This thesis seeks to analyze the issue of intimate partner violence (IPV) within female same-sex relationships in order to uncover how/if it can be related to an invisibility of female same-sex relationships in society at large. By analyzing various articles and academic texts dealing with IPV in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships, the hope is to establish some core differences and similarities within the field of IPV research. The analysis will also look at how the notion of the violent female is addressed, and how other characteristics such as race, ethnicity, age and ableness compound in the narratives of IPV in female same-sex relationships. The analysis will be carried out with the use of domestic violence theory through an ecological model which allows all environments an individual inhabits to be analyzed. Intersectionality alongside a post-colonial and queerfeminist approach will also be applied in the qualitative text analysis of the material. Numerous methods and explanations are put forward in the literature in order to explain IPV, in hetero and homo relationships. Lacking in the discussion is the image of the female abuser while also missing discussions on other intersecting identity markers.

Se a família é o primeiro ambiente socializador da criança, preparando-a para a inclusão em um contexto social mais amplo, a escola pode ser considerada o segundo, salientando-se que pais e professores são figuras essenciais no desenvolvimento do indivíduo, cabendo a eles a função de transmitir valores e normas de conduta assim como compor o ambiente, estabelecendo formas e limites para as gerações mais novas; a infância é, pois, quando a criança incorpora estes valores e, então, o momento propício para verificar a assimilação que ela faz dos fatores relacionadas à tolerância, direitos e deveres. Neste sentido, inicialmente foi investigada a percepção de professores e pais de alunos de Escolas Públicas e Privadas sobre formas de educar a criança e o que seria a violência doméstica contra ela (Estudo I). Na continuidade, analisou como crianças de 2ª a 4ª séries do Ensino Fundamental, que freqüentavam Escola Pública, percebiam as ações dos adultos em relação a elas, o que consideravam certo e errado no contato entre os colegas, o que deveria ser feito para garantir o respeito aos direitos de cada um (Estudo II); e por último foi executado um conjunto de discussões em grupo voltado às questões da Tolerância e Direitos com crianças de 4ª série (Estudo III). Para cumprir estes objetivos, no Estudo I três Escolas Públicas e três Particulares foram contatadas, participaram quatro professores (um por série) e oito pais (dois por série) por Escola de primeira à quarta série do Ensino Fundamental, somando um total de setenta e dois entrevistados; na coleta de dados foram usados uma entrevista estruturada com os pais e jogo de sentenças incompletas com os professores. No Estudo II foram entrevistados 160 alunos de 2a (40), 3a (40) e 4a (80) séries do Ensino Fundamental de uma Escola Pública; dois instrumentos foram elaborados, o primeiro composto por um conjunto de desenhos, seguidos de questões, o segundo na forma de uma entrevista estruturada. No Estudo III, o material usado na intervenção foi em forma de jogo que consistia em lançar uma certa situação com duas possíveis alternativas (uma direcionada para a incompreensão e desobediência e a outra voltada para a tolerância e a recusa à agressão) a serem escolhidas pelos seus participantes (duas salas de 4ª série). Os dados obtidos foram analisados pelos sistemas quantitativo e quantitativo interpretativo. Os resultados, de um modo geral, mostraram que para os pais de alunos de ambas as escolas um sistema ideal de educação quanto à punição está no ponto central, a grande maioria nega que o excesso e a ausência sejam bons para a educação, mas sinalizam que, num grau médio, punir é uma ação aceita como forma de educar a criança. Os professores de escolas particulares e públicas disseram que já detectaram algum tipo de violência doméstica contra seus alunos. Os dados das crianças demonstraram que elas responsabilizam os adultos por sua formação e o que mais as incomoda no contato com os pares são as brigas. Discute-se assim a questão da visibilidade maior da violência doméstica contra a criança nas escolas, sendo os professores grandes aliados na sua detecção e também a necessidade da realização de outras intervenções com as crianças com o objetivo de trabalhar estratégias menos violentas diante de situações que exigem auto-controle em seu relacionamento com os colegas. / If the family is the first socializing environment for children, preparing them for inclusion in a more expanded social context, school can be considered to be the second, with emphasis on the fact that parents and teachers are essential figures in the development of an individuals. It is their function to transmit values and behavioral norms and to compose the environment, establishing forms and limits for the younger generations. It is during childhood that children incorporate these values, this being the proper time to verify how children assimilate the factors related to tolerance, rights and duties. On this basis, we first investigated the perception of teachers and parents of pupils enrolled in Public and Private Schools regarding the way to educate children and domestic violence against them (Study I). Next, we analyzed how 2nd to 4th grade Elementary School pupils enrolled in Public School perceived the actions of adults towards themselves and what they considered to be right or wrong regarding contact