro survived dram atic replays, and reached and then lost the finals of both the Coca Cola and FA Cup cham pionships. Concurrently, the team was engaged in and lost its struggle to hold on to a place in English football's prestigious Prem ier League. This football season, characterised by the highs of the cup finals, ended with massive disappointm ent and real loss: of respect; of position; of status; of key players; of support and presum ably of income. The follow ing season, 199 7 /8 , saw som ething of a re-play in terms of football m ania, as once again the Boro reached and lost the final of the Coca Cola Cup cham pionship. W hile in 1 9 9 6 /7 the league struggle was against relegation, in 19 9 7 /8 the Boro's goal was reinstatem ent in the Prem ier League. This goal was achieved and in contrast to the previous year, the season ended on a footballing high. However, the team again accrued national headlines, this time for the signing of Paul Gascoigne, a player notorious for his violence against his (then) partner Sheryl. As indicated above, it was not only the terraces that experienced 'a replay', local refuges again were described as 'bursting at the seam s' during the latter end of the 1 9 9 7 /8 football season. This time the strains were not only experienced by refuges, the local authority housing officers reported a 100% increase in women made hom eless through domestic violence (Tahir 1998).

E x p lo rin g the links

In seeking to explore connections betw een football, football-m ania, football related violence and violence against women we are not engaging in the construction of new m yths to condone this violence. We are not seeking to add 'blam e the ball' to existing justifications of the 'blam e the w eather', 'blam e the drink' ilk. Rather, our aim is to forward fem inist analysis of the gender power dynam ics underpinning and thereby linking the different forms and contexts of m en's violence in patriarchal societies. Fem inist understandings of dom estic violence recognise that it includes physical and sexual violence and a range of controlling and

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coercive behaviours, often referred to as 'emotional' or 'psychological violence'. Such understandings are sensitive to and have provided theoretical explanations for both commonalities and differences in the nature, forms and cultural contexts of men's violence, the sanctions against it and conversely permissions granted in law and community responses. Feminist critiques of law and legal process, for example, have illustrated how failure to sanction men's violence effectively serves to condone it as a form of social control of women by men. Condoning violence is a form of permission to be violent, as McCollum, Kelly and Radford (1994) argued in an examination of how law and community sanctions can be weakened, suspended or over-turned in social contexts characterised by civilian or militaristic conflict.

P erm issions for violence

Working within this theoretical framework, we adopt the concept of 'perm issions' in analysing the connections between football-related violence in the public sphere and domestic violence in the private sphere. Our starting point is the recognition that in failing to sanction both football-related and domestic violence, permissions are granted for these behaviours. We explore the various ways in which such permissions were given in the world of football during a period when the masculinist culture of football was promoted beyond its traditional support base into the community more widely. Further, we examine the implications for women of attempts to reconstruct both community and family through a masculinist cult of football. By way of conclusion we explore the connectedness of football-related violence and domestic violence in terms of 'perm issions' granted in a revitalised 'nasty', 'brutish' (and hopefully 'short') culture of masculinity predicated on football.

D iscou rses on football-related violence

Football violence has periodically surfaced as an issue of concern since Victorian attempts to sweep the game off the streets and into stadiums. It has been a recurring theme in criminological discourse, addressed by most major theoretical paradigms. Funding priorities have fore­ grounded policy orientated research on football hooliganism, like that of the Sports Council (1978), aimed at recuperating the image of English football, badly damaged by its history of crowd disorders and disasters 192

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such as Heysal (Brussels) 1985, Hillsborough (Sheffield) 1989 and more recently in the World Cup 1998. The new deviancy perspective, adopting the methodology of participant observation, claimed that football violence is not 'real violence', but harmless 'ritual aggro', (Marsh et al. 1978). Subcultural theories have focused on style as symbolic of the ways each generation of (male) working class youth attempts to negotiate problems stemming from their subordinate status as youth and members of a crisis-ridden working class (Clarke 1973). Marxism, in the form of critical criminology, has produced a structural analysis, which explains football violence as an expression of protest by male, working class fans disenfranchised by changes in the social organisation of professional football (Taylor 1982). For example, football disorders are theorised as a reaction, on the part of fans, to their powerlessness in the face of the decomposition of the football club as a local institution and its reconstitution as a multi-million pound industry with shares floating in the stock market. This perspective, along with 'new realist analyses' (Dunning et al. 1988), has highlighted racism in football supporting and the targeting of terraces by fascist organisers in the early 1980s. Whilst not without insights, these criminological analyses have focused on violence in the game, the grounds and surrounding streets and fail to question what happens when the fans get home. Not addressed are issues of gender, masculinity or any connections between public displays of violence and violence in the private sphere. Some of these issues have been picked up by Roger Horrocks (1995) who addresses masculinity in popular culture, in his gendered history of sport. Nineteenth century sport, he suggests, was characterised by a culture of masculinity, the worship of the white, male body, and played an important part in reasserting male dominance. These features, he argues, continue to characterise contemporary football where 'homoeroticism ... links with the intense homophobia and misogyny which has existed in male sport' (Horrocks 1995: 152). This study identified a link between these masculinist characteristics and ambivalent societal responses to sports-related violence. Rather than condemning this 'crim e', television commentators and spectators thoroughly enjoy 'misdemeanours' and 'aggressive clashes' between players. This ambivalence, Horrocks (1995) claims, belongs to a folk tradition which legitimises sports-related violence. His work illustrates that permissions for m en's violence are not confined to militaristic contexts, but can extend to non-war situations characterised by 'cultures of masculinity' such as sporting contexts. Crossett (2000) also makes this connection: 193

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It is impossible to dissociate violence against women from aspects of masculinity. Similarly it is difficult to discuss masculinity with­ out noting men's use of sport to construct and maintain masculine identities. (Crossett 2000: 148) However, he points out that popular sports discourse 'rarely presents the damaging consequences of a historically masculine culture', although one of 'the consequences of the hypermasculine, violent world of athletics ... may be increased violence against women' (Crossett 2000: 149). Within cultures of masculinity, permissions can be more explicit and available for a range of violent behaviours between men. They may then be taken home into the worlds of women and children where per­ missions for domestic violence are granted by failures of law, policing and the wider community to enforce effective sanctions against it. There are many parallels between the masculinist cultures of organised male sports and militarism. Like the military, organised football is characterised by hierarchical power structures and male bonding. Both are grounded in homoeroticism, misogyny and aggressive representations of sexuality. Shared loyalties are expressed through camaraderie, the wearing of uniforms and identity-conferring symbols. In sports as in militarism, identity and belonging is facilitated through the construction of outsiders as 'other', 'the opposition' and 'the enemy' who thereby become legitimate targets for aggression and violence. In relation to militarism, there is a growing body of literature demonstrating the connections between the violence of civil conflict and war, and violence against women on the home front (McWilliams and McKiernon 1993; McCollum, Kelly and Radford 1994). In our analysis, the increase in numbers of women seeking support from the local refuges during the second half of the two football seasons is seen as indicative of a parallel link between football-related violence and domestic violence consequent upon a hyped masculinist culture of football actively promoted in a small north-eastern town. In this context, we argue, permissions for violence are extended beyond the stadium into the so-called private sphere of the home. Julie Burchill (1997) also identified connections between sport and domestic violence in an article, which in other ways was quite problematic. She highlighted a violent misogyny prevalent amongst English sportsmen, including eminent footballers. The phenomena of the woman-assaulting sportsman (and every week there is a new, more unexpected one - Boycott, Giggs, to add 194

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to the shameful roster of O J Simpson, Tyson, Higgins and Gascoigne) is one of the ugliest yet most eerily acceptable of modern times. (Burchill 1997) Here Julie Burchill problematises the acceptance of this behaviour, recognising that in failing to sanction it, the football world is conferring permission. W hen they (are violent), they are treated as though they, not the woman they attacked, was actually the victim of the rage ... And this is why, increasingly, violence against women goes unpunished. (Burchill 1997) This is supported by US evidence including an investigation undertaken by Benedict (1997) into a number of cases of sportsmen charged with sexual and domestic violence. This study found that not only did universities and clubs fail to hold violent athletes accountable for their criminal behaviour, but that they actively worked to silence their victims by drawing on the discourses of woman-blame. Crossett (2000) argues that in the USA this institutional support for perpetrators extends beyond the clubs to the courts, and suggests that: The impediments to prosecuting athletes who perpetrate violence against women, real or imagined, may contribute to the likelihood an athlete will commit violence against women. (Crossett 2000: 159) In the USA it seems that both sports clubs and the legal system may be complicit in granting permissions to sportsmen to perpetrate sexual and domestic violence. Further evidence to this effect can be found in the work of Maria Burton Nelson (1994), who conducted a more detailed analysis of the connections between masculinity, sexuality and sexual violence in sports. In a book entitled The Stronger Women Get, the More Men Love Football, which summarises her theses, she identifies a particular form of masculinity, one characterised by toughness, aggression and humiliation of all that's considered female, which is embraced by male fans, players and sports clubs. Reporting on existing research linking masculinity so constructed and sexual violence against women, she also notes that permissions are granted:

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Sports violence is considered appropriate. It is considered m asculine. O ur concept of violence is inextricably interw oven with our context of expected, condoned m ale behaviour. (Burton N elson 1994: 141) While her central concern is w ith explicitly sexualised form s of gender violence, she does make reference to dom estic violence: Women are beaten daily, but Super Bowl seem s particularly dangerous for Am erican women. Though some battered w om en's shelters report noticing no correlation betw een football and wife beating, shelters in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and M arin County, California, have reported receiving more calls from distraught, bruised and threatened w om en that day, more than on any other day of the year. (Burton N elson 1994: 134) In a later study of the links betw een view ing sports on television and dom estic violence, Sabo, Gray and Moore (2000) concluded that televised sports are used by men as a means of m aintaining their gender identity and dom ination of their w om en partners. Televised sports becam e a cultural site for acting out hegem onic masculinity in ways that pit m en against w om en and, perhaps, the world of 'fem ininity' that women and som etim es babies and children sym bolically represent. ... It appeared that battery w as a vehicle for 'acting out' a prim arily m asculine agenda, that is to send a m essage to female partners about dom inance, subm ission, physical power, ruthlessness, rough anger and control. (Sabo, Gray, and Moore 2000: 141) In an earlier Colorado study, Lenore W alker found that during the Denver Super Bowl 1988, calls to police and battered w om en's shelters were lower than usual while the game was played, but soared in the hours follow ing D en ver's defeat. She concluded that there is a 'strong relationship betw een men who watch football and men who beat w om en' (quoted in Ruffini 1993: 93). In our research we studied figures from local refuges with a view to finding statistical support for our thesis that it was more than coincidence that the refuges were so m uch busier during a period of football mania generated by the highs and lows of the Boro's fortunes in the late 1990s. Could we dem onstrate the truth of the old saying that 196

