Violence In Australia Research Articles

Women’s Refuges and Critical Social Work: Opportunities and Challenges in Advancing Social Justice

AbstractWomen’s refuges play a crucial role in responding to the needs of women and children experiencing family violence; yet there has been limited research conducted into their operations, practices and challenges faced. This article is informed by critical social work’s theoretical tradition of seeking to end social injustice and analyses key opportunities and challenges of providing refuge amidst a neo-liberal context. We draw on interviews and focus groups with service providers and women who had sought access to a refuge, from a study that was undertaken following the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence in Australia. We found widespread practices by refuges to support social justice for women and children experiencing family violence, as well as challenges and constraints, substantially linked to resource limitations consistent with neo-liberal policies. This research shines a light on innovative refuge practice in local contexts identifying feminist social justice and intersectional practices aligned with critical social work.

Experiences of Domestic Violence among Newly Arrived Afghan Women in Australia, a Qualitative Study

AbstractThe voice of Afghan women has been little heard, particularly in Australia and other western societies, despite the considerable number living in those societies. The main aim of this study was to understand Afghan women’s experiences of domestic violence and their perceptions about the extent of domestic violence among the Afghan community in Australia. The study involved semi-structured interviews with twenty-one Afghan women who had been living in Australia between six months and ten years. The interviews were conducted in either Farsi (Persian) or English according to participant’s preferences. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. An inductive analysis of the data was used to explore details and build main themes. Some women spoke about their experiences of domestic violence, mainly psychological and emotional violence. Although women insisted that domestic violence was prevalent and widespread in both contexts, many remarked that Afghan women were less vulnerable to physical violence in Australia than in Afghanistan. This article concludes with a number of implications for social work practice based on the study findings.

Mapping Colonial Massacres and Frontier Violence in Australia: “the names of places”

European hunger for resources, particularly land, led to the denial of Indigenous sovereignty and culture with the expansion of European colonialism. This was the most important ecological, economic, and political upheaval to affect the modern world. Records created during this violent rush of land-hunting and flag-planting can help us to understand how Western empires carved up “new” worlds into tributary states and discrete spheres. In Australia, persistent Indigenous resistance to European rule led to the establishment of the Native Police – an armed, mobile paramilitary force – consisting of Aboriginal troopers led by European officers. The sole purpose of the Native Police was to crush this resistance. Drawing upon historical documents and maps from the European invasion and annexation of territory, this article discusses the “names of places” project, which involves the mapping of colonial massacres and frontier violence in Queensland, Australia, including the mapping of the actions of the Native Police in the northeastern part of the Australian continent. In particular, we interrogate surviving records, currently held at the Queensland State Archives, which illustrate the actions, the composition, and the movements of this colonial formation. Mapping colonial violence forces readers to acknowledge that empires and modern nations are often built on the bones of the dispossessed.

Mothering – a mode of protecting rather than parenting in the aftermath of post separation family violence in Australia

AbstractThe focus of this qualitative study was on separated mother’s (N = 36) lived experiences of mothering in the context of post separation family violence and the Australian family law system. Thematic analysis of interviews was guided by a theoretical framework, this being the Three Planets Model. Analysis of the data resulted in two themes relating to mothering being identified. Firstly, that women demonstrated a mode of protecting rather than parenting indicating that mothering was often undertaken in isolation and fear, within an adversarial family law system, and in the presence of a perpetrator of family violence. The second theme related to the aftermath of separation and the long dark shadow cast by family violence. After having left a controlling and violent relationship, separated mothers reported that there was no opportunity to recover, nor to healthily extricate themselves from family violence, which resulted in cumulative harm not only for their wellbeing but also for their children.

#MeToo under Colonialism: Conceptualising Responsibility for Sexual Violence in Australia

One of the most provocative and productive applications of Michael Rothberg’s concept of ‘the implicated subject’ is the way it provides a framework to think through #MeToo intersectionally. The ‘implicated subject’ provides a way to think responsibility for sexual violence laterally—beyond the limited figures of victim, perpetrator and bystander; and also temporally—connecting the contemporary sexual harms with the legacies of colonialism and slavery. The concept of the ‘implicated subject’ opens up a field of nuanced responsibility: ‘it both draws attention to responsibilities for violence and injustice greater than most of us want to embrace and shifts questions of accountability from a discourse of guilt to a less legally and emotionally charged terrain of historical and political responsibility’. This is a very rich concept to use as we develop schemas of responsibility in relation to #MeToo, especially for those who may be interpellated by #MeToo as survivors of sexual violence, but who may be implicated by other structural and historical processes—including colonialism, historical slavery, and other processes of structural racism.

