‘I couldn’t even dress the way I wanted..’ Young women talk of ‘ownership’ by boyfriends: An opportunity for the prevention of domestic violence?

Abstract

In this paper, we document and theorise ‘ownership’ practices in young people’s intimate relationships and discuss the parallels with domestic violence. Ten young New Zealand women engaged in focus group discussions about their heterosexual partner’s ‘ownership’ practices or jealous, possessive and controlling behaviours. Using discourse analysis informed by feminist poststructuralism and critical realism, we identified three proprietary ‘ownership’ practices experienced by these young women: ‘ownership’ entitlement, surveillance and identity ‘ownership’. We discuss the parallels between these practices and those experienced by women subjected to men’s domestic violence, the possibility that such practices may be precursors to the development of domestic violence and the implications for prevention.