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'w hen they win, w om en get hit, when they lose w om en get hit, so w om en pray for a d raw '.1 Basically the answ er was 'n o ' to statistical corroboration. The main difficulty was that the local refuges are small, and do not generate the kind of num bers needed for statistical analysis.2 Further, because our limited statistics were retrospectively collated, it was also im possible to isolate any im pact of football from other 'variables', for exam ple from Phase 3 of the local Zero Tolerance C am paign (Decem ber 1996 to M ay 1997).3 Given that our statistics were inconclusive, and our discom fort over the way statistical correlation may be used to support sim plistic causal theories which serve to deny agency to survivors and absolve perpetrators of responsibility, we explored the links in other ways. The literature cited earlier suggests that both football and domestic violence are shaped by particular constructions of m asculinity and aggressive sexuality. Our analysis moves forward by exploring how this cult of m asculinity can be prom oted beyond its initial base in the club to form the basis of a w ider 'com m unity'. M oving on, we ask questions about and express concern over the im plications for wom en of the reconstruction of com m unity on the values of a particular form of masculinity. The m eaning of the new and localised football hype of the late 1990s is analysed in terms of local econom ics, culture and an alm ost spiritual dim ension, which others have referred to as a 'quasi religious aspect' (Coles 1975 cited by Giulianotti and Armstrong 1997: 10). We chart a period of the intense and active mobilisation of m asculinist em otion in support for the team. In the process the football club is transformed into fam ily and community. Support, even love, for the club becom es synonym ous with hatred of the other, the opposition, the enemy. As football reaches into and becom es 'hom e', 'fam ily' and 'com m unity', the new cult generates a shift in the traditional boundaries betw een the public and private spheres. We suggest it need be no surprise that m asculinist values and perm issions for violence are taken back home. Julie Burchill has also noted: In sports, a boy learns to use his body in 'forceful, space occupying even dom inating w ays'. ... His body becom es an instrum ent of power that enables him to 'force others to do his bidding'. Because these behaviours are linked to the concept of manliness, and thus to a boy's sense of self, he carries them into encounters with women. (Burchill 1997)

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Social context: the tow n and the team

To ground the analysis we offer a narrative charting developments at the Middlesbrough club and its relationship to the town in the years preceding the 1996/7 season. From there we move into a discussion of the 1996/7 season itself and the generation of a new community spirit defined through values of masculinist sport, and assess its impact on women. Middlesbrough is a relatively small town (pop. 150,000) situated on the Tees estuary in the north-east of England. Its 19th century growth was based on steel, which in the 20th century was joined by petro­ chemicals. It was massively damaged by the long slow decline of heavy industry in the 20th century, and devastated by the depressions of the 1930s and 1980s, despite its location within Europe's largest con­ centration of process industries. The football club's history seems to have been as depressing as that of the town: 'Boro's history may not be a story of glory: not a single trophy in 120 years', (Daily Mirror 20.8.96). However, fortunes change so, as this chapter goes to press, we are curiously pleased to add: February 29th 2004: After 128 years of waiting, Boro finally lift their first ever trophy, the Carling Cup. (Middlesbrough Football Club 2004) In the 1990s the Teesside Development Corporation (TDC) was established to rejuvenate cultural life on Teesside as part of a regeneration plan. Investment in football was central to its project, as evidenced by its support for the Boro's new Cellnet Riverside stadium: a state of the art modern stadium attracting near 30,000 capacity crowds ... designed to give the Boro a brand new power base and stature, with the 21st Century in mind. (Paylor 1996: 8, our emphasis) As Ian Taylor's work has demonstrated, football is big business, which can seriously influence the local economy. In addition to the £16 million spent on the new stadium, and the £4 million spent on access roads, Bryan Robson, the club's manager, was allocated £10 million to buy in players to secure a place in the Premier division. International super­ stars like Juninho, Barnby and Ravanelli became local heroes on Teesside:

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... With the arrival of Juninho and capacity sell out crowds every home gam e, the Cellnet Riverside Stadium was firmly established as a new focal point of the com m unity and a m odern new home to take M iddlesbrough Football Club into the 21st Century. (Paylor 1996: 8, our emphasis) The years prior to 1 9 9 6 /7 saw m assive restructuring on the part of the Boro, bringing optim ism to the town. 'Trickle-down' econom ic theories hold that the whole com m unity benefits from strategic econom ic investm ent and redevelopm ent projects. M iddlesbrough trickled. The local paper was full of advertisem ents prom oting the message that Teesside is a good place to live, as com m ercial com panies celebrated that trickle.4 The local paper also regularly reported on the Boro's im pact on small business, including trium ph over tragedy stories like that of a local hairdresser who survived the 1990s econom ic depression by m arketing trendy haircuts: 'Ravenelli - Silver Fox', named after a then Boro player (Gazette 21.11.96). Another exam ple was evident in the tow n's sole stylish restaurant where the only vegetarian dish was 'Spaghetti Ravanelli'. The university was a m ajor institution which benefited from this trickle. Sports science was developed and attracted research grants. Student applications rose with the Boro's prom otion to the Prem ier D ivision at the end of the 1 9 9 4 /5 season and in 1997 when the academ ic w orld w as panicked by the Dearing Report (1997), at Teesside relegation seemed the more im m inent threat to student numbers. This may explain why the university, along with all public buildings, Civic Hall, police stations, the law courts and every shop in the town centre, carried banners and flags for Boro for the two cup finals of 1997. Even the flow erbeds in the public parks w ere dressed in its colours and symbols. Through its contribution to econom ic infrastructures, the Boro un­ doubtedly contributes to the regeneration of M iddlesbrough, whose prosperity or otherw ise seems integrally linked to the fortunes of the club. At cultural and ideological levels football has a major presence. Unlike in London and other large cities, interest in football is assumed. M iddlesbrough is a one-club town. There is no question of choice over w hether or which club to support. The Boro, while globally constituted in term s of its players, is the local team. 'D erby' matches with neighbouring clubs predictably result in incidents of public disorder. Local w om en know the town centre is a 'no-go' area for 'un­ accom panied' women on 'derby days'.

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It is not surprising that, subsequent to the m assive investm ent in and reconstruction of the club, its local follow ing increased. Football clubs are repositories of various identities linked to masculinity and class, but they are also intrinsically spatial identities, as Holt (1990: 167) has argued. Further, he suggests that it is this connection w ith place that facilitates their role in generating civic pride. The connection betw een football clubs and place, com m unity and territoriality is central to most analyses of football hooliganism and 'fandom '. Place and territoriality underpin the sense of belonging and com m unity through the con­ struction of a real or imagined com m on identity. In the context of Middlesbrough, as Louise Taylor has noted, small town intim acy generates even stronger bonds betw een the club, the players and fans: Living in a provincial town the players, w hether shopping at the 1995 designer w ear shop of the year, Psyche in Linthorpe Road, or sim ply filling up with petrol - cannot escape contact with supporters, and such intim acy engenders huge loyalty. (Taylor 1997a) This local intim acy is one of the factors facilitating the club mobilisation of support. Another was Bryan R obson's policy of im porting inter­ national football icons. Giulianotti and Arm strong (1997: 7) have com mented on how football, w hether playing or spectating, 'in many cultures provides the m ost collective source of male imagery and ideals'. In this context, there is a particular irony in the fact that the international stars had a stronger following than the 'local lads' (Paylor 1997: 3). Nevertheless, Bryan Robson's policy of buying in known m averick players also fed into and reinforced the cult of masculinity: Robson appears com pulsively attracted to m avericks and had Boro stayed up, intended signing Romario, a notorious Brazilian playboy, along with Paul Gascoigne. (Taylor 1997b: 3) Gascoigne in fact was not signed up until M arch 1998. In case readers are unfam iliar with his reputation, we draw on Roger Horrocks (1995) analysis of 'G azzam ania', to highlight the intensity of identification in male sport and the significance of 'G azza' as an icon of 'new ' m asculinism. In his account, he portrays Gazza as em bodying the image of the m odern sportsm an as 'ugly, brutal and yobbish':

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... today, ... Gazza belches and farts on camera, tells journalists to f- off and generally refuses to be disciplined by the unwritten codes of conduct prescribed for English players. (Horrocks 1995: 152) Burchill (1997) illustrates how permission granted to Gazza to behave badly as a sportsman was extended into 'the private sphere' when his violence against Sheryl, his partner, was both excused by the FA as a 'dom estic', and dismissed as a 'private m atter' by Glen Hoddle, the England captain who, as a Christian, advised Sheryl 'to turn the other cheek'. Referring to Gascoigne's selection to the England squad in 1996, Burchill comments: Gascoigne may regret any alleged incident of violence against his wife but there can be really no excuses. Men who attack women in their lives tend to blame everything and everyone but themselves in an effort to justify what they have done ... Picking Gazza clearly sends out the wrong message - that hooligan behaviour is still tolerated. (Burchill 1997) She explains that his violence, rewarded in his selection for England, was greeted with approval by fans, who according to the local press similarly welcomed his signing to Middlesbrough. However, our con­ versations with local women revealed more than ambivalence over the signing of Gascoigne. Against this background, it is not surprising that two seasons of high drama mobilised further support for the team, both broadening its appeal and deepening people's commitment. However, as the language of press reporting shows, this support was mobilised around con­ ceptions of community, family, masculinity and sexuality. This is illustrated in the following narrative, which has drawn on football literature, focus group interviews with women who had experienced domestic violence, interviews with fans and the authors' own observations and experiences.5

Rising and falling fortunes

Boro's 1 9 96/7 season, their second in the Premier League, was dramatic, even melodramatic. They did not do brilliantly in the League in the first

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half of the season and after being fined three points for being unable to play a winter match, relegation became a possibility, increasingly a threat and at the end of the season a sad reality. But simultaneous to the League struggle, came success in the cup games matches, as the Boro reached the finals of both the Coca Cola and FA Cups. The season ended with anti-climax - two Cup defeats and relegation: W hat a Season - Wembley twice with plenty of champagne on ice, everyone associated with Middlesbrough Football Club has experienced every possible kind of emotion in the past few months ... (Allan and Beddington 1997: 1) The language used in press reports of these dramatic games was redolent with images of aggressive and violent masculinity and patriarchal power trips, as the following quotations (emphasis added) illustrate: As an aggressive ball winning midfield player Robson was respected and feared by the players. (Allan and Beddington 1997: 6) We should never have lost it. ... We need to learn to bury sides when we are in that much control. (Bryan Robson, quoted by Allan and Beddington 1997: 15) Boro proceeded to produce their best attacking display of the season so far and pounded the Tranmere goal for long periods. (Allan and Beddington 1997: 16) Boro could hardly have produced a better response by ham m ering Portsmouth. (Allan and Beddington 1997: 22) As women with limited experience of football spectating we refer to Horrocks for a sense of the big game: ... a spectator sport can be a very emotional occasion, especially a big match, for example a Cup tie in soccer ... And for individuals, sports seem to offer a means of channelling intense feelings, for example a sense of belonging, having a family. During the game itself, spectators are able to go through violent swings of mood, 202

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from love, hatred, adulation to obloquy. The opposing side has a particularly valuable function as target for one's own hatred and contem pt. (Horrocks 1995: 165) Eve Hudson, in interview s with local supporters who travelled to the 1997 Cup Final, found sim ilar sentim ents. As illustrated, these highlight the spirit of com m unity and fam ily generated though an identification with the club: W hen we left M iddlesbrough at 6.00 a.m., the majority of hom es were decorated and flying the flag. Even at such an early hour w om en were on the doorstep w aving and cheering. Cars were like chariots, all decorated and flying the colours. Everyone in the cars were either in the Boro uniform or wearing red, red acted as a sym bol, those in red were on our side - it was a real buzz. We felt very em otional, very proud, in fact we were both in tears, we felt we were doing som ething im portant, we were representing our town, supporting our lads. We were off to do battle for the cup. At the roundabout leaving M iddlesbrough, people were on the central reservation waving to us; all dow n the m otorw ay it was amazing, people com m unicating with horns and w aving to each other in cars; the bridges across the motorw ay were full with people, adding their support; everyone w as w aving the flag; we felt like crusaders going to battle, not just the team, but us. As we drew closer to enem y territory the situation changed and it becam e a bit more aggressive: people putting the finger up to opposing groups; we were joining the aggression from the safety of our cars. One service station was a mass of red and white, like a carnival, tem porary stalls in car parks selling mem orabilia, but mostly the flag; not having the flag was like letting the side down. To the authors, living and w orking in M iddlesbrough, it appeared that no one was left untouched by the highs and the lows of these two football seasons. It was alm ost im possible for those not usually interested in football not to be drawn in. On every street corner, in banks and bus queues people could be heard discussing the state of play. It 203

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was a great leveller; the sense of unity appeared to knit people together, creating a shared identity and pride in the community. In one sense, the prom otion of com m unity spirit and civic pride could be seen as a positive and progressive phenom enon bringing new optim ism to a depressed north-eastern town. However, the values underpinning this regeneration of com m unity remained patriarchal, heavily m asculinist and sexualised and, we argue, dangerous to w om en and children. A com m unity regenerated through a 'new ' cult of brutish m asculinism , as illustrated here, serves to tolerate, justify, condone and excuse m en's violence in both the public and private spheres. That such a com m unity should witness increased levels of dom estic violence is neither surprising nor inexplicable.