Family Violence and Colonisation

Any comprehensive history of domestic and family violence in Australia must include Aboriginal family violence. This is a sensitive and difficult intellectual task. While there are scarcely any histories of Aboriginal family violence in Australia, there are four decades of public reports and academic and activist publications addressing it in the present, usually offering explanations and recommendations for action. In this article I examine this research and public commentary. I concentrate especially on the competing explanations for the high levels of family violence in Aboriginal communities, one focused on the effects of colonisation and the other on certain Aboriginal cultural continuities. I argue that if we move beyond the opposition between the effects of ‘history’ and ‘culture’ that has tended to structure these debates, we are in a better position to produce meaningful histories of domestic and family violence in Australia that are fully attentive to its variety and complexity.

Illicit Military Behavior as Exceptional and Inevitable: Media Coverage of Military Sexual Violence and the “Bad Apples” Paradox

AbstractHow can we understand consistent public support and trust of the military even in climates of high rates of public awareness about military sexual violence? This article examines how the phenomenon of military sexual violence is mediated to the public through a media content and discourse analysis of newspaper reportage about military sexual violence in Australia. The analysis covers an almost thirty-year period (1989–2016) during which several “sex scandals,” some of international import, broke out. We analyze several frames used to depict the issue and conclude that military sex scandals, like other illicit military behaviors, tend to be publicly framed either as (1) a rarity that is atypical of the institution (“bad apples”) or (2) inevitable and so typical of the institution as to be unremarkable. The article then seeks to demonstrate that these seemingly disparate frames are not contradictory, but rather unify into a singular narrative. The narrative cohering these disparate frames is that military sexual violence is a phenomenon that cannot be prevented or addressed and is therefore unproblematic for the institution.

From the Transnational to the Intimate: Multidirectional Memory, the Holocaust and Colonial Violence in Australia and Beyond

In Australia, public remembrance, particularly relating to national identity and colonial violence, has been contentious. In this article, we take Australia’s recent bid to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as an opportunity to identify national, local and multidirectional dynamics shaping public remembrance of the Holocaust and colonial violence in Australia. Joining IHRA signifies a belated national commitment to Holocaust remembrance, which has traditionally been fostered in Australia by survivor communities. Significantly, the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM) has recently ventured beyond survivor memory, positioning Holocaust remembrance as a platform to identify ongoing human rights violations against Indigenous Australians and other marginalized groups. While this multidirectional framework promotes an inclusive practice of remembrance, we argue that it may inadvertently flatten complex histories into instances of “human rights violations” and decentre the foundational issue of settler colonial violence in Australia. To explore the personal and affective work of remembering settler violence from an Indigenous perspective, we turn to two multiscalar artworks by Judy Watson that exemplify a mnemonic politics of location. the names of places contributes to a local and national public remembrance of settler violence by identifying and mapping colonial massacre sites. In experimental beds, Watson links her matrilineal family history of racial exclusion with that of Thomas Jefferson’s slave, Sally Hemings. This transnational decolonial feminist work takes the gendered and racialized body and intimate sexual appropriation as a ground for a multidirectional colonial memory, thereby providing an alternative to the dominant Holocaust paradigm and its idiom of human rights.

The Role of Illicit Drug Use in Family and Domestic Violence in Australia.

Drug use has been shown to interact in complex ways with the occurrence and prevalence of family and domestic violence (FDV), with illicit drug use being associated with an increased risk for FDV. The current study aims to extend upon the literature by investigating the role of illicit drugs in intimate partner violence (IPV), family violence (FV), and other violence (violence between people other than partners or family) within a representative Australian sample (n = 5,118). Participants were recruited through an online survey panel and completed an online self-report survey assessing the role of alcohol and other drugs on violence, with a specific focus on FDV. Binary logistic regression showed that respondents who reported having used any illicit drug in the past 12 months (with or without alcohol use) had over three times the odds of experiencing any violence in the past 12 months (OR = 3.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [2.25, 4.48]) compared with those not using illicit drugs. Furthermore, drug involvement in FDV (IPV or FV) was significantly more likely than other violent incident types (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = [1.25, 2.19]). For the most recent FDV incident, age group was the only significant demographic predictor of drug involvement at this incident; younger age groups were over twice as likely to report drug involvement than those over 65 years of age. Drug involvement at the most recent FDV incident was also associated with over twice the odds of injury (OR = 2.38, 95% CI = [1.67, 3.38]) and significantly greater negative life impact. The findings that drug use increases both the risk for and impact of FDV indicate the need for policy that advocates for interventions addressing both drug use and violence in combination.

