NCJ Number
185227
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 6 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2000 Pages: 936-959
Date Published
September 2000
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This case study examines how programs for abusive men in Quebec, Canada, organized to advance their agenda for the acceptance of an unprecedented men’s network of generic services, based on men’s identity politics.
Abstract
The study rested on recognition that examining how men respond to the social problem of domestic assault may aid understanding how the activities of groups that make claims regarding the abuse of women define and affect woman abuse. The continuing historical trend has been to individualize woman abuse through the separate, uncoordinated development of resources for perpetrators of domestic assault. Most of the programs in Quebec appeared to use hybrids of cognitive-behavioral group therapy, including a psychiatric perspective about men’s low self-esteem and emotional dependence; a perspective that social-cultural and environmental factors contribute to constrained masculine roles; and a primary goal of rehabilitating participants. Several programs have also undertaken more innovative primary and secondary prevention projects on a macro level through the promotion of social change within their respective communities. The analysis concludes that prosocial men’s projects must work in tandem with battered women’s advocates and their resources and that principles related to the politics of masculinities should guide these efforts. Notes and 57 references (Author abstract modified)