R e p re se n tatio n s o f w o m e n in t h e ‘n e w ’ m a sc u lin ist c o m m u n ity

Before concluding we take our concerns with the regeneration of the com m unity through this reconstructed m asculinist cult of football a step further by exam ining its representation of women. Football in the UK, as elsewhere, has been a traditionally m ale pastime. Duke and Crolley (1996: 129) am ongst others have dem onstrated that historically 'w om en's involvem ent in football has been discouraged and m argin­ alized', w hether as players, spectators or fans. As a consequence in the USA m any w om en have disassociated them selves from the w orld of football: M any w om en are angry at football (and other ... manly sports); sports that men use to define masculinity. M any w om en hate the veiled threat. M any resent the time their husbands, fathers, brothers spend scream ing at the tube, slapping raucous high fives, indulging in loud em otional outbursts that seem m isplaced and out of proportion to the drama at hand ... Women seem to intuit that football and other manly sports hurt women. There's som ething about the way certain games are played and the way they are w orshipped that is injurious to w om en's m ental and physical health. (Burton N elson 1995: 4) The focus group interview s undertaken for this project suggest that wom en in the UK may share these attitudes, a perception echoed by British Telecom in their 1998 'sp oof' advertisem ent about the World Cup being cancelled.” However, since the mid 1980s, a new cam paign to 204

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promote football supporting am ongst wom en has been instigated. Duke and Crolley (1996) located this shift towards a 'fem inisation of football' as part of the form er Conservative governm ent's response to the early 1980s problem of football hooliganism : The aim of T hatcher's policy was to adjust the distribution of female and male fans, increase the proportion of female fans and thus reduce violence at football grounds: it was hoped that women would have a calm ing influence and pacify the hooligans. Family stands were built as special areas where w om en and children would feel safe. (Duke and Crolley 1996: 139) Thatch er's approach, continued by Major, seem ed to draw on the tired strategy of using women to cool out the violence of men. The Boro has participated in this fem inisation of football. Fam ily seats were included in the new Cellnet Riverside Stadium and the club's season ticket strategy was aimed to appeal to wom en. Given the long-standing exclusion of w om en from the w orld of football, any attem pt to be more inclusive m ust entail a transform ation of w om en's traditional attitude to football. Establishing a more inclusive policy with regards to women could appear to be a radical strategy on the part of the traditionally male footballing authorities. However, this initiative is an attem pt to involve w om en in the traditional role of dealing w ith m en's violence. The tactics adopted by the Boro and probably other clubs to w in a fem ale following have invoked traditional patriarchal values, repositioning women as follow ers and supporters of 'th eir' men. In M iddlesbrough 'supporting our lads' in the context of a reconstructed m asculinist discourse involves draw ing w om en into the club as 'm others of sons' invoking rhetoric of fam ily and community. This representation of women as m others of sons is joined by a second all too fam iliar patriarchal representation of young w om en in terms of sexuality, as in the phenom enon of the so-called 'Boro babes', young women and girls allegedly drawn to the club by the superstars like Ravenelli, Emerson and Juninho, who, as Louise Taylor has com m ented, have made Teesside football trendy: M ini-skirted and crop-topped, these glamorous follow ers love rubbing shoulders with the Teesside 'Soccerati' and regularly dine out at the player's favourite brassiere ... before boogying on down with Emerson and Co. at Club M ... (Taylor, L. 1997a) 205

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Particularly troubling is the fact that these young wom en, for whom the fashionably handsom e, glam orised, maverick foreign players are constructed as sexual icons w ith pop star appeal, are very young. Nevertheless, their presence is constructed in terms of sexual accessibility. The sexualisation of female fans was clearly illustrated in an ill-fated interview given by form er directors of neighbouring New castle United, when they described female fans as 'd ogs'7 (Northern Echo 25.3.98). This appeal to w om en as 'm others of sons' and to younger women and girls in proprietorial sexualised terms has parallels to the ways w om en and girls have been drawn into other patriarchal com m unities constructed through m asculinist values. For exam ple, in India, the fundam entalist right has draw n on com m unal and fam ilial ideologies to draw w om en into sectarian violence. Com m unity and gender becom e m utually constituting: women are constituted in and through com m unity; and com m unity in and through w om en's identity, sexuality and gender. This construction of female power is illusory and partial, but strategically deflects attention from the subordinate position of women within the community. (Radford 2000: 179) While the parallels betw een religion and football are far from new (Giulianotti and Armstrong 1997; Edge 2000), such analyses have rarely been located in relation to patriarchal gender power relations or indeed in respect of sectarianism , which constructs 'our team ' through the values of family and com m unity and the opposition as enemy. The notion of community, as constructed through the m asculinist values of football, results in the blurring of boundaries betw een public and private, com m unity and family. Female supporters are portrayed as belonging to this new com m unity of football, as part of the fam ily team. One price of this new fam ilial or com m unity identity is that it is no longer possible to speak out against the violence of these 'fam ilial' men. As headlined in the local press, 'Speaking out against the Boys' w as now off limits. The dom inance of the cult of m asculinity was highly visual and very material in M iddlesbrough in the weeks before the big m atches, as we have illustrated. W hen fam ily and com m unity are defined through modern m asculinist discourses, more positive and active roles for women as

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fans can be constructed, but on terms laid down by patriarchy, i.e. as mothers of sons or as sexualised beings. However, our focus group interview s with dom estic violence survivors revealed som e resistance to the promotion of the new m asculinist cult, at least as far as the signing of Gascoigne was concerned. M em bers of the group not only voiced concern over the club's signing of an infam ous dom estic violence perpetrator, they also expressed reservations about the w ider imagery and culture represented in the Gazza iconography. M iddlesbrough Refuge also expressed its concern form ally in a press release, following a request for com m ent on G ascoigne's signing from a local radio station. The Refuge M anagem ent Com m ittee was aware of the need for a degree of circum spection, given the local dom inance of the football cult, so after making the point that 'there is never an excuse for dom estic violence', a conciliatory tone w as introduced by suggesting that for Gascoigne, a transfer to Boro represented: 'a new team, a new town, a new start and a new challenge' (M iddlesbrough Refuge Press Statem ent, M arch 1998). The press statem ent ended by inviting Paul Gascoigne to sign the Zero Tolerance pledge. No response was ever received.

Policy im p licatio n s

H aving attem pted to m ake the connections betw een football violence and dom estic violence, we are faced with interesting policy im pli­ cations. If, as we argue, football is indeed defined through a culture of m asculinity characterised by m isogyny and sexualised aggression, then attem pting to clean up the game as a strategy to elim inating violence against women requires a com plete transformation of both the cultures of football and of masculinity. Crossett (2000) suggests it is possible to develop intervention strategies to lim it the opportunity for sportsm en to assault w om en and increase the constraints on their actions. His suggestions include effective institutional disciplinary policies and changes to the material and discursive features of masculinity, i.e. 'behaviours, experiences, relationships, practices and appearances, language and relationship discourses' (Crossett 2000: 161). Given the enorm ity of tasks on the list, there must be som e irony in Crossett's com m ents that this will not be easy. Perhaps as solace, he offers the reassuring thought that:

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... not all the activities or qualities associated with the construction of masculinity need to be dismantled to reduce violence against women. (Crossett 2000: 161) Crossett is right in that the tasks of transform ing both football and masculinity while inter-related are daunting, but his limited conclusion provides little com fort, particularly as 'football fev er' is revitalised each year with the start of the new season.

A c k n o w le d g e m e n ts

We would like to thank the w orkers of M iddlesbrough and Langbaugh Refuges for their support for this chapter and for m aking their statistics available to us; the residents of M iddlesbrough Refuge and m embers of the M iddlesbrough W om en's Group who participated in the focus group interview s; the local people who were prepared to be interview ed; Diane Perrons of the London School of Econom ics and Mike M cGuinness of the University of Teesside for their practical support.

N o te s 1 2

3

We know little about the origins o f this saying, bu t w ere told by Sandra M cN eil that it com es from Scotland. T he exercise also raised interesting m eth od ological question s and enabled us to identify gaps in record keeping system s, w hich have subsequently been addressed. T he C leveland Zero Tolerance C am paign w as one of the m ost su ccessfu l and lon gest ru nning in England and had a profound im pact locally. R eferring to the years 1995-98 the co-ordin ator reported: T he Zero Tolerance C am paign has im pacted on m any ind ivid uals professionals, the general pu blic, you ng p eople and w om en, w ho had or are, suffering m ale abuse. It is difficu lt to m easure the su ccess o f the C am paign. Early statistics su ggest the m essage got through to w om en, loud and clear. ... The W om en's Aid R efuges saw an increase in dem and on their services, rising betw een 21% and 31% in the first y ear o f the C am paign. (H arrison 1998: 20)

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4

One exam ple is MSV (an audiovisual com pany) who won a contract to host the Northern Audio Visual Experience at the Cellnet Riverside Stadium. Its advert in the local paper claims: ... the success of MSV has been boosted by the Club's willingness to allow its members to help in prom oting the firm 's pioneering enterprises. ... In return, MSV has provided sophisticated hi-fi equip­ ment and televisions for its players, som e of whom understandably require m any foreign TV channels now available by satellite. (Evening Gazette 29.11.96: 8)

5

6

7

This account relies on literature produced by the club, local media and interviews undertaken by Eve Hudson with local people, focus groups with Refuge residents and a survivors group and our own observations. This BT advertisem ent was first screened on 21 June 1998. It was produced by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, 151 M arylebone Rd, London N1 5QE. It advertised 90 minutes talk for 90p. 'D og' when used in a derogatory way has the same meaning as 'slag' in the north-east of England.

B ib lio g ra p h y Allan, D. and Beddington, A. (eds) (1997) Up the Boro, Roar, May, 1 (10): 1. Benedict, J. (1997) Public heroes, private felon s: M ale athletes and crimes against women. Boston: Northeastern University Press. Burchill, J. (1997) 'The Kick Inside: The Age of Reason', The Guardian Weekend, 31.01.97. Burton Nelson, M. (1994) The Stronger Women Get, the M ore M en Love Football. London: The W om en's Press. Clarke, J. (1973) Football Hooliganism and the Skinheads. Birmingham: Centre for Contem porary Cultural Studies. Crossett, T. (2000) 'Athletic affiliation and violence against women: towards a structural prevention project', in J. McKay, M. Messner and D. Sabo (eds), M asculinities, Gender Relations and Sport. Thousand Oaks, London, New Dehli: Sage. Dearing, R. (1997) The National Committee o f Enquiry into Higher Education: Report o f the National Committee (23 July 1997) Departm ent of Education and Em ployment, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Duke, V. and Crolley, L. (1996) Football, Nationality and the State. London: Addison Wesley Longman. Dunning, E., Murphy, P. and Williams, J. (1988) The Roots o f Football Hooliganism: An Historical and Sociological Study. London: Routledge.