The Settler and the Land: Using Patrick Wolfe’s logic of elimination to understand frontier violence in Australia’s colonial era

Whilst it is the heinous acts of physical violence that are often foregrounded when imagining frontier violence, it is the structural forces of colonialism that have had a continued effect on Aboriginal culture and identity. This essay will discuss the legitimacy of Patrick Wolfe’s logic of elimination in the face of frontier violence, examining the more insidious ways in which colonialism manifests itself in modern Australia.Keywordssettler colonialism; frontier violence; Indigenous dispossession

Introducing ‘Intimate Civility’: Towards a New Concept for 21st-Century Relationships

Introducing ‘Intimate Civility’: Towards a New Concept for 21st-Century Relationships

The MuSeS project: a mixed methods study to increase understanding of the role of settlement and multicultural services in supporting migrant and refugee women experiencing violence in Australia

BackgroundViolence against women is a major human rights and public health issue globally. The experience of violence affects women across Australia, including the large number of migrant and refugee women who permanently or temporarily resettle in the country. Many women who experience violence find it difficult to access support, and evidence suggests women who have resettled in Australia face additional barriers to violence-specific services. Previous research, however, indicates many migrant and refugee women experiencing violence have contact with, and may disclose violence to, settlement and multicultural services. There has been limited research documenting current knowledge of, and practices by, settlement and multicultural services in relation to violence. The MuSeS project will address this knowledge gap and identify strategies settlement and multicultural services can use to better support women experiencing violence.MethodsThis mixed methods research project will be conducted in six geographic communities across three Australian states: South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. The different migration and resettlement patterns seen in these jurisdictions will enable generation of data relevant to settings across the country. The project has been designed in consultation with partner organisations from the settlement and multicultural service sector to ensure the research addresses their concerns and priorities. A mix of quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to generate rich data to inform strategies for settlement and multicultural services to better support women experiencing violence. These methods include an anonymous online survey of settlement and multicultural service providers to assess current knowledge, practices and professional development needs; in-depth interviews with settlement, multicultural and specialist (refugee) mental health service providers; in-depth interviews with refugee women; and focus group discussions with frontline workers and volunteers working with settlement and multicultural services.DiscussionFindings from this two-year research project will generate an in-depth understanding of the current and potential role of Australian settlement and multicultural services in supporting migrant and refugee women experiencing violence, and inform strategies to strengthen services’ capacity to appropriately respond. Given the prevalence of violence against women globally, findings will be useful for services engaging with migrant and refugee populations around the world.

Australian Adolescents' Experiences of Aggression and Abuse by Intimate Partners.

International research has shown that intimate partner abuse affects many young people throughout adolescence. Despite a recent focus on family and intimate partner violence in Australia, there is almost no Australian data on the frequency or nature of youth intimate partner abuse (YIPA). The current study sought to better understand the frequency and nature of YIPA in Australian adolescents. To this end, 423 participants aged between 14 and 18 from Victorian (Australian) high schools completed an anonymous questionnaire regarding experiences of perpetration and victimization in their most difficult intimate relationship. Results showed high rates of both YIPA victimization and perpetration among boys and girls who had been in intimate relationships. As was expected, verbally and psychologically aggressive behaviors were reported more frequently than physically or sexually aggressive actions. Mutual YIPA was detected more frequently than unidirectional YIPA, and most commonly involved high severity reciprocal aggression. The current study further confirmed that YIPA is a complex and heterogeneous issue, involving a range of behaviors, patterns of use, and severities. A gender-sensitive approach to the current study allowed for consideration of the similarities and differences between male and female experiences of YIPA. The current study provides a novel method of ascertaining both the frequency and severity of YIPA experiences in a sample of young people, expands on both Australian and international literature, and identifies important gender considerations for future research.

Are Immigrant Women Visible in Australian Domestic Violence Reports that Potentially Influence Policy?

Through an intersectional lens, this article explores whether immigrant women are represented in a sample of Australian government documents aimed at providing information about family violence in Australia, and discusses implications for policy development. The authors find that while these documents pay lip service to the special vulnerabilities of immigrant and refugee women; arguably, they do not engage with the complexities of the intersection of gender and other social categories. Given that the reports do not focus adequately on how race, ethnicity, culture and immigration status play a role in these women’s experiences of domestic violence, this may limit the effect of policies that address the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) victims’ needs and rights to protection. We argue that a more intersectional approach is necessary to address CALD women’s specific needs.

Australian Media Messages: Critical Discourse Analysis of Two Intimate Homicides Involving Domestic Violence.

This study uses critical discourse analysis to examine news reporting of two cases of intimate partner violence in Australia. The fine-grained analysis of newswriting and news-editing practices focuses particularly on the lexical features and referential strategies used to represent the perpetrator and the victim, the crime, and the location of the crime. Findings show that reporting often omits social context, sensationalizes, and acts to shift blame in ways that do not increase public understanding of the nature of domestic violence. These results build on international findings and add to the evidence base about media reporting of violence against women.