among schoolmates and what should be done to guarantee respect of the rights of each person (Study II); finally, a set of group discussions was held regarding the questions of Tolerance and Rights with 4th grade pupils (Study III). To fulfill these objectives, three Public Schools and three Private Schools were contacted in Study I, with the participation of four teachers (one per grade) and eight parents (two per grade) per School from first to fourth grade of Elementary School, with a total of 72 persons interviewed. For data collection, a structured interview was applied to the parents and a set of incomplete sentences was used with the teachers. In Study II, 160 pupils of 2nd (40), 3rd (40) and 4th (80) grades of Elementary School were interviewed. Two instruments were elaborated, the first consisting of a set of drawings followed by questions, and the second in the form of a structured interview. In Study III, the material used for intervention was a game consisting of the presentation of a certain situation with two possible alternatives (one directed at incomprehension and disobedience and the other directed at tolerance and refusal of aggression) to be selected by the participants (two 4th grade classrooms). The data obtained were analyzed by the quantitative and quantitative interpretative systems. In general, the results showed that the parents of children from both schools considered punishment to be a central point in an ideal educational system. Most denied that the excess or the absence of punishment is good for education, but pointed out that a medium type of punishment is an action accepted as a form of child education. The teachers of both the public and private schools stated that they had already detected some type of domestic violence against their pupils. The data regarding the children demonstrated that they hold the adults responsible for their education and that what most bothers them in the contact with their peers is fighting. Thus, the question of greater visibility of domestic violence against children in the schools is discussed, with the teachers being important allies in its detection, together with the need for other interventions with the children in order to devise less violent strategies in situations that require self-control in their relationships with their schoolmates.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious public health concern. Existing interventions for male IPV offenders (i.e., Duluth Model with CBT principles) have shown small-to-negligible effects in reducing future perpetration of violence and have high dropout rates. Offenders who fail to complete treatment, or are deemed to be at “high risk”, are sent to jail. Efficacious and acceptable interventions for incarcerated IPV offenders are needed. The objective of this dissertation study was to test the feasibility of implementing an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) skills group with incarcerated IPV offers. The ultimate goal of ACT is to help individuals make behavioral choices in the service of their values, despite the presence of unwanted internal experiences, through the use of acceptance and mindfulness skills. The specific aims of the study were: 1) to examine post-treatment effects in the targeted ACT skills (i.e., present-moment awareness, acceptance, defusion, experiential avoidance), internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors; and to test whether treatment effects were moderated by IPV-related criminal history severity (IPV-CHS); 2) to explore participants’ perceptions of the group; and 3) to examine whether pre-treatment IPV-CHS predicted worse ACT skills and greater symptom severity at pre-treatment. A sample of 33 court-mandated IPV offenders who participated in the 1 month ACT skills group (12 sessions, delivered 3 times per week) and who completed self-report questionnaires at pre and post treatment was used to evaluate the first two aims. The sample used to evaluate aim three consisted of 58 participants who had completed either the ACT skills group or another treatment offered at the jail at the time (treatment-as-usual) and for whom pre-treatment data were available. Quantitative results revealed that ACT did not produce significant pre to post changes in any of the outcome measures (i.e., ACT skills, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behaviors), that IPV-CHS did not reliably moderate treatment effects, and that IPV-CHS did not predict worse ACT skills or greater symptom severity at pre-treatment. Qualitative results, however, revealed that participants viewed the ACT treatment favorably, found the material useful, and felt accepted and understood by the facilitators. The present study provides evidence for the feasibility of administering a standardized ACT-based protocol within a correctional setting. It further demonstrated that incarcerated IPV offenders perceived ACT to be an acceptable and useful treatment approach. The quantitative data, however, do not support the widespread dissemination of this ACT protocol with incarcerated IPV offenders at this time. Future research should follow-up on these discrepant findings by testing this ACT protocol with a larger sample, randomizing into ACT versus control group, including multiple follow-up time points, collecting one-year recidivism data, and exploring the effects of longer treatment and alternate forms of delivery (e.g., combination of individual and group sessions). Strengths and limitations of the study, as well as additional recommendations and directions for future research, are discussed.