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Edge, A. (2000) Faith o f Our Fathers: Football as a Religion. London: Mainstream Publishing. Giulianotti, R. and Armstrong, G. (1997) 'Introduction: Reclaiming the G am e', in G. Armstrong and R. Giulianotti (eds) Entering the Field: New Perspectives in World Football. Oxford: Berg Publishers. Harrison, S. (1998) 'Final Report from the Zero Tolerance Cam paign', Cleveland Domestic Violence A nnual Report. Holt, R. (1990) Sport and the British: A Modern History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Horrocks, R. (1995) M ale M yths And Icons. Basingstoke: Palgrave M acM illan. M cCollum, H., Kelly, L. and R a d fo rd ,). (1994) 'Wars Against W om en', Trouble and Strife, 28: 12-18. M cW illiams, M. and M cKiernan, J. (1993) Bringing it Out into the Open: Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland. Belfast: HMSO. M arsh, P., Rosser, E. and Harre, R. (1978). The Rules o f Disorder. London: Routledge (translated by Kegan Paul in 1984). M iddlesbrough Football Club (2004) Official Website, w w w .m fc.premium tv.co. u k/p age/H istoryD etailO „l ~352502,00. html Paylor, E. (1998) 'W e're Back in Business', in Gazette Sports, 11.3.98, p. 1. Paylor, E. (1996) 'Robson and the Boro', in Evening Gazette, Liverpool, Juniper Publishing, 29.11.96, p. 8. Radford, J. (2000) 'Theorising Com m onalities and Difference: Sexual Violence, Law and Fem inist Activism in India and the U K ', in J. Radford, M. Friedberg and L. Harne (eds) Women, Violence and Resistance. Buckingham: Open University Press. Ruffini G. (1993) 'The Super Bow l's Real Score', Ms. M agazine, N ovem berDecember. Sabo, D., Gray, P. and Moore, L. (2000) 'D om estic violence and televised athletics events: It's a man thing', in J. McKay, M. Messner and D. Sabo (eds), M asculinities, Gender Relations and Sport. Thousand Oaks, London, New Dehli: Sage. Sports C ou ncil/Social Science Research Council (1978) Public Disorder and Sporting Event. London: Sports C ouncil/SSR C . Tahir, T. (1998) 'Rise in families fleeing the fists', in Evening Gazette 4.6.98, p. 3. Taylor, I. (1982) 'O n the sports violence question: soccer hooliganism revisited', in J. Hargreaves (ed.) Sport, Culture and Ideology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Taylor, L. (1997a) 'Dream Ticket Left in Tatters', The Sunday Times 18.5.97, p. 3. Taylor, L. (1997b) 'Robson Must Shoulder the Blame for Boro's Drop', The Sunday Times 18.5.97, p. 3.

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Chapter I I

In m e m oriam Sue Lees ( 19 4 1-2 0 0 2 ): her life, research and influence Jill Radford and Nicole Westmarland

Introduction

Sue Lees, Professor of Women's Studies and Director of the Centre for Research in Ethnicity and Gender at the University of North London, died from cancer at the age of 61 on 17 September 2002. Sue was both a rigorous academic and a passionate feminist, who located herself as being within a loving and supportive family. Her research into 'how the British criminal justice system is systematically allowing rapists to go free, and how more and more rapists are getting away with it' (Lees 2002: xi) has been profoundly influential and will continue to have an important influence on legal and criminal justice policy development. She will be missed with great sadness. This 'in memoriam' chapter overviews some of Sue Lees' research and documents the immense influence that she has had on the changing responses to rape law, policing and prosecution. Like so many of her generation, Sue Lees was influenced by the early Women's Liberation Movement. For four years, she was a co-opted member of the Women's Committee on Islington Council and a contributor to the equally infamous Islington Gutter Press.' Significantly, she made the connections between her feminist politics and academia and had the courage to co-found one of the UK's first undergraduate degrees in women's studies at the University of North London (then a polytechnic). Sue Lees was also a founder member and joint chair of the Women's Studies Network (UK). This pioneering stance continued throughout her life as she used action research with the media to communicate the message that rape laws are failing to protect women

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while men are 'G etting Away with Rape' (Channel 4 Dispatches docum entary 1993). Sue Lees was never afraid of breaking out of traditional academ ic circles in order to com m unicate her research findings. As Melissa Benn (2002) explained in the obituary in the G uardian: H er fem inism w as always rooted in com m on sense. She would frequently express fury at the behaviour of this defence lawyer, or that judge, but she was never stuffy or pious w ith it; there was often an undercurrent of laughing disbelief to her anger.

S u e L e e s’ early w ork

Sue Lees' early research in the 1980s focused on young wom en. Her first book, Losing Out (1986), was about young w om en and education. This interest continued as a theme throughout her career; for exam ple, in 1997 she co-edited (with C. Griffin) a special issue of Gender and Education. From this research into young w om en and education, Sue Lees' focus turned to the study of young w om en and sexuality, in particular how sexual reputations w ere constructed and sexualised in m asculinist terms of perceived sexual availability. Her second book, Sugar and Spice: Sexuality and A dolescent Girls (1993) proved very popular, selling 10,000 copies of its first UK edition and being subsequently published in the USA. This work represents a major contribution to fem inist research through its identification of a range of subtle w ays in which the availability and attribution of sexualised reputation serves as a form of power and control over young wom en, not only by their m ale peers but also in wider discourse. Its focus on young w om en provides a particular appeal to young w om en's studies students as it relates directly to their experiences, unlike other 'w om en's issues' such as motherhood, w ork and welfare, which for many under­ graduates are still in their futures.2As such it played a significant role in making the links betw een the personal and political for a new generation of w om en students, enabling them to appreciate the radical potential of feminism. The theme of attribution of sexualised identity was revisited in Ruling Passions (1997), which linked this early w ork to her later pioneering and groundbreaking research on rape undertaken from the early 1990s, and continued until her death in 2002.

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R e se a rch in g c rim in al justice and legal re sp o n se s to rape

It was in the early 1990s that Sue Lees joined the British Sociological A ssociation's Violence A gainst W omen Study Group. M any of us in the study group will rem em ber her inform ative presentations of w ork in progress and its frustrations. The friendly, supportive coffee table chats and chuckles, where she expressed real interest in and support for our research, will be treasured. This genuine support for others' work reflected her com m itm ent to the developm ent of a com prehensive research know ledge base in relation to all form s of violence against wom en. Sue Lees was no abstract or com petitive academ ic, but shared the com m itm ent of the group towards undertaking research to generate the kind of change that m atters to 'the many strong women who have shared the m ost painful experiences of their lives' because 'their voices of courage and endurance call out for the reform of the judicial system ' (Lees 2002: book dedication). As a m em ber of the study group, Sue Lees contributed to Women, Violence and M ale Power (1996a). Her chapter, 'U nreasonable Doubt: the Outcom es of Rape Trials', interestingly records how her research into rape and sexual violence started 'accidentally' while she was observing m urder trials at the Old Bailey, pursuing her concern over the leniency accorded to m en who killed their w ives/p artn ers (see also Lees 1994). She explains 'I wandered into a rape trial. In my innocence I imagined there was no way, in light of the evidence presented, that the defendant would be acquitted. He was, however, discharged' (Lees 1996a: 108). This was the starting point for Sue Lees' system atic observations of rape trials that led her to see them as 'a cruel hoax, a travesty of justice equivalent to a second rape by the judiciary' (Lees 1996a: 108). This theme is revisited in Ruling Passions (1997), where she interprets the 'cruel hoax' in relation to the 'judiciary and legal profession which functions to condone violence against wom en, ideologically reinforcing the relations of dom ination and subordination' (Lees 1997: 54).

Ethical and m e th o d o lo g ic a l stance

Sue Lees approached the issues of ethics and m ethodologies in her article 'In Search of Gender Justice: Sexual Assault and the Criminal Justice System ' (1994 with J. Gregory) and, to a lesser degree, in Unreasonable Doubt (1996a). 'In Search of Gender Ju stice' describes the scepticism held by many feminists about engaging with the law to

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promote social reform. She argued that it is important to engage with the law to some degree, and suggested that to prevent being 'co-opted' by the law it is necessary to use a combination of legalistic and nonlegalistic strategies: To abandon legal strategies altogether would be no solution at all; rather, it would be to concede defeat, leaving the law un­ challenged, our silence to imply that we had no criticisms to make. (Lees 1994: 80) Sue Lees went on to highlight that it is only by 'researching the law in action' using court observation that it is possible to witness how traumatic the trial procedures are. In Unreasonable Doubt (1996a) she talked about her experiences of using court observation as a research method, which she highlighted as being costly in terms of time but possible for the lone researcher on a limited research budget. This approach enabled her to directly observe the high camp of judicial masculinity together with the '... ambiance of male attitudes to rape which colours everything' (109). 'Everything' here really did mean everything, down to the court listings where on one occasion she noted the word 'shame' graffittied across a charge of attempted rape. She interpreted the graffiti as meaning 'shame the rape was never completed'. Her use of memos such as the graffiti example, although technically not part of the trial she was observing, helped her build up a more complete picture of rape and the legal system. Sue Lees also recorded the outrage she felt in court; for example, she highlighted that: On a number of occasions I was tempted to intervene, to try and break through the court officials' insensitivity and call into question their identification with the alleged defendants. (Lees 1996a: 108) It was typical of Sue Lees to act on her outrage. She recorded her response in a case where the crown prosecutor had failed to refer to the complainant's evident fear and distress as described by several police officers and the police surgeon: In this case I abandoned my role as a participant observer and followed him out of the court and asked him why he had not mentioned her distress. He responded that it was absurd to regard

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the woman's state as corroborative and dismissed the judge's view as irrelevant. This exemplifies the lack of sympathy between the prosecution counsel and the complainant and the way it can prejudice her case. (Lees, S. 1996a: 109) Here, Sue Lees acted in a way that would be frowned upon in more traditional fields of research. By stepping outside the boundaries of the 'independent observer ' she took it upon herself to question what had happened (and in this case act on it), rather than simply recording it. This confrontation enriched, rather than weakened, her research, as challenging the crown prosecutor produced additional data. It contextualised his words by revealing attitudes and assumptions which otherwise would remain hidden. Sue Lees was also interested in whether women who reported rape to the police were satisfied with the way their complaints were handled. In order to investigate this she interviewed police officers and women who had reported rape. The interviewing of police officers and viewing of police records to identify women who had reported rape required both research funding and access to people and records. She identified the two major obstacles to gaining funding in her chapter 'In Search of Gender Justice' as being: obtaining funding without relinquishing any control over the design or dissemination of results and gaining funding for researching the topic of violence against women which is often not prioritised by funding councils. The problems researchers may face when attempting to gain access to state institutions are also described by Sue Lees in light of her research experiences. She pointed out that gaining access to such institutions requires 'time, patience and energy' (1996a: 83). Negotiating, re­ negotiating and compromising with 'gatekeepers' is essential to gaining access to any establishment or group of people. Sue Lees highlighted that this is particularly difficult when dealing with state institutions, where 'officials employ a variety of delaying tactics, in the hope that researchers will give up and go away' (1996a: 83). The concerns criminal justice officials may have with the possibility of negative findings may inform and amplify these delaying tactics. A woman-centred standpoint, which involves hearing women's stories, can facilitate greater understanding of the nature and impact of sexual violence. This was the approach taken by Sue Lees in her interviews with survivors of rape:

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We aimed not merely to break through the silence and shame the topic of rape is shrouded in, but to investigate for the first time, survivors' reports of the tactics men used when assaulting women. (Lees 2002: 280) As a feminist, Sue Lees was highly sensitive to the fact that asking women to speak in detail of their experiences of rape could be traumatic in a research context. In the chapter 'In Search of Gender Justice' she acknowledges that ethical issues, particularly those relating to con­ fidentiality, are paramount for feminist researchers researching sexual assault. While it is not stated what support was made available to those interviewed, it is clear she justified what could otherwise be an intrusive or voyeuristic methodology on the grounds that it could help secure beneficial change for women: Asking women to reveal their experiences in such detail was undertaken only on the understanding that the results would be used to try and bring about improvements in the present situation where women are disbelieved and humiliated by the judicial system. (Lees 2002: 280) This provides further evidence that Sue Lees' primary aim was to make a difference to the lives of women in terms of securing justice, protection and support for women victimised by all forms of sexual violence. Our reading of Sue Lees' work leads us to conclude that she took a pragmatic stance on methodological issues, perceiving research methods as tools, from which she selected those best suited to the task in hand. She recognised that to develop understandings of sexual violence and its treatment by the police, the courts and in the law itself entails knowl­ edge gained from women's experiences as well as professional responses. It also requires an understanding of its prevalence and how this is masked by the attrition process. Consequently Sue Lees used a range of research tools (e.g. in-depth interviews with survivors, the survey method, monitoring of professional practice, statistical analysis and deconstruction of courtroom transcripts), selecting the most appropriate tools for any given piece of research. While Sue Lees' work may be located at the interface of criminology and women's studies, it was the feminist theoretical location which facilitated the crossing of boundaries between academia and activism; research and practice; theory, politics and policy. Beyond this, it was feminism that enabled her to act on her anger and outrage and produce 216

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research respected for its independence, m ethodological rigour and, more significantly, as a vehicle for change.

Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial

Sue Lees' classic book, Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial (first edition 1996b and second edition 2002), builds on 1980s fem inist research into the police, crim inal justice and legal response to rape, including that of Jeffreys and Radford (1984), Hall (1985), Kelly (1988) and Roberts (1989). It dem onstrates that despite, or indeed as a consequence of, reforms in police policy in the late 1980s, by the 1990s the position had shifted to one where '... wom en are encouraged to report rape, and are often intim idated by their assailants, only to be stereotyped as sexually provocative and blam ed by the judiciary and the press' (Lees 2002: xi). Carnal Knowledge was based on three research studies: the first an analysis of police records on sexual assaults at two London police stations (1988-90), interview s w ith w om en who had reported rape and interview s with relevant agencies (with J. Gregory); the second an analysis of 31 rape trials (1993); and the third a survey of over 100 w om en who had been raped and 16 w om en who had experienced attem pted rape. In this book, Sue Lees reports on the analysis of all cases of rape and sexual assault betw een Septem ber 1988 and Septem ber 1990 reported to the police in two London police stations. It w as found that 38% (116 out of 301 cases) of reported rapes and sexual assaults were 'no-crim ed' by the police, and the cases m ost likely to be 'no-crim ed' w ere those where there was some level of relationship betw een the com plainant and the suspect. This led her to argue that the police were 'screening out' cases, by not forwarding those they anticipated the Crow n Prosecution Service might discontinue. Com pounding this attrition, further cases were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service. In the end only 29 of the 301 men reported for rape (9.6%) were given a custodial sentence. It was concluded that because of the high level of attrition the state was failing to protect women from rape and failing to punish men for rape. Indeed, Gregory and Lees took this further, stating th a t'... in failing to convict all but a handful of the men responsible for the assaults, the criminal justice system is condoning their actions and encouraging them to attack again' (1994: 91). In Carnal Knoiuledge Sue Lees also docum ented the problem s that women reporting rape face when they enter the trial process. Some of the main problem s identified were cross-exam ination, the use of the corroboration warning, and rape m yths held by the judge and jury. 217

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During cross-exam ination, Sue Lees found that nearly three-quarters of the wom en (72%) felt that they had been asked irrelevant and unfair questions during the trial. In over eight out of ten cases the women reported feeling that they were on trial. In the trials, Sue Lees found that questions were often centred on the w om an's personal life - for exam ple, her use of alcohol or drugs, her living arrangem ents or financial situation. She concluded that questions such as what underw ear the w om an was wearing and w hether she had a vibrator were used to insinuate that the w om an had a 'bad' reputation. Q uestions about clothing and m ake-up (for exam ple the colour of her lipstick or w hether she was w earing a 'petticoat') were asked, despite being of no relevance to the rape allegation. She argued that these lines of questioning were used to imply that the w om an m ust have consented because she w as a 'tart' or a 'slut', that she 'deserved' to be raped, a n d / or to distress her when giving evidence. The introduction of a com plainants' sexual history was another issue of central concern to Sue Lees. She evidenced how unnecessary questioning of a rape com plainant about her previous sexual experiences was used to destroy her credibility as a witness and to im ply that if she had had consensual intercourse in the past then she m ust have consented when she w as raped. Sue Lees endorsed A d ler's (1987) previous finding that w om en experienced court-room questioning of their sexual history as distressing and hum iliating. This confirm ed what m any fem inist groups cam paigning around rape suspected: that Section 2 of the Sexual Offences (Am endm ent) Act 1976 (which ruled that women could only be questioned regarding their sexual history with leave from the judge) was not protecting w om en from this form of questioning. Sue Lees' research on sexual history evidence contributed to the developm ent of new legislation aimed at further curtailing this questioning. Carnal Knowledge was cited extensively by Paul Boateng MP in introducing the Youth Justice and Crim inal Evidence Bill [Lords] to the H ouse of Com m ons.’ Section 41 of the Youth Justice and Crim inal Evidence A ct 1999 (YJCEA) was introduced in 2000 in an attem pt to further restrict the adm ittance of sexual history evidence, w hether with the accused or other men. However, and inconsistently, the YJCEA allow ed for its continued introduction w hen the accused claim ed an 'honest but mistaken belief' in consent. In the second edition of Carnal Knowledge (2002) Sue Lees angrily docum ents how on the day follow ing its introduction in October 2000, The Human Rights Act 1998 was used to challenge this new legislation. In an appeal m ade to the House of Lords (R v A), follow ing a case where a survivor's alleged previous sexual 218

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relationship with the accused had been disallowed, it was held that Section 41 had gone too far and that previous sexual history with the defendant could still be relevant in some cases. In consequence, as Sue Lees noted, the decision allowing sexual history evidence continues to be a matter for judicial discretion, despite the fact her research had demonstrated that: 'Judges frequently regarded such evidence as relevant even when it was unconnected to the offence' (Lees 2002: xviii). In her discussion of this case, she endorsed an interesting (although unsuccessful) intervention by the Fawcett Society. The Fawcett Society argued that the decision of whether sexual history evidence was relevant in the case of R v A should not be decided by an entirely male panel of Lords of Appeal. They also noted that no woman had ever been appointed to this, the highest level in the legal hierarchy in England and Wales. The Fawcett intervention was unsuccessful and the case was decided by an all male panel of judges. This theme is revisited in the new conclusion to Carnal Knowledge (2002), where Sue Lees develops a critique of the male-dominated, non-accountable, untrained and increasingly powerful judiciary: ... the role of the Law Lords has changed fundamentally with the implementation of the 1998 Human Rights Act in 2000. ... In the United States, candidates (for the Supreme Court) are cross examined publicly about their views. Yet in the United Kingdom, twelve judges have been appointed to the Court of Human Rights without any advertisement, interview or selection panel, but only through 'secret soundings'. These twelve - all male - are defenders of our newly won human rights ... (Lees 2002: 248) These sentiments, which seem to anticipate the sweeping changes to the judiciary announced by the government in June 2003, were pursued as Sue Lees explored the judiciary's impact both in political terms in relation to their resistance to change and on the conduct of rape trials and the outcomes of appeals against convictions, an under-researched issue at the time she was writing: No comprehensive study has been carried out of all the rape cases which have gone to appeal and I was unable to find out what proportion of convicted men appeal. My impression is that many do, since preliminary evidence indicates that a significant number of sentences are quashed or reduced and therefore defendants find it worthwhile. (Lees 2002: 264) 219

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In this quotation Sue Lees identifies a significant aspect of the legal response to rape about which little is known or is publicly accessible, despite an increasing amount of research into the policing and prosecution of rape. Policing Sexual Assault (1999), co-authored with Jeanne Gregory, examined further the issue of police and prosecution responses to rape and sexual assault. It provides an assessment of the impact of sustained feminist activism and research from the 1970s to the late 1990s. Recognising this as one of the more successful areas of feminist practice, the authors note that the limited reforms secured to date do not represent a non-contested model of progress. Consequently it adds weight to feminist arguments that despite the piecemeal reforms introduced across the period, there is a continuing crisis in the processing of rape complaints, which result in a denial of justice and protection to victimised women. With new empirical data and an updated analysis of attrition rates, as well as an overview of sexual violence and harassment perpetrated against women police officers, this book illustrates the extent of both change and no change in the police and criminal justice response to rape and sexual assault since the 1970s. It concludes that despite greater official acknowledgement of the serious nature of sexual violence and new policies and practices, police and criminal justice continue to fail women and children. Anticipating arguments from the second edition of Carnal Knowledge (2002), Policing Sexual Assault illustrates just how fundamentally 'malestream' values and practices are embedded in patriarchal institutions, and the ways institutions are able to frustrate or subvert piecemeal reforms, while creating the superficial impression that things are changing. The conclusion adds to calls for more fundamental change, transformation or 'feminisation of social control', as opposed to piecemeal reforms of police and criminal justice. Like many feminists, Sue Lees was optimistic regarding the possibility of fundamental law change occasioned by the Home Office's Sex Offences Review announced in 1998. The consultation document: 'Setting the Boundaries' (Home Office 2000) included detailed proposals, aimed at producing legislation which is non-discriminatory, consistent with the Human Rights Act 1998 and meets the needs of the new century. It is likely that many of the proposals made by the Sexual Offences Review Team were influenced by Sue Lees' research findings, and she attended the consultation conferences and seminars held in 1999. However, and to her disappointment, she felt that the review was 'limited in so far as rules of evidence were excluded' (Lees 2002: xli)

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including those related to the admittance of sexual history evidence. She also put forward the criticism that the 'norms which shape the judiciary - and indeed the whole judicial processes' were excluded from the remit of the Sexual Offences Review (Lees 2000: xliv). Sue Lees gave only a qualified welcome to one of the most significant changes proposed in 'Setting the Boundaries': the defining of consent as 'free agreement'. She commented that: under these proposals a defendant would need to show that a complainant's consent had been 'freely agreed'. This would at least put some pressure on the defendant to explain what led him to consider that the woman freely agreed, without altering the burden of proof. (Lees 2002: xiii) However, since 'free agreement' was not defined, it still remains to be seen how 'free agreement' will be interpreted by the judiciary in case law. In this context Sue Lees gave attention to that 'ambiguous or equivocal' behaviour which in 'o u r' man-made system seems to mean any form of non-agreement falling short of physical resistance - saying no, remaining silent or making no attempt to escape, i.e. 'freezing'. Sue Lees noted that these matters were addressed in the model judicial directions offered in 'Setting the Boundaries', which she identifies as one of its more positive aspects. Although a list of categories where consent would be deemed to be absent was the position decided upon for the new Act it again still remains to be seen how the judiciary will interpret these categories. Sue Lees did not live to share her response to the Sexual Offences Bill that was given Royal Assent on 20 November 2003 and became the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c.42) with effect from May 2004. The Act represents the most significant overhaul of sexual offences legislation for over a century, but it is doubtful that the legal changes are radical enough to have changed Sue Lees' critical and informed stance on rape and the criminal justice system. This is suggested by her commentary on the Sexual Offences Review: Changes recommended by the Sexual Offences Review are in the pipeline but, ... without radical reform of the rules of evidence and the culture of the Bar, little will change. (Lees 2002: 276)