Victim stories and victim policy: Is there a case for a narrative victimology?

Since the 1980s, victims’ voices have been increasingly heard and have been influential in policy debates. Since that time, the nature and presence of those voices has changed shape and form from the influence and presence of victim centred organizations to the rise of the high profile individual victim. The purpose of this article is to explore the presence of one victim’s story, Rosie Batty, and to examine her influence on the rise of the policy agenda on family violence in Australia. This article considers the ways in which this story gained traction and influenced the reform of family violence policy in Australia, and considers the extent to which an understanding of this process contributes to an (emergent) narrative victimology.

The Role of Corporal Punishment of Children in the Perpetuation of Intimate Partner Violence in Australia

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been widely acknowledged as a prominent problem throughout Australia. A growing body of research has linked corporal punishment of children in the home with numerous adverse outcomes both in childhood and adulthood. Some of these adverse outcomes in childhood, such as aggression and antisocial behaviour, may be antecedents for involvement in violence as an adult. Adverse longitudinal outcomes of corporal punishment in childhood include involvement in intimate partner violence as an adult, both as victim and as perpetrator. Corporal punishment is a type of family violence that is legal in Australia, yet its role in the family violence scenario is not yet fully appreciated. This article presents extant scientific literature on the link between corporal punishment in childhood and involvement in intimate partner violence in adulthood, and argues for the employment of this knowledge in the implementation of policy making around corporal punishment of children.

Making Family Violence Public in the Royal Commission on Human Relationships, 1974–1977

ABSTRACTDomestic violence emerged as a significant issue for the Women's Liberation movement in the early 1970s. In the history of the response to domestic violence in Australia, the Royal Commission on Human Relationships has been accorded only a minor role, yet it was one of the first sustained government inquiries into the prevalence, causes and impacts of domestic violence. This article argues that the Royal Commission on Human Relationships articulated and substantiated emerging feminist understandings of domestic violence, and that it played a critical role in embedding feminist vocabularies and interpretations of such violence in public discourse. It examines the ways that the Royal Commission collected and deployed both personal experience and feminist expertise to amplify and authenticate a feminist analysis of domestic violence. The Royal Commission foregrounded survivors of domestic violence but it also acknowledged refuge workers as those with feminist expertise on domestic violence. Many of the Royal Commission's recommendations would eventually underpin Australian policy responses to domestic violence. The Royal Commission on Human Relationships both anticipated and contributed to the broader shift in the state's response to domestic violence in the final decades of the twentieth century.

Alexithymia among Perpetrators of Violent Offences in Australia: Implications for Rehabilitation

ObjectiveAlexithymia, which involves difficulties identifying, communicating, and thinking about emotions, could be an important factor in violent offending. Our aim with the current study was to explore the levels of alexithymia among perpetrators of different types of violence (i.e., general and intimate partner) in Australia to better understand their treatment needs.MethodSeventy‐nine male general violent offenders incarcerated in Western Australian prisons, 31 male intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrators from IPV intervention programs, and 80 men from the general community completed the 20‐item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS‐20).ResultsGeneral violent offenders and IPV perpetrators both scored significantly higher than men from the general community on total alexithymia score and the subscales that measure difficulty identifying and describing feelings; the violent groups did not differ from the general community on externally oriented thinking style. There was no significant difference between the general violent offenders and IPV perpetrators on the total alexithymia score or any of the three subscales of the TAS‐20.ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that perpetrators of violence in Australia have higher levels of alexithymia than non‐offending men, and that alexithymia should be assessed in the treatment of violent offenders. Our findings also suggest both types of violent offenders have similar alexithymia profiles and that both have difficulties identifying and describing their emotions.

Masculinity and Homophobic Violence in Australia’s Recent Past

This paper examines a set of research evidence compiled in the last two decades by the author and several of his Australian colleagues to argue that violence directed at gay men, lesbians and transsexuals as ‘sexual minorities’ has not been wholly distinct from other general forms of male perpetrated violence with a broad range of victims including heterosexual women and other men attacked in general male-on-male violence. It observes that harassment and violence directed against sexual groups have been highly gendered and everyday phenomena and narrow views of homophobic prejudice should be refined in order to appreciate this. Furthermore, reflecting on these research findings indicates these violent acts have been widespread and collective social phenomena built on masculine understandings of a sexual mainstream and subordinate others. By focusing upon the masculine facets of this violence it can be seen that much of this violence has been a hostile response to sexual and gender non-conformity through which male perpetrators have sought to enact, police and reinforce sexual hierarchies and gender boundaries. There is contemporary research uncertainty about the real extent of sexual prejudice and related violence in Australia and similar liberal democratic nations around the globe. Nevertheless, it is evident that this social phenomenon had a key historical role in signaling socially acceptable masculine appearance and behavior.