Conceptualising an understanding of home within South African law and how certain relationships create such an understanding. Home can be thought of as a place of safety, security, peace and identity. Home encapsulates values such as human dignity, freedom and equality. Furthermore, it is a space where one can exercise your identity autonomously. Home is a space for autonomy. However, some relationships give rise to this positive concept of home and autonomy whilst others are detrimental thereto. These relations are explored, specifically relations of domestic violence which threaten the values of home. Furthermore, the public/private divide is a contributing factor to domestic violence that occurs within the home. Efforts used to protect the private sphere has resulted in the public sphere compromising the privacy and autonomy of the victim. Privacy should not solely be equated with the private sphere and should rather be understood in terms of autonomy and a right which should be afforded to individuals. Autonomy itself, has for a long time been equated with the private sphere, and has, therefore, been used as a tool to protect the abusive party from state action, rather than protecting the abused party from the actions of the abuser. Therefore, autonomy itself should not be equated with the private sphere, as this conception lacks creativity in achieving autonomy within the collective. Therefore,an alternative understanding of autonomy is suggested: relational autonomy. Relational autonomy examines how specific relationships are beneficial to the meaning of autonomy. Relational autonomy calls for the restructuring of destructive relations which stand in the way of achieving autonomy and therefore also stands in the way of achieving a positive concept of home. / Thesis (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Private Law / LLM Research / Unrestricted

The aim of this essay is to examine how female violence against men expresses itself. In addition the intent is to investigate how this is explained and described in society as well as how social efforts are designed towards male victims. Additionally the aim is to examine why men’s violence against women is more attentive than the opposite. The method used in this essay is a literature review constituted by previous research and reports. This essay suggests that men and women are exposed to domestic violence in the same extent but the violence differ between the genders. Men are more likely to be exposed to psychological violence whereas women are more likely to be exposed to physical violence. Consequences followed is similar between male and female victims. However, the violence that ends with a deadly outcome seems to mainly affect women. According to prevailing norms in society men is expected to be strong and superior which means they are not seen as victims, since victims are characterized by weakness and inferiority. Therefore, men refrain from seeking help and these normative conceptions also appears to be the reason why men does not receive the help they need. Because of this the violence to which men are exposed can not be noticed. As women report their victimization and due to the fact that they are exposed to severe violence than men, this violence is automatically paid more attention.

The aim with this study is to investigate how social agencies work with children that are whitnessing physical violence against their mother by a man they have a close relationship with. The study is focusing on what kind of interventions that are directed to those children, in some cases also the whole family, and what effects these have on them. The study is also focusing on the cooperation between different social agencies that are working with the target group and what effects a wellworking cooperation may have. A qualitative method has been used for the study, based on semi-structured interviews with different kind of social workers that work with the target group in question. The selection of social workers consisted on five different interviewees within four different departments.The results of the study shows what interventions are the most common ones and what effects these are having on the children and their families according to previous research and according to the interviewed social workers. It also shows the importance of having a wellworking cooperation between relevant social agencies according to previous research and how the cooperation is working in practical social work according to the interviewed social workers. Eventually the results have been analysed by the three theories: attachment theory, Antonovsky’s KASAM and risk- and protection factors. The study shows the importance of aiming the right interventions to those who are exposed and how important it is with a good cooperation between different social agencies so that the interventions are far-reaching enough to support the exposed in every part of their life and to meet their every need of support. This also so those who are exposed suffer from less symptoms followed by witnessing physical violence and provide good conditions to have a healthy physical, social and psychological development.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken forskning och kunskap det finns kring våld i nära relationer mellan samkönade par. Vidare är syftet att undersöka hur samhällsinsatserna ser ut för våldsutsatta personer i samkönade relationer som söker hjälp i ett heteronormativt samhälle. / It is known that domestic violence in same-sex couples is an issue that needs to be addressed similarly to the discourse of domestic violence in heterosexual relationships or violence against women. Therefore, it is of interest to examine what research there currently is to be found on the matter. There is also an importance to examine what kind of support same-sex couples can acquire from different social agencies in relation to domestic violence. Because of the limited research on the subject, there is a need for more empirical research. Due to a restricted level of knowledge within the Swedish research on this subject, the study will discuss the topics without being bound to a specific place. This actuality is taken into account however and is also analyzed in the study. The purpose of this study is to examine what knowledge there is in connection to domestic violence in same-sex couples. Additionally, the study aims to examine how the support for same-sex couples is designed in a heteronormative society. To be able to achieve this, material have been collected through previous empirical research. A systematic literary research method has been used to collect the data for this study. In the result and analysis, various themes were constructed which are used to answer the question formulations. Some of these are: the connection between homophobia and domestic violence in same-sex couples, intersectionality and power as a theory as well as how they can help analyze domestic violence in same-sex couples and also what knowledge and experience professionals have about violence in same-sex couples. These themes are in turn divided into subtitles and all the themes are related to violence in same-sex couples. It became clear during the study, that the reception HBTQ-people get from different social services as well as people in their close proximity is going to influence their prerequisites when it comes to recognizing and defining domestic violence in the relationship. This circumstance is also affected by the heteronormative society and it’s patriarchal structure. This is usually displayed in ignorant meetings with medical personnel, family members but also strangers. The perspective on how the discourse regarding HBTQ-people, gender and sexuality is affecting same-sex couples is also a reoccurring topic in the study. Too insure to what extent this affect has and how negative stereotypes and norms can be extinguished, for the purpose of widening the knowledge about domestic violence in same-sex couples, there is a need for more research.

