Ruth Lewis

Separate and Intersecting Realities: A Comparison of Men's and Women's Accounts of Violence Against Women

The authors seek to contribute to a fuller understanding of mens violence against women in intimate relationships by comparing mens and womens accounts of the violence, injuries, and controlling behavior used by men against women partners. Although men and women inhabit a shared physical and social space within the home, their lived experiences and perceptions of such relationships often differ. Despite this, many studies do not consider what effect such gender differences might have on accounts of violence against women and, instead, assume that mens and womens accounts are basically unproblematic. The authors ask whether this is so. Based on findings from an in-depth interview study of 122 men who had perpetrated violence against a woman partner and 144 women who had been the victims of such violence, the results show that women and men provide significantly different accounts of mens violence, controlling behavior, and injuries. These results make problematic the assumption that mens accounts of their own violent behavior can be used uncritically and without reference to womens accounts of mens violence.

Not an Ordinary Killer— Just an Ordinary Guy When Men Murder an Intimate Woman Partner

The Murder in Britain Study was designed to examine in detail different types of murder. Using a subset of case files from this study, men who murder other men (MM;n = 424) are compared with men who murder an intimate partner (IP;n = 106) to reflect on the relative conventionality of each group. In terms of many of the characteristics of childhood and adulthood, the IP murder group differs from theMMgroup and appears to be more “ordinary” or “conventional.” However, the IP group is less conventional in that they are more likely to have intimate relationships that had broken down, to have used violence against a previous woman partner as well as against the victim they killed, and to “ specialize” in violence against women.

A Research Evaluation of British Programmes for Violent Men

In the last two decades there have been a number of social, medical and legal initiatives in the UK and elsewhere to provide assistance to women who suffer violence from their partner. The most recent innovations focus on responding to the men who perpetrate this violence. In this article we present the initial results of the first British study of programmes for violent men. The three-year study used a longitudinal method to compare the effects of two court mandated programmes with other, more orthodox, forms of criminal justice intervention (fines, admonishment, traditional probation, prison). Here we describe the mens programmes, locate the current study in the context of existing evaluations of similar programmes operating in North America, outline the methods employed, present the results of the post-hoc matching used to assess the probable effects of selection bias and using subsequent prosecutions and the accounts of women, compare the impact of different criminal justice interventions. The results indicate that twelve months after the criminal justice intervention a significant proportion of the Programme men had not subsequently been violent to their partner. This was in contrast to men sanctioned in other ways (the Other CJ group) who were much less likely to have changed their violent behaviour.

Protection, Prevention, Rehabilitation or Justice? Women's Use of the Law to Challenge Domestic Violence*:

This article addresses the neglected question of what women who experience ‘domestic violence’ want from the law and examines the ways in which women actively engage with the legal system. Viewing women as agents trying to survive abuse, we examine their interaction with both civil and criminal legal systems as part of their ‘active negotiation and strategic resistance’ to mens violence. This represents a break from the tradition which has tended to view women survivors as passive recipients of the law and has focused on outcomes of legal intervention to the exclusion of process. Using data from a British evaluation of criminal justice responses to domestic violence, we analyse legal processes which support or fail to support women and argue that legal interventions can contribute to womens improved safety and quality of life.

‘If this wasn’t here I probably wouldn’t be’: disabled workers’ views of employment support

UK governments since 1997 have introduced significant changes to move disabled people off benefits and into employment. Commentators have criticised the adoption of the ‘medical model’ of disability implicit in many of these policies, with its focus on individual rather than institutional change. This paper reports empirical data about participants’ experiences of one national supported employment programme. Participants of WORKSTEP were overwhelmingly positive about their experiences both of work and the support to find work. The rare reports of negative experiences reflect the focus on intervening at the level of individual workers, rather than the workplace or organisation of work. Analysis of their views is valuable in the light of ongoing welfare reform as well as recessionary pressures on labour markets and employment services, which, in emphasising individual solutions to employment problems, may overlook the need for more broad-based, social interventions.

Weaving a Tapestry, Compassionately: Toward an Understanding of Young Women's Feminisms

The article challenges representations of so-called third-wave feminist politics that have over-simplified the complex, multifaceted nature of young women’s feminism, and that, by relying upon written accounts, have overlooked the empirical realities of “everyday” feminisms. While much scholarly attention has been paid to the “new femininities”—that is, how young women negotiate the contemporary gender order—as well as to the published work of relatively high-profile third-wave feminists, there are surprisingly few empirical examinations of young feminists’ politics, views, and activism despite an exciting and heartening resurgence of feminist activity in the United States and United Kingdom—the two countries in which this study is located. To better incorporate analysis of such activity into feminist theorizing, the article argues for a threefold approach to understanding young women’s contemporary feminisms: theoretically informed empirical examinations of young women’s politics; a more compassionate approach that understands the political, social, and cultural contexts in which feminist politics and sensibilities are (re)produced and enacted; and a consideration of feminism as a tapestry, with its history reflexively woven into its present.

