Catherine Donovan

Who Needs a Father? Negotiating Biological Fatherhood in British Lesbian Families Using Self-Insemination:

In the last decades of the twentieth century in Britain there has emerged a public understanding that traditional fatherhood is in crisis. Against this backdrop, many British lesbian parents perceive the role of the father as important in the construction of their family lives. This article discusses these issues in relation to lesbian self-insemination families. In such families children can be parented by any permutation of adults who have either biological or social links with their children. Such flexibility has meant that men are often included in the lives of their children. I argue that in constructing their SI families many lesbians challenge three of the assumptions associated with traditional fatherhood and family life: that biological fathers should be involved as parents in their childrens lives; that parenting is not separate from gendered assumptions about mothering and fathering; and that mothers and fathers should share a household with their children. In conclusion I discuss some of the implications for biological fathers of these emerging families.

Citizenship and Same Sex Relationships

In the UK in recent years, a dramatic growth in media concern with same sex relationships has led to the suggestion that the resulting visibility is indicative of the extent to which the intimate lives of non-heterosexuals are becoming more acceptable. In this article we question this using data drawn from the Families of Choice Project, a qualitative research project based on interviews with over a hundred non-heterosexual women and men, which highlight the ways in which they are prevented from participating as full citizens in civic, political, economic, and legal society. Using Plummer’s (1995) notion of intimate citizenship, we discuss first how respondents talk about the ways in which their intimate relationships are not recognised or validated legally, economically, politically or socially. We then analyse the respondents, ideas about what policy options could be considered to include their ‘families of choice’. Finally, we argue that the family model on which most legislation and policy is based is too narrow, exclusive and inflexible to include families of choice.

Domestic Violence and Sexuality: what's love got to do with it

This book provides the first detailed discussion of domestic violence and abuse in same sex relationships, offering a unique comparison between this and domestic violence and abuse experienced by heterosexual women and men. It examines how experiences of domestic violence and abuse may be shaped by gender, sexuality and age, including whether and how victims/survivors seek help, and asks, what’s love got to do with it? A pioneering methodology, using both quantitative and qualitative research, provides a reliable and valid approach that challenges the heteronormative model in domestic violence research, policy and practice. The authors develops a new framework of analysis – practices of love – to explore empirical data. Outlining the implications of the research for practice and service development, the book will be of interest to policy makers and practitioners in the field of domestic violence, especially those who provide services for sexual minorities, as well as students and academics interested in issues of domestic and interpersonal violence.

Researching Domestic Violence in Same-Sex Relationships—A Feminist Epistemological Approach to Survey Development

The article draws on recently completed research by the authors, involving a detailed study of love and intimate partner violence in same-sex and heterosexual relationships (funded by the ESRC, award RES-000-23-0650). The research, hitherto the most detailed study of its kind in the United Kingdom, included a national same-sex community survey (n = 800) plus four focus groups and interviews with 67 individuals identifying as lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual, transgender, or heterosexual. The article discusses in particular the development of the same-sex community survey, focusing on the epistemological and methodological implications of using a feminist approach.

‘I Hate the Word “Victim”’: An Exploration of Recognition of Domestic Violence in Same Sex Relationships

In this article, drawing on interviews with women and men in same sex relationships who have experienced domestic violence, we explore the ways in which recognition of domestic violence can be hampered by public stories about the phenomenon and practices of love. Public stories construct domestic violence as a gendered, heterosexual phenomenon that is predominantly physical in nature. Victims of domestic violence are also constructed as ‘other’, weak and passive. In addition, we argue that practices of love obfuscate practices of violence; and can also result in victim/survivors constructing themselves as stronger than the perpetrator who needs their care.

Feminist epistemology and the politics of method: surveying same sex domestic violence

The paper discusses the development and application of a survey questionnaire for researching domestic violence in same sex relationships. A feminist epistemological approach was used to construct an instrument geared to explore how processes of gendering and power might operate in similar or different ways in abusive lesbian, gay male or heterosexual relationships, while taking into account a range of domestically abusive behaviour, context and impact, experiences of abuse from partners and use of such behaviour against partners. The survey was part of a detailed multi‐method study of love and domestic violence by intimate partners in same sex and heterosexual relationships (funded by the ESRC, award RES‐000‐23‐0650), and also included focus groups and interviews. The paper outlines the development of the survey methodology, the high degree of reliability of the resulting instrument and shows the importance of the instrument and approach in providing a means for assessing ‘severity of impact’.