The purpose of this study is to lift and highlight the problem battered gay men face when they seek help for domestic violence in partner relationship. One thing that can make it more difficult to seek help can be because the accepted sexual norm in society is the heterosexual orientation. The study has a qualitative approach, which contain four semi structured interviews with professionals who works in the domestic violence field. The material from the interviews have been analyzed and seven themes appeared during the process, Exclusion, authority/organization, professionals, heterosexual norm and other stereotypes, cooperating, marketing and availability. Research shows that homosexual men does not have the same availability for seeking help due to society’s heterosexual norm. Gay men are afraid not to be taken seriously in the meeting with professionals due to the masculinity and heterosexual stereotypes. Not all domestic violence shelters and crisis center welcomes victims with a homosexual orientation. Organizations who welcomes all different sexual orientations aren’t good at marketing themselves which makes it hard for LGBT people to know where they can seek help without the fear of not be taken seriously. My data shows a need of raising the subject about homosexual men’s vulnerability when seeking help for domestic violence and include every sexual orientation in organizations marketing ads. The conclusion of the report is the need of raising competence among professionals due to different sexual orientations and the following vulnerabilities. Also, be norm critical in the professional role about sexuality and masculinity. So, everyone no matter what sexual orientation easily accessible help when victims have been exposed for domestic violence.

The aim of this paper is to examine how Swedish newspaper articles portrayed domestic violence during the corona pandemic and to identify the risks of increased domestic violence depicted in the media. The study is based on the qualitative content analysis of 32 newspaper articles published between March 11th and April 15th 2020. Social constructivism theory, intersectional theory and framing theory were used in order to gain a deeper understanding of the results. The victims were in most articles described as women or women and children. The perpetrator of violence was referred to in half of the articles as male and in half just as the perpetrator. The articles were mainly described from a women's aid framework. Three central themes explaining the risks of increased violence were identified; isolation, a strained position for social resources and financial stress and anxiety.

Domestic violence does not disappear with age. In Sweden, domestic violence is as common in relationships between elderly as it is younger people, however, statistically elderly are underrepresented. Cases of domestic violence in elderly couples are more rarely reported and one reason is that elderly themselves do not report being victims of abuse. Another is a lack of legislation such as mandated reporting for professionals working with elderly. Sweden has an aging population and the fact that the amount of elderly is increasing may lead to new challenges for professions specialized in elderly care and for society at large. Two professions that work with the care and health of the elderly is care managers and homecare staff and have been chosen to study, and how these two identify domestic abuse involving elderly. The purpose of this research has been to study what efforts are made by the care managers and homecare staff at the management of health and care in Sweden, to help the elderly who are victims of domestic violence. Earlier research shows a lack of knowledge by professionals and staff on how to address the elderly's needs. One reason for this is because of ageism where it is presumed that the elderly are not in need of help or involved in, or victims of, domestic violence. Studies show how the elderly might feel ashamed talking about their experience of violence as the subject is more considered taboo for persons of their generation. Research also shows how Sweden lacks laws to deal with violence at the elderly’s homes.A qualitative research method was used when writing this study and three care managers and three home care staff have been interviewed. The results of our study conclude a strong need for better knowledge of how to identify signs of domestic violence within elderly couples, especially regarding staff working as homecare staff. The results also show that no specific measures are made to meet the elderly's needs and this study concludes that more measures need to be enforced, focusing on elderly victims of physical violence.