Sunday, September 30, 2012

A Feminist Approach to Understanding Same-Sex IPV


Hello again! This piece was sent to me from a reader of the blog – thanks for your contribution! Highlighting the importance of an international approach, the reader wanted to share this piece from the UK.

The paper discusses a survey instrument that was created and implemented that aimed to assess domestic violence in same-sex relationships. The authors of this piece wanted to be able to assess domestic violence in same-sex partnerships but also be able to compare behavior across opposite-sex and same-sex couples. The questionnaire included many different sections that addressed different aspects of violence.

This survey was unique in that it utilized a feminist approach. The purpose of this was so that the instrument would be sensitive to the power and gender dynamics of domestic violence. In this study, more than 1/3 of respondents (38.4%) reported having experienced domestic violence.

Important to note from the findings of this project is that people in same-sex relationships consider and experience combinations of violence (physical, sexual, and emotional) as having the greatest impact.

Citation: Hester, Marianne, Catherine Donovan, and Eldin Fahmy. (2010). Feminist epistemology and the politics of method: surveying same sex domestic violence. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 13 (3), 251-263.

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