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H o w S u e Lees m a d e a c a d e m ic research accessible

As docum ented within this chapter, Sue Lees' influence is extensive and wide-ranging. Alongside her influence on rape and the crim inal justice system itself, she has also had an effect on the public's perception of rapists and rape victim s, influenced students and academ ics and, perhaps m ost im portantly to her, had some effect on w om en who have experienced rape. Sue Lees transgressed the traditional academ ic boundaries of research funding and dissem ination and was able to reach and influence a w ider audience than m ost academ ics are able to through her work with the media. Because her funding was not from central governm ent, Sue Lees was free to dissem inate her research findings freely without any editorial constraints from the Hom e Office (and hence the Official Secrets Act). She had a num ber of new spaper articles published about rape, many of the best know n published in the Guardian, including: 'Rape: a Case of Trial and Terror' (7.6.93); 'H ow M en Get Away with It' (16.2.94); 'A New Rape Law N eeded' (10.11.97) and 'A Fistful of Prom ises' (16.4.98). She also worked as a consultant for the Channel 4 D ispatches series of docum entaries: 'G etting Away with Rape' in 1993, 'M ale Rape' in 1994, 'Till Death Do Us Part' in 1995, a two-part programme 'M en Behaving Badly' in 1998 and 'Still Getting away with Rape' in 2000. 'Getting Away with Rape' won the Royal Television Award for best hom e docum entary in 1994. However, Sue Lees did not only target readers of the Guardian and docum entary view ers, rather she used every medium available to her in order to com m unicate her m essage as widely as possible. It is young w om en who are m ost at risk from rape (British Crim e Survey 2002), and Sue Lees pointed out that rape is wrong, regardless of a w om an's age, the relationship she has to the perpetrator or the circum stances surrounding the rape, when she wrote an article for Cosmopolitan, a popular m agazine for young professional women. The work Sue Lees did with the media was groundbreaking and inspirational, but this chapter would be incom plete without m ention of the infam ous ' Ali G ' interview (The Eleven O ’clock Shoiv, Channel 4). Despite being bom barded with questions such as 'do you think women should be allowed to have any jo b' and 'w ould you feel safe if you knew a w om an was flying your plane', Sue Lees was one of the only interview ees who managed to m aintain her dignified, calm stance while accusing Ali G of speaking with 'extrem e prejudice'.

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C o nclu sio n

The chapter Sue Lees planned to contribute to this collection, entitled 'Serial Rapists Still Getting Away with Rape - impacting change through research for television' was designed to highlight how action research with the media can lead to political changes. The chapter only got to the planning stage before she was too ill to continue writing, but we have tried to expand upon and discuss most of the themes Sue proposed in this memorial chapter. Sue Lees had, and indeed continues to have, an amazing influence on students and academics and has been at the forefront, paving the way forward for research on rape and the criminal justice system. Her writing has inspired and influenced a number of projects, from undergraduate projects to PhD theses,4 and her work will undoubtedly continue to be cited for a great many decades to come. It was when Sue Lees spoke at conferences that her passionate political stance so evident in her writing became even more powerful and almost overwhelming. She spoke with academic vigour and seamlessly incorporated her personal views about male power, sexuality and rape to show that, for Sue and many others, the personal really was the political. Sue was not an academic for the sake of being one, she cared about women who had been raped and wanted actually to change things. She was passionate about and worked tirelessly for change and, although it is clear that women who are raped are still regularly denied justice by a criminal system that benefits men who rape or is even, in Sue's words, actually 'decriminalising rape' through the attrition process, it is without doubt that things would be even worse if it w asn't for Professor Sue Lees (1941-2002): her life, research and influence.

N o te s 1 2 3 4

A radical left-w ing com m unity paper. A personal observation based on w om en's studies teaching experience at the U niversity of W estm inster and University of Teesside (JR). See w w w .parliam ent.thestationeryoffice.co.uk/p a /c m l9 9 8 9 9 /c m s ta n d / e /s t9 9 0 6 2 4 /p m / Including my (NW) PhD on rape and hum an rights.

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B ib lio g r a p h y

Benn, M. (2002) 'Sue Lees: Feminist who changed the rules for rape victims in court', The Guardian, 24.9.02. Gregory, J. and Lees, S. (1994) 'In Search of Gender Justice: Sexual Assault and the Criminal Justice System', Feminist Review, 48: Autumn. Gregory, J. and Lees, S. (1996) 'Attrition in Rape and Sexual Assault Cases', British Journal o f Criminology, 36: 1. Gregory, J. and Lees, S. (1999) Policing Sexual Assault. London: Routledge. Hall, R. (1985) Ask Any Woman. London: Falling Wall Press. Harris, J. and Grace, S. (1999) A question o f evidence? Investigating and prosecuting rape in the 1990s. London: Home Office. Home Office (2002) Protecting the Public. London: Home Office. Jeffreys, S. and Radford, J. (1984) 'Contributory Negligence or Being a Woman? The Car Rapist Case', in P. Scraton and P. Gordon (eds), Causes fo r Concern: British Justice on Trial. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd. Kelly, L. (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence. London: Polity Press. Lees, S. (1986) Losing Out. London: Unwin. Lees, S. (1993) Sugar and Spice: Sexuality and Adolescent Girls. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. Lees, S. (1994) 'Law yer's Work as constitutive of Gender Relations', in M. Cain and C. Harrington (eds), Lawyers in a Postmodern World. Buckinghamshire: Open University Press. Lees, S. (1996a) 'Unreasonable Doubt: the Outcomes of Rape Trials', in M. Hester, L. Kelly and J. Radford (eds), Women, Violence and Male Power: Feminism, Activism and Research. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Lees, S. (1996b) Carnal Knoivledge: Rape on Trial (1st edn). Hamish Hamilton, reprinted in 1997 by Penguin Books. Lees, S. (1997) Ruling Passions. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Lees, S. and Gregory, J. (1993) Rape and Sexual Assault: A Study o f Attrition. London: Islington Council. Lees, S. and Griffin, C. (eds) (1997) Special Issue of Gender and Education on Masculinities in Education. Lees, S. (2002) Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial (2nd edn). London: The Women's Press. Roberts, C. (1989) Women and Rape. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

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Index

abuse disclosure 76, 98 in the post-separation context 170, 180 see also child abuse; sexual abuse academ ic fem inists, accessing for interviews 52 access to fem inist service providers 5 0 -2 to Loyalist women former prisoners 137-8 to the police 50-1 to Republican women prisoners 129-30, 134 to state institutions 215 to violent fathers 175-7 in violently divided com munities 126, 131-3, 134-5 see also gatekeepers accountability of service users 157 action-oriented evaluation approaches 7 active agreem ent 92 activist m ovem ent see w om en's activist movement 'adult-centric' research into children's experiences 67

advocacy projects 149, 161 m arginalisation 150 affirming discourse 53 -4 , 5 5 -7 , 6 1-2 age and com petency 89-90 alternative discourses 54-61 appeals against convictions 219-20 Area Child Protection Committees, links with domestic violence forum s 6 arrest and policing of domestic violence 32 Asian children, and domestic violence 66-81 background and research context 6 7-8 racial and ethnic congruity in researchers and participants 69-71 ethnicity and sam pling 70-1 research project 68-9 aims and research design 68 black sample 69 sam pling 69 shared ethnicities and racism and ethnocentrism in the research process 72-81 collectivist values, cultural hierarchies and consent 72-3

225

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

ethnocentricm and cultural racism 77-80 language and cultural practices and traditions 76-7 patriarchial control, family honour, shame, confidentiality and trust 73-6 racial harassment and racial abuse 80-1 assent forms 93 athletes see sportsmen attrition in domestic violence cases 4, 36-7 in rape cases 4, 217 BCS see British Crime Survey Best Value 155 Big Met 45, 46, 55, 57 black children impact of domestic violence 66-7 see also Asian children the Boro effect on Middlesbrough 198-201 rise and fall in fortunes 191, 201-4 link with domestic violence 191, 196-7 use of images of aggressive and violent masculinity 202-4 'Boro babes' 205-6 British Crime Survey 28 British Crime Survey report on interpersonal violence (2001) 29-30 Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial 217-21 Cellnet Riverside stadium 198, 205 Centre for the Study of Safety and Well-being 148 'charm' tactics of violent fathers 183 checklists, violence 179 child abuse research in China 106 UK research 105-6

226

see also physical child abuse Child Strategy Statement of the Scottish Executive 89 'Children 5-16: Growing into the 21st Century' 67 children 'conflict studies' and the experience of violence 125 contact with violent fathers 168-70, 184 definition 89-90 fantasised violence against 178 guidelines and codes of ethical practice for research 91 impact of domestic violence 66 participation in refuge groups 153 provision of platforms from which to speak 13-14 'rights' and 'citizenship' discourses 88-9 status as 'non-adults' 94 use of discipline and punishment by parents 106 see also Asian children; young people Children Act (1989) 89, 90,113 Children Bill 6 Children (Scotland) Act (1995) 89 China acceptability of punishment 120 carrying out collaborative research in 107-8 comparative study of young people and violence in the family 105-22 'citizenship' discourses and children 88-9 Civil Protection Orders for Domestic Violence 3 Cleveland Zero Tolerance Campaign 197 co-option 57 Code o f Conduct Ethical Principles and Guidelines 91

In d e x

coding process for interviews 54-5, 56t collaboration, limits of 140-2 collaborative life-writing 140 collaborative research power relations 108-9 see also comparative and collaborative research collectivist values, understanding 72-3 colonialism in 'exporting' Western feminist ideas to Eastern countries 107-8 community connection between football clubs and 200 reconstruction on the values of masculinity 197, 204, 206-7 see also violently divided communities community 'discipline' policing by paramilitary organisations 126, 131-2 Community Safety Units (CSUs) 5 comparative and collaborative research, on young people and violence in the family 105-22 data analysis 120-2 data collection 115-16 follow-up interviews 117-20 questionnaire 110-12 versions of 112-15 research development 109-10 the sample 116-17 comparative research, guidelines 112 competency and age 89-90 confidentiality and disclosure of abuse 76, 98 importance to Asian families 74-6 and involvement of abuse survivors in policy or service development 157 in researching sexual assault 216 for violent fathers 176, 179-80

and woment political prisoners in Northern Ireland 138-9 conflict interpretation by men and women 29, 180-1 see also violence conflict research demarcations and prohibitions 131-3 division into 'legitimate' and 'illegitimate' concerns 128 dominant ideologies of masculinity 126-7 power relations 126-7 role of women 126 'conflict studies' and the experience of violence by women and children 125 Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) 29, 111, 122, 180-1 'conscious partiality' 70 consent and social research with young people 90-5 to sexual intercourse 221 and the understanding of collectivist values and cultural hierarchies 72-3 consent forms 92-3 consultation with children and young people 88-9 conducting 149 failure to act on 157 in new legislation and policy 154-5 convictions for rape, appeals against 219-20 cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses in evaluation research 32 court observation 214 'covert' research, distinctions between 'overt' and 130-1 CPS 4 see also prosecution

