Bypassing the relationship between fatherhood and violence in Finnish policy and research

Hautanen, Teija

doi:10.2307/j.ctt9qgq9j.10

Cited by 23 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Through the promotion of shared custody, the governance of the state appears to aim at keeping the separated family together, at a very high price in cases involving violence (cf. Eriksson, 2005;Hautanen, 2005;Heide Ottossen, 2006).…”

Section: Kinship and Parental Rights As The Right To Ownershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

National self-image as an obstacle to ensuring children’s rights in the context of domestic violence and family law – the case of Sweden

Bruno

2018

Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

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The aim of this paper is to highlight and discuss contradictions and challenges in the current policy and practice regarding fathers' violence towards mothers and children in the Swedish welfare state. In particular, professional discourses and understandings of domestic violence in disputes about contact, custody, residence and maintenance, following parental separation, are analysed. My research suggests that abusers find ways to manipulate professionals and get them unwittingly to enable their continued control of victimised mothers and children. One conclusion is that oppression is maintained through processes of familialisation and selective repression. These discursive practices reproduce intersectional inequalities and, in doing so, in many cases result in the administration rather than prevention of further violence.

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Section: Kinship and Parental Rights As The Right To Ownershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

National self-image as an obstacle to ensuring children’s rights in the context of domestic violence and family law – the case of Sweden

Bruno

2018

Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

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“…This echoes the strong cultural discourses of good parenting, where protecting and encouraging fathers in fatherhood has been central to family policies (Hiitola 2015;Vuori 2001). However, violence and fatherhood do seem to fit within the same discussions (Hautanen 2005). This creates a discrepancy where violent fathers can at the same time be talked about as being essential to the child's wellbeing.…”

Section: Casementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing violence in the family – social work, courts, and discourses

Hiitola

Hautanen

2016

Nordic Social Work Research

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This article investigates social work, decision making, and gendered violence in the family in Finland. Discourses on gendered violence in the family are compared in custody disputes, handled in district courts, and out-of-home placements, dealt with in administrative courts. Both data sets altogether include 237 cases. Proceedings in both courts share a legislative emphasis on the "child's best interest" principle, and both contexts also rely on documentation provided by social workers. The examination of the two studies is based on discourse analysis, through which we have identified hegemonic discourses that are active in both courts. The study found that violence was often disregarded or described only vaguely in the court documents. The results suggest that the victim's perspective is often overlooked in court decisions, and that the abuser is rarely blamed for the abuse. The discourses enable violence to be overlooked or underplayed when deciding on children's living arrangements, since these discourses centre on either the parents' conflicts (in both courts) or the failure of the mother to protect the child (in out-of-home placements). Furthermore, it is also important to acknowledge the experiences of the victimized parents, who in these studies were most often the mothers.

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“…With reference to men's violence, women are very much expected to take all the responsibility, to act firmly, and to report the violence and are then expected to be strong and caring as mothers of their children. Men, however, are usually just made responsible for their violent deeds and become cut off from demanding expectations connected to fatherhood (Hautanen 2005). Fatherhood instead is mostly a positive rhetorical expression of wishful thinking (mentioned in this study as a way for men to become empathic), and accordingly it is almost impossible to talk about violence and fatherhood simultaneously (Hautanen 2005).…”

Section: Limited Professional Discoursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Men, however, are usually just made responsible for their violent deeds and become cut off from demanding expectations connected to fatherhood (Hautanen 2005). Fatherhood instead is mostly a positive rhetorical expression of wishful thinking (mentioned in this study as a way for men to become empathic), and accordingly it is almost impossible to talk about violence and fatherhood simultaneously (Hautanen 2005). As long as there is a division between the constructed concepts of "father" and "violent men" it will be difficult to confront violent men as fathers and thus bring about a change that will benefit women and children (Eriksson 2005).…”

Section: Limited Professional Discoursesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Pregnancy Put the Screws On

Edin

Högberg

Dahlgren

et al. 2007

Men and Masculinities

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Qualitative research interviews were conducted with professionals working with men inclined to violence. The aim was to explore professional discourses about intimate partner violence with special reference to gender and to the partner's period of pregnancy. Three major findings are presented. Firstly, the professionals had a rather fixed understanding of opposite gender positions as well as a split picture of the violent man as both weak and tough, thus violence may result from poor self-confidence combined with a desire for power and control and the fear of losing it. Secondly, the pregnancy was identified as a stressor that, together with other circumstances, could trigger violence. Thirdly, the topic of pregnancy and other relational topics were typically omitted from the conversations with men inclined to violence. This study discusses inconsistencies that might counteract the professionals' intentions of building an alternative masculinity in men inclined to violence.

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Bypassing the relationship between fatherhood and violence in Finnish policy and research

Cited by 23 publications

References 0 publications

National self-image as an obstacle to ensuring children’s rights in the context of domestic violence and family law – the case of Sweden

National self-image as an obstacle to ensuring children’s rights in the context of domestic violence and family law – the case of Sweden

Assessing violence in the family – social work, courts, and discourses

The Pregnancy Put the Screws On

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