Researching Same Sex Domestic Violence: Constructing a Survey Methodology

The article discusses the issues and problems that need to be addressed in the development of a comprehensive survey approach to explore same sex domestic violence in relationships involving individuals identifying as lesbian, gay male, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBT&Q). It draws on the most detailed study to date in the UK comparing love and domestic violence in same-sex and heterosexual relationships. The survey methodology built on previous research, attempting in particular to overcome the limitations of earlier studies; and to produce data that could be compared with existing data on domestic violence in both heterosexual and LGBT&Q communities. The result was a questionnaire that reflected a wide range of abusive behaviours; examined impact of the violence alongside a quantification of particular acts; took into account experience of violence from a partner, as well as use of violence against that partner; and incorporated issues related to equality/inequality and dependency. The questionnaire was successfully distributed across the UK to provide a national ‘same sex community’ survey of problems in relationships and domestic violence.

Because she was my first girlfriend, I didn't know any different: Making the case for mainstreaming same-sex sex/relationship education

In this paper we present the case for those entering/considering same‐sex relationships to be included in sex and relationship education in schools. The Governments Guidance on Sex and Relationship Education provides a rationale for including same‐sex relationships when it says that schools should meet the needs of all their pupils ‘whatever their developing sexuality’. Research on sex education and domestic violence prevention for schools has highlighted issues of gender, power, the importance of understanding context in providing skills and knowledge for safer sex and non‐abusive relationships. However, both tend to assume the context is heterosexuality. Results from our Economic & Social Research Council‐funded study of domestic violence in same‐sex and heterosexual relationships indicates that those aged under 25 years of age and those in first same‐sex relationships are particularly vulnerable to experiencing domestic violence. Four themes arise from the qualitative data that provide a rationale for the provision of sex and relationship education to these young people: first same‐sex relationships as an affirmation of identity; and lack of knowledge about what to expect in same‐sex relationships; of embeddedness in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer friendship networks; and of resources to seek help.

GENETICS, FATHERS AND FAMILIES: EXPLORING THE IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGING THE LAW IN FAVOUR OF IDENTIFYING SPERM DONORS

In April 2005 amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 allowed adult children of gamete donors access to identifying information about their donor. Focusing on sperm donation as the most often used donated gamete in Britain, this article concentrates on the original decision in the legislation to secure donor anonymity in order to highlight the ways in which societal trends have shifted in favour of the importance of genetic fathers. This will involve discussing how anomalous this decision was in comparison to changes elsewhere in family law where genetic fathers-and genetic kin relationships-were being given increasing priority in regulating families living outside the heteronormative, married, nuclear family. The author discusses the impact of the new genetics in providing a rationale for the increasing emphasis placed on knowledge of genetic fatherhood for the ontological security of individuals, their well-being and identity. The article ends with a discussion of some of the implications for families living outside the heteronormative ideal of the increasing prioritization given to genetic fathers.

Distancing and limited resourcefulness: Third sector service provision under austerity localism in the north east of England

Drawing on the concept of ‘austerity localism’, (Featherstone et al., 2012) this paper explores the impact of recent spending cuts and a revitalisation of the localism agenda on the work of locally embedded third sector organisations who work with marginal communities in the north east of England. In three key areas there exists a problematic relationship between the progressive language of empowerment, as set out in contemporary localist discourse, and the experiences and perceptions of service providers and service users. These relate to involvement in decision-making processes about the allocation of squeezed funding; the ability and desirability of voluntary groups to become autonomous; and the restricted resourcefulness of third sector organisations in a context of austerity. What comes through our data in all these cases are forms of social and spatial distancing, between third sector organisations and local decision makers, between organisations and their service users and also across the sector itself. Such distancing is facilitated by contexts in which resources, trust and empathy are undermined. The paper concludes that understanding the challenges faced by marginalised communities, and the third sector agencies working with them, requires recognition of the existing capacities within places, the importance of situated power relationships as well as wider connections of dependence and responsibility.