227

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

crime domestic violence as 27 routine activity theory 31 under-reporting 28-9 Crime and Disorder Act (1998) 4, 5, 155 Crime and Disorder audits and strategies 155 Crime Reduction Programme see CRP crime surveys 28-30 meanings, impact and implications 29-30 criminal justice system and attrition in domestic violence cases 36-7 overemphasis on responses 5 and rape cases 213, 217-21 attrition in 4, 217 criminalisation within the private sphere 8 critical violent events, focusing on 181 cross-examinations during rape trials 218 cross-national aspects in comparative research 106-7, 122 Crown Prosecution Service see CPS CRP Violence Against Women Initiative 9 evaluation approaches 6-8 funding of projects 4-5, 37 CSUs (Community Safety Units) 5 CTS (Conflict Tactics Scales) 29, 111, 122, 180-1 cultural competence, significance in the research process 72-81 cultural hierarchies, understanding 72-3 cultural imperialism 107-8, 122 cultural practices and traditions, understanding 76-7 cultural racism, understanding 77-80

228

data evaluation 7-8 see also qualitative data Data Protection Act (2000) 8 'deficit models' of childhood 67 definitions 2-3 democratisation of the research process 12 descriptive approach in cross­ national comparative research 107 descriptive statistics 25-6 disability movement 149 discipline, use by parents 106, 111 disclosure of abuse 76, 98 discourse analysis 14 discourses surrounding state services for survivors of rape and sexual assault 45-62 access 50-2 analysing transcripts 54-61 the interviews 49-50 controlling 52-4 disengagement of statutory agencies in policing domestic violence 25 disgrace, use to enforce control 74 diversity within survivor representation 157 Domestic Abuse Intervention Project 37 domestic violence 2, 191-2 Asian children and see Asian children and domestic violence children and 66, 67 in China 105 and civil protection 3 connection with physical child abuse 169-70 CPS Guidelines 4 first responses 149 focus of the UK on 2 as a governmental concern 27 growing visibility in public and media campaigns 3 link between football and see football and domestic violence

In d e x

link between sport and 194-5 link between viewing sports on television and 196 participation of survivors in services see participation of domestic violence survivors in services policing see policing of domestic violence prevalence 28-9 provision of alternative social housing 3 see also family, violence in; violent fathers Domestic Violence Bill (2003) 5 domestic violence cases, attrition 4, 36-7 domestic violence forums consultation mechanisms 155 links with Area Child Protection Committees 6 and service user involvement 154 at meetings 159-60 and statutory agencies 150 domestic violence survivors forums and advisory groups 160-1 domestic violence survivors participation in services 146-63 accountability of those being consulted 157 agency responses and inter­ agency forums 154 agreed procedures 156-7 approaches 158-62 consultation in new legislation and policy 154-5 cost 158 differences of view 157 equality and diversity within representation 157 policy and service development 150-2 research 147-8 safety and confidentiality 157 sensitivities and strengths 155-6

women's refuge, support and outreach services 152-4 domestic violence units 151 consultation of users 150 replacement by Community Safety Units 5 Duluth project 37 Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Violence Research Programme 1, 8-9, 147-8 elders, respect for 72-3 'elective mutism' 78 elite interviews 47-8 risks 49-50 emancipatory research 14-15 'emotional violence' 192 emotional work 16-17 empowerment and raising voices 148-9 of research participants 48,172 of women 147 equality issues in participatory processes 157, 158 ESRC Violence Research Programme 1, 8 -9 ,1 4 7 -8 Ethical Conduct o f Research on Children 91 ethical practice guidelines and codes for research with children/young people 91 and violent fathers 179-80 'ethnic congruity' 69-70 see also 'race matching' ethnic minorities experience of public sector services 150 provision of platforms from which to speak 13 training for involvement in policy­ making 160 and violent fathers 177-8 see also Asian children ethnocentricm, understanding 77-80 ethnographic power 140-2

229

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

ethnographic process and 'taking sides' 141 ethnographic research 133 ethnographies of political violence 125 evaluation of policing of domestic violence 23-39 descriptive statistics 25-6 evaluative research 24, 30-4 areas of debate 32-4 development and application 30-2 generalisable statistics 28-30 inferential statistics 27-8 qualitative research 24-5 and researching organisations 34-8 evaluation research and CRP projects 6-8 experimental approach 7, 31-2 measurement of 32 objectivity 32-4 on organisational projects 39 and policing of domestic violence 24, 30-4 evaluators, objectivity of 33 Every Child Matters 89 evidence-led best practice 24 experience effect on attitudes to questionnaires 119 role in research 14 experimental approach to evaluation 7, 31-2 and policing domestic violence 35 extended family, contacts with 81 Families Need Fathers 176 family definition through masculinist discourses 206-7 violence in 105-22 see also second familial relationships family honour 73-4

230

implications of being identifiable within communities for 75-6 Family Law Act (1996) 3 family law policy 168-9 'fandom' 200 fantasised violence against women and children 178 fathering, gendered assumptions 170 fathers' rights groups 169 see also Families Need Fathers female researchers, working with men 16 'feminisation of football' 205 'feminisation of social control' 220 feminism, affirming discourse 53-4, 55-7, 61-2 feminist comparative and collaborative research 107-9 feminist discourses, tracking and analysing 54-62 feminist 'elites' 44, 45 feminist methodology 1 characteristics 9-18 selection of research tools 17-18 feminist principles 48 feminist research characteristics 10-17 conflicting principles 45 incorporating organisational research 39 power relations within 87-8 quantitative methodologies 10, 17-18, 23-39 feminist studies of war 125 feminist vulnerability, discourse of 56t, 57-9, 62 'feminist-bating' 16 focus groups in social research 96-100 groundrules 99-100 power dynamics 96-7 football masculinist culture 194-5, 207 as the basis of a wider 'community' 197

In d e x

representations of women 204-7 parallels between religion and 197, 206 football and domestic violence 190-208 concept of 'permissions' 192 links between 191-2 effect of the masculinist culture of football 194-5 policy implications 207-8 football-related violence 192-7, 200 formal inspections of organisations 36-7 'free agreement', defining consent as 221 Freedom from Fear 4 funding of projects 4 -5, 215 for research into large organisations and multi-agency responses 37-8 of voluntary sector orgnisations 151-2 Gascoigne, Paul 191, 200-1, 207 gatekeepers gaining access through 215 role of the state in prison research 128-31 and social research with young people 95-6 gender composition of groups of young people 97 Gender and Education 212 gender inequalities and feminist research 10-11 gender violence, definition 2-3 gendered power relations 168, 172-3, 184 and men's violence in patriarchal societies 191 gendered social relations 29 generalisable statistics 28-30 generational hierarchies 72-3

Gillick ruling 90-1 government and domestic violence 3, 27 multi-agency approach 3 strategy on violence against women 147 government-sponsored research initiatives see research initiatives groundrules for focus groups 99-100 groups of young people gender composition 97 power dynamics 96-7 Guidelines fo r Research 91 'halo effect' 50, 52 avoiding 47-8 harassment of researchers 16 see also sexual harassment Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) 36 Her M ajesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) 36 'hidden victims' 66 higher order themes of transcripts 55, 56t see also affirming discourses; unfinished discourses; vulnerable discourses Home Office 4 Home Office Crime Reduction Programme projects see CRP projects honour, family see family honour Housing Act (1996) 3 Imkaan 149 imperialism in 'exporting' Western feminist ideas to Eastern countries 10 7-8,122 implementation impact on programme outcome 32 interaction between evaluation and 33

231

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

'In Search of Gender Justice: Sexual Assault and the Criminal Justice System' 213-14, 215, 216 incorporation 57 indexes, violence 179 inferential statistics 27-8 'informers' 132 'insider feminists' 62 institutional racism 80 institutional support for violent sportsmen 195 interactive evaluation 33 international football icons 198-9, 200 interpreting facilities 158 'intervention in the field' 133 interviewees battle for control between interviewers and 47-8 empowerment 48 interviewing of male paramilitaries 127 of men by women 171-4 violent fathers 178-9 see also qualitative interviewing; semi-structured interviewing interviews coding process 54-5, 56t controlling 52-4 with survivors of rape 215-16 see also elite interviews Islington Gutter Press 211 izzat see family honour judicial masculinity 214 judiciary 219 'justice gap' 4 Killingbeck project early identification of under­ implementation 33 performance and the relevance of quantitative research 35 rolling out the model 36 use of statistical tests 27-8

232

knowledge, power related to 109 knowledge of statutory agency practices 26 language power related to 109 problems in cross-national comparative research 107, 109 understanding 76-7 law changing context 1, 3 -6 and the promotion of social reform 213-14 learning disabilites and abused Asian children 78-80 Lees, Sue 18, 211-23 early work 212 ethical and methodological stance 213-17 and making academic research accessible 222 research on criminal justice and legal responses to rape 213 legal system and rape 213, 214, 218-21 legislation consultation in 154-5 in Northern Ireland 128 'legitimacy' and conflict research 128-9 liaison officers 151 life story approaches 181 life-history writing 139-40 'literal immediacy' 139 Living Without Fear T7 long-term goals 60 Losing Out 212 Lost Lives 137 lower order themes of transcripts 55, 56t Loyalist women former prisoners, access to 137-8 'mainstreaming' of violence against women 3-4

In d e x

male paramilitaries, interviewing 127 market research, use of focus groups 96 Marxism and football-related violence 193 masculinist cultures of sport 193-7 parallels with militarism 194 masculinity dominant ideologies in conflict research 126-7 reconstruction of community on the values of 197, 204, 206-7 see also judicial masculinity measurement and evaluation research 32 men interpretation of violence 29, 180-1 researching 171-4 working with female researchers 16 see also violent men menstruation, men's social construction of 173 methodology 'camps' 17 definition 9-10 see also feminist methodology Middlesbrough 198 effect of the Boro 198-201 social phenomena in the late 1990s 190-1 Middlesbrough Football Club see the Boro Middlesbrough Refuge 207 Middlesbrough university 199 militarism, parallels between the masculinist cultures of sport and 194 Minneapolis Police Department 31-2 minority groups see ethnic minorities 'minority perspective', suppression of 97 Misbehaviour Response Scale 111

mothering, gendered assumptions about 170 multi-agency approaches at governmental level 3 funding 5 research and evaluation 36-8 Narrowing the Justice Gap 4 national generic crime surveys 29 'new alternative' vision 59 New Labour government 4 -6 'new realist analyses' of footballrelated violence 193 'non-adults', children as 94 Northern Ireland researching prisons in 128—31 women political prisoners see women political prisoners in Northern Ireland Northern Rock Foundation 37-8 objectivity in evaluation research 32-4 interaction between evaluation and implementation processes 33 role of evaluators 33 'ongoing process', consent as 94-5 'opt in' forms 92, 93 'opt out' forms 92, 93 organisational databases 36 organisational research 34-8, 39 effect of size on research design 24, 36-8 examining performance against policy 34-6 the 'other' 44 in the conflict research process 135-9 outreach projects 149,151-2 marginalisation 150 role in representing abused women's voices 161 service user involvement 152-4