‘I get together with my friends and try to change it’. Young feminist students resist ‘laddism’, ‘rape culture’ and ‘everyday sexism’

Abstract Contemporary alarm about ‘laddism’ reveals what feminist research and activism has long-recognised; universities, like other social institutions, can be dangerous places for women. Research in the US and, more recently, the UK reveals alarming rates of violence, against women, the cultural and institutional norms which support violence and gaps in institutional responses. In the midst of this contemporary alarm about the university as a hotbed of laddism, there is a risk that the university – a site of potential empowerment and liberation for women (and men) – becomes re-positioned as a danger zone. The limited focus on danger and safety belies the potential of universities to enhance human freedoms through intellectual endeavour. We argue this progressive potential should remain centre-stage, as should university-based resistance to everyday sexism and laddism. This paper analyses accounts of young women feminists (n = 33) in UK and US universities. It explores their use of feminism and features of the university environment to resist and challenge oppressive cultures and practices. It argues that, despite encroaching neoliberalism and enduring sexism, universities continue to provide environments for engagements with feminism, enabling young women students to use feminism to resist and challenge sexism and to envision their feminist futures.

‘Safe Spaces’: Experiences of Feminist Women-Only Space

The gendered nature of safety has been explored empirically and theoretically as awareness has grown of the pervasive challenges to womens safety. Notions of ‘safe space’ are frequently invoked in wider feminist environments (particularly, recently, in relation to debates about trans peoples access to womens spaces), but are relatively neglected in academia. Indeed, despite a body of scholarship which looks at questions of gender, safety and space, relatively little attention has been paid to exploring the meaning of ‘safety’ for women and, particularly, the meaning and experience of spaces they consider to be ‘safe.’ Drawing on focus group data with 30 women who attended a two-day, women-only feminist gathering in the UK, this paper analyses experiences of what they describe as ‘safe space’ to explore the significance and meaning of ‘safety’ in their lives. Using their accounts, we distinguish between safe from and safe to, demonstrating that once women are safe from harassment, abuse and misogyny, they feel safe to be cognitively, intellectually and emotionally expressive. We argue that this sense of being ‘safe to’ denotes fundamental aspects of civic engagement, personhood and freedom.

Mutuality without alliance: the roles of community in becoming a college student feminist

ABSTRACT Feminism has made a resurgence in the last several years, especially on college campuses [Davies. 2011. “Feminism is back, and we want to finish the revolution, say activists.” The Guardian, August 5. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/05/feminism-resurgent-activists]. Actions to address sexual violence and other forms of ‘lad culture’ are growing in visibility, as young feminists come together to challenge patriarchal norms on campuses. Little is known about how feminist community functions to solidify individuals’ commitment to liberatory action. The meaning-making process of college-age feminists in the US/UK is relevant to the ongoing question of how social change movements function and flourish. This study chronicled 33 college feminists in the US and UK, describing how feminist communities on campus served to foster stronger commitment to feminism and greater confidence in advocating for feminist values and viewpoints. Community forged through consciousness of one’s differential power and privilege and productive engagement with identity difference was notably absent in these narratives, signaling incomplete encounters with cross-coalitional alliance [Rowe. 2008. Power Lines. On the Subject of Feminist Alliances. Durham: Duke University Press].

Whose sexuality is it anyway? Women’s experiences of viewing lesbians on screen

Abstract While critical analyses of media representations of lesbians continue to grow, less attention is paid to audience responses to those representations. This paper explores women’s experiences of viewing lesbians on screen, analysing qualitative data from focus groups with audiences of a women-only film season screened in a UK cinema: “Lesbians on Screen: How Far Have We Come?” We consider how the internalisation of the “male gaze” complicates some women’s viewing of lesbian characters and how women attempt to challenge and resist that gaze through their viewing practices and strategies. We discuss audience creativity in re-signifying representations of women, as well as other strategies including choosing to view privately or in women-only spaces. These acts of resistance disrupt the dominance of the male gaze, patriarchal cinema spaces, and reception of images on screen. By examining women’s reflections on the experience of being in a women-only audience, a unique cinema space that “felt free” of conventional constraints of heteronormativity and patriarchy, this paper also examines how the gendered cinema space affects audience experiences.