233

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

'overt' research, distinctions between 'covert' and 130-1 paramilitary organisations policing of community 'discipline' by 126, 131-2 see also male paramilitaries parental consent 90-3 parenting practices of domestically violent fathers 168,171 gendered assumptions 170 parents, use of discipline and punishment 106, 111 participatory research 11, 12-13 passive agreement 92 patriarchial control in Asian cultures 73-4 penal power 140 people in power 44-62 performance in organisations, examining policy against 34-6 permissions for violence 192 in sport 195-6 perpetrator programmes evaluation 167 gaining access to men on 176-7 motives for attending 177 post-separation context 180 Phoenix Group 160 physical child abuse in China 106 link with domestic violence 169-70 place, connection between football clubs and 200 police accessing for interviews 50-1 responses to rape 215, 217, 220 under-reporting of crime to 28-9 policing of domestic violence as a crime 27 evaluation see evaluation of policing of domestic violence improvements 151

234

strategies 24-5 Policing Sexual Assault 220 policy changing context 1, 3-6 consultation in 154-5 examining organisational performance against 34-6 policy meetings, attendance by service users 159-60 policymaking, connection between research and 31 political prisoners provision of platforms from which to speak 13 see also women political prisoners political prisoners-turned-researchers 130-1, 134 political violence, ethnographies of 125 politically active research 14-15 'positions of power' 44 post fieldwork process, power exerted during 108,109 post-separation context, abuse in 170, 180 'post-structural' approaches to data analysis 14 power operation of 149 people in 44-62 of the researcher 172 and service user involvement 146, 149 see also ethnographic power; penal power power relations between youth participants and adult researchers 87-8, 94 in collaborative research 108-9 in conflict research 126-7 and life-history writing 139 within groups of young people 96-7 reduction in power differentials 97

In d e x

see also empowerment; gendered power relations practice bridging the gap between research and 15 changing context 1, 3-6 principles, feminist 48 prison life-history writing 139-40 prison research, the state as gatekeeper 128-31 pro-feminist men, research by 168 probation service, responses to domestic violence 151 'professionalisation' of refuge organisations and support projects 152 professionals who have experienced violence 154, 162 programmes for domestic violence perpetrators see perpetrator programmes evaluation 34 impact of implementation 32 see also CRP Violence Against Women Initiative; ESRC Violence Research Programme prosecution responses to rape 220 see also Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prostitution 2 funding of multi-agency projects 5 obtaining police data 8 Protection from Harassment Act (1997) 3 proxy consent 90, 91 psychiatric service survivors 149 'psychological violence' 192 punishment acceptability in the Chinese context 120 use in UK 106 qualitative data, use in evaluation research 33-4

qualitative interviewing 180 qualitative research 10,17, 38 on men 171-4 on policing domestic violence 23, 24-5 quantitative methodologies in feminist research 10, 17—18, 23-39 'quasi religious aspect' of football hype 197 quasi-experimental design for evaluation 7 questioning strategies for violent men 180-2 questionnaires for cross-national comparative research 110-12 'race matching' 13 racial and ethnic congruity 69-70 racism 80-1 in football supporting 193 see also cultural racism random controlled trials (RCTs) 7 rape 2 and the criminal justice system 213, 217-21 attrition 4, 217 experience of 14 legal responses 213, 214 movements against 3 police responses 217, 220 reporting 215 state services for survivors see discourses surrounding state services for survivors of rape and sexual assault Rape and Sexual Assault Counselling and Support Service see RSACS rape victims interviews with 215-16 questioning on sexual history 3, 218-19, 221 rapists interviews with 167 safety procedures 174

235

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

'rapport' in interviewing violent fathers 182-3 RCTs (random controlled trials) 7 're-victimisation 156 'realistic' evaluation approaches 7 reflexivity 15 refuge movement, growth 3 refuges 149, 151-2 role in representing abused women's voices 161 service user involvement 152-4 see also Middlesbrough Refuge religion, parallels between football and 197, 206 repeat victimisation 30-1 Republican women prisoners, access to 129-30, 134 research bridging the gap between practice and 15 connection between policymaking and 31 difference between 'overt' and 'covert' 130-1 effect on the 'researched' 48 importance of politically active and emancipatory 14—15 involvement of marginalised groups 13-14 objectivity 33 role of experience 14 schools as an environment for 100 see also collaborative research; conflict research; evaluation research; feminist research; organisational research; participatory research; qualitative research; social research; survey research research initiatives 1, 6-9 see also CRP projects; ESRC Violence Research Programme research tools, selection 17-18 the 'researched' effect of research on 48

236

emotional and physical wellbeing 15-16 power imbalances between researchers and 11-12, 48, 108 challenge to 'the two-tier power hierarchy' 172 race matching researchers and 13 researchers demarcations and prohibitions in conflict research 131-3 emotional and physical wellbeing 15-17 harassment of 16 objectivity 33 political prisoners as 130-1, 134 power imbalances between the 'researched' and 11-12, 48, 108 challenge to 'the two-tier power hierarchy' 172 'race matching respondents and 13 residents' rights policies in refuge groups 153 respect for elders 72-3 as a groundrule in focus groups 99 'rights' discourses and children 88-9 routine activity theory of crime 31 RSACS 46, 49, 62-3n events leading up to 53 implementation and running 57-9 Ruling Passions 212, 213 safety procedures for researching men 173-4 for researching violent fathers 174, 176-7 implications for partners and children 174-5 sampling methods 25 for researching violent fathers 175-8

In d e x

SARCs (Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) 49, 53, 62-3n schools as an environment for research 100 position on consent 92 Scottish Executive Child Strategy Statement 89 Scottish Zero Tolerance study 106,

110 Scream Quietly or the Neighbours will Hear 24 second familial relationships, violence in 177 'selective mutism' 78 self-help groups 161 self-organisation of projects 161 semi-structured interviewing 49 service development user group participation 12-13, 148-9 for domestic abuse survivors 147, 150-2 service user involvement 12-13, 148-9 accountability 157 differences of view 157 equality and diversity within representation 157 in refuge, support and outreach services 152-4 see also consultation services participation of domestic violence survivors see domestic violence survivors participation in services see also state services 'Setting the Boundaries' 220-1 sexual abuse, connection between domestic violence and 170 sexual assault police and prosecution responses 220

state services for survivors see discourses surrounding state services for survivors of rape and sexual assault Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) 49, 53, 62-3n sexual harassment, 'trivialisation 172-3 sexual history evidence 3, 218-19, 221 Sexual Offences Act (2003) 6, 221 Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act (1976) 218 sexual violence 3 see also rape sexualisation of female football fans 206 sexualised nature of power relations between men and women 173 shame, use to enforce control 74 shared ethnicity of participants in the research process 72-81 as a barrier 75 see also 'race matching' short-term goals 60 significance, tests of 27 size of organisations, effect on research design 24, 36-8 'social actors', children as 67 social exclusion 149 social interaction in interviews 178-9 social reform, promotion by the law 213-14 social relations, gendered 29 social research 30 and young people 87-101 consent 90-5 gatekeepers 95-6 the research process 88-90 use of focus groups 96-100 societal approach in cross-national comparative research 107 Southall Black Sisters 149 space/tim e locations, relation of definitions to 2

237

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

spaces for women's voices to be heard 12-13 sport link between television viewing and domestic violence 196 link with domestic violence 194-5 masculinist cultures 193-7 parallels with militarism 194 see also football sports violence 196 see also football-related violence sprotsmen, violent see violent sportsmen Standards in Scottish Schools Act (2000) 89 standpoint feminism 14 the state role as gatekeeper in prison research 126, 128-31 and the women's activist movement 152 state institutions, gaining access to 215 state services, for survivors of rape and sexual assault see discourses surrounding state services for survivors of rape and sexual assault Statement o f Ethical Practice 91 statistical tests of significance 27 statistics descriptive 25-6 generalisable 28-30 inferential 27-8 statutory agencies development of domestic abuse services 150-2 knowledge of practices 26 role in policing domestic violence 25 'a story', telling of 49 street prostitution see prostitution The Stronger Women Get, the More Men Love Football 195 'studying up' 44

238

Sugar and Spice: Sexuality and Adolescent Girls 212 Super Bowl 196 support projects, service user involvement 152-4 'Supporting People' initiative 151-2 Supporting Women 4 survey research 28-30 meanings, impact and implications of findings 29-30 see also questionnaires 'taking sides' in the ethnographic process 141 Taking Stock, What do ive knoio about interpersonal violence? 9 Teesside Development Corporation (TDC) 198 Tell Them Everything 131 territoriality, connection between football clubs and 200 'terrorism', researching 125 tests of significance 27 time-space opportunities 60-1 tim e/space locations, relation of definitions to 2 tools, research see research tools traditions, understanding 76-7 trafficking 2 training for service user involvement in policy-making 160 transcripts, analysing 54-61 translation 57 translation facilities 158 trial process and rape 217-20 triangulation 26 'trivialisation' of sexual harassment 172-3 trust, breaking 74-5 UK comparative study of young people and violence in the family 105-22

In d e x

focus on domestic violence 2 research into child abuse 105 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 88, 90 under-reporting of crime to the police 28-9 unfinished discourse 55, 56t, 59-61, 62 university, Middlesborough 199 Unreasonable Doubt 213, 214 user group participation see service user involvement viewing sport on television and domestic violence 196 violence differences of interpretation by men and women 29,180-1 in the family 105-22 permissions see permissions for violence see also domestic violence; political violence; sexual violence; sports violence Violence Against Wives: A case against the patriarchy 24 violence against women definition 2 'mainstreaming' 3-4 Violence Against Women Initiative see CRP Violence Against Women Initiative Violence Against Women Research Group 148 violence in the family, experience and perceptions of young people in the UK and China 105-22 violence indexes or checklists 179 Violence Research Programme, ESRC 1, 8 -9 ,1 4 7 -8 'violent conflict', researching 125 violent fathers 167-85 confidentiality and ethics 179-80 context to the research 168-70

contradictions of 'rapport' in interviewing 182-3 interpretation and analysis of accounts 183-4 interviewing strategies 178-9 questioning strategies 180-2 research aims 170-1 research process 171-4 research strategy 174-5 sampling and gaining access 175-8 violent men, reasons for research 167-8 violent sportsmen accountability 195 high-profile 194-5 intervention strategies 207 see also Gascoigne, Paul violently divided communities, negotiating access in 131-3 Voice for Change 160 voices enabling them to be heard 12-14 listening to 146-63 voluntary sector organisations funding 151-2 see also advocacy projects; outreach projects; refuges VRP 1, 8 -9 ,1 4 7 -8 vulnerable discourse 56t, 57-9, 62 war, feminist studies of 125 'what works' 6, 7, 23 and evaluation theory 30 women in 'conflict studies' the experience of violence 125 role 126 definition of violence against 2 empowerment 147 enabling voices to be heard 12-13 fantasised violence against 178 and feminist studies of war 125 interpretation of violence 29, 180-1

239

R e s e a r c h in g G e n d e r V io le n c e

need for improved services 35-6 representation in the masculinist cult of football 204-7 researching men 171-4 see also young women women political prisoners, in Northern Ireland 16, 125-42 analysing interviews 139-40 ethnographic power/taking sides' and the limits of collaboration 140-2 fieldwork 127-8 negotiating access to women in the community 134-5 negotiating access in violently divided communities 126, 131-3 negotiation of common interests 135-9 research process 127 research terrain 126 researching in prisons 128-31 Women, Violence and Male Power 213 women's activist movement 147, 149 price of mainstreaming 152 Women's Aid in England 154

240

Women's Aid federations 149, 154, 161 Women's Studies Network (UK) 211 working practices, evaluation of 34 young people definition 89-90 guidelines and codes of ethical practice for research 91 impact of domestic violence 66 provision of platforms from which to speak 13-14 role in social research see social research, and young people and violence in the family see comparative and collaborative research into young people and violence in the family see also children young women availability and attribution of sexualised reputation 212 as football fans 205-6 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (1999) (YJCEA) 218-19 Zero Tolerance study 106,110