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Item Power, partnership, and pussy : women's experiences of sex and consent in abusive relationships : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Whanganui-a-tara/Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand / Jasmine Gillespie-Gray.(Massey University, 2022) Gillespie-Gray, JasmineThis thesis draws on feminist post-structural theory, and the work of Nicola Gavey and Evan Stark, to bring to light the ways gendered sexpectations and coercive control work together within women’s stories to shape them towards catering for his (sexual) pleasure, rendering the women’s ability to say yes, no, or maybe to consensual sex, and meaningfully shape their sexual experiences, (virtually) non-existent. These gendered power relations produced women who were desperately, compliantly, and/or fearfully sexual within abusive heterosexual relationships. My thesis has sought to resist neoliberal postfeminist individualisation of women’s abuse in favour of the feminist mantra the personal is (STILL) political. From this feminist activist stance and in the spirit of conscientisation, I have creatively resisted institutional expectations of a doctoral thesis in favour of accessibility and the engagement of women (and our allies) outside the ivory tower of academia. If you are an academic reader this may be challenging to your hegemonic understanding of what a thesis “should” be like, especially in terms of content, style, language, and structure – ok basically everything! But I have taken this approach because I think it embodies the social justice aspirations of critical feminist psychology. In this sense, the presentation of this thesis is a form of academic activism, consistent with the theory and politics I have been immersed in over the last five years as I journeyed into the depths of our (sexual and relational) abuse. Finally, I have undertaken my own healing and conscientisation because of this research, which has led to a transformation of self and the reimagining of (my) relating and fucking towards safety, equity, and pleasure for all involved. I offer my reflections on this journey at the end of my thesis as resistance to the dominant expectations of women and OUR sexuality, and as hope that things can be different. In love and rage JasmineItem Precarious feminine identities : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Massey University, 2021) Weatherley, Guenevere E. W.This thesis explores, from a DeleuzoGuattarian perspective, the motivations that women find for, and the actions they undertake in leaving intimate partner relationships under which they have suffered emotional and physical derogation at the hands of their abusive other. It seeks to investigate and describe their "minoritarian" actions in the context of a DeleuzoGuattarian stylistic and strategic approach towards departing intimate partner violence (IPV). In this, as well as considering particular aspects of Deleuze and Guattari's conceptual apparatus, the study pursues the differences opened up by affirmative engagement with the hopefulness of virtualities, and the "lines of flight" these offer for creative possibilities, enduring connections, and novel - if precarious - identities. The extremes to which the women in this study were pushed reveal the stresses and conflicts in the bid for autonomy and equality inherent in unhappy intimate partner relationships without the frequent rhetoric that masks the difficulties of domestic life. Compounding these women's problems is the fact that there are few obvious avenues for escape for those trapped in abusive situations, limited support for independence, or programmatic advice on the broad social mandate they must negotiate. The women's stories reveal deep fissures in the structures of conventional New Zealand families by showing that the latter cannot accommodate or validate relationships that privilege outmoded gender practices over care, commitment, and opportunity for growth. Their stories articulate social and cultural uncertainties about the unstable positions of women in unequal relationships, that privilege outmoded gender practices over care, commitment, and opportunity for growth. Their stories articulate social and cultural uncertainties about the unstable positions of women in unequal relationships, the physically and emotionally draining demands to which they are subjected, and the struggle to find acceptance in their relationships, which are too often structured not by good will, affection and effort, but by traditional roles and economic hierarchies. The narratives contribute to the conversation on persecuted women's courage and determination to endure and resist, to develop lines of flight and to expand their lives despite intolerable pressures, as well as offering a DeleuzoGuattarian conceptual pragmatic underpinning of action. It shows that assertive independent action engenders empowering becoming, and it suggests that where women initiate schizonanalytic breaks, where they embrace precarity, they can discover creative and fulfilling lives.Item Trafficked women as empowered agents? : exploring the experiences of trafficked women from Sonagacchi, Kolkata : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Masters of International Development at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2018) Rea, PhillipaThis thesis explores the freedom experiences of trafficked women from Sonagacchi, Kolkata, and argues that freedom for women trafficked into the sex trade is more complex than simply equating freedom to empowerment or exit from the sex trade. The trafficking of human beings is a major development issue, highlighted in the recently developed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which sets a target within SDG five, eight and sixteen to eradicate trafficking in all forms by 2030. To be able to reach this goal, a broad understanding of trafficking in needed. Research in the field of human trafficking is relatively recent with the majority of studies focusing on rescue and rehabilitation as the only means of exit from a trafficking situation. This thesis adds to the body of research on trafficking, by exploring the exit strategies of women who successfully exited a trafficking experience and seeking to understand the processes in women’s empowerment and agency. Field work took place in Sonagacchi, Kolkata the largest red-light area in India over a six-week period. A narrative inquiry method was used to hear the life stories of five women who have successfully exited their trafficking situation as well as interviews with four social workers. The findings of this study identified strategies that facilitated trafficked women’s exit from the sex trade. In addition, the processes of empowerment and agency that women experienced were explored, highlighting that individuals can experience empowerment processes and ssome degrees of agency even in exploitative environments. The idea that exit from the sex trade and empowerment equate to freedom is challenged within this study. It is recognised that freedom is contextual, personal and cultural in nature, and that in the context of the West Bengal sex trade, experiences of freedom encompassed contentment and well-being. The main implication of the findings of this research is that trafficked women experience empowerment and agency in the midst of their trafficking experience, but that experiences of freedom are more complex than the literature suggests, and women require healing and wholeness in order for freedom to be actualised.Item Women's Refuge clients' experiences of social responses to domestic violence including interventions informed by response-based practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2018) Reedy, Jessica JulietIn Aotearoa New Zealand, transformation in thinking about and acting to prevent domestic violence is exigent. Response-Based Practice (RBP) provides a transformational framework for ethical social responses for families experiencing violence. RBP attends to ways discursive practices undermine or support victim safety and dignity. The current research involved developing, delivering, and evaluating a RBP group intervention at Women's Refuge. Evaluation privileged women's accounts of the intervention and entailed comparing discourses clients utilised to inform their understandings of violence and position themselves before and after Group participation. Implications of clients' positioning for enabling or constraining their safety and dignity are also considered. The project's design used feminist collaborative action research principles, and thematic analysis in the first study to develop the intervention. Five advocates were engaged in meetings, semi-structured interviews, document reviews, and focus groups. The second study used discourse analysis of women's pre- and post- intervention accounts of their domestic violence experiences and social responses to them. Four clients engaged in semi-structured interviews. Before Group participation, discourses that minimised and mutualised violence predominated, positioning victims as instrumental in provoking and preventing violence, and victims and perpetrators as pathological. Languaging often represented perpetrators' violence as accidental/uncontrollable and concealed victim resistance. Narratives engaged traditional gender discourses of men's dominance, encompassing coercive control and violence, and women's submission and self-sacrifice, as normative. Women's entrapment by victim-blaming discourses alongside threats of poverty and condemnation from perpetrators, families, church and social agencies was evident. Following Group participation, resistance discourses prevailed. Clients challenged their positioning as pathological or blameworthy and re-positioned themselves as sensible, competent women. Group content and processes were constituted as privileging and legitimating women's unarticulated knowledge of how concealing violence, perpetrator responsibility and gendered social power relations diminish victims' safety. Narratives of domestic violence evinced increased recognition of patterns of coercive control, entrapment and other non-assaultive violence intersecting with harmful social responses and structural violence. Thus, the Group provided a safe and dignifying social and physical space for clients to collectively reconsider their responses to violence; and discover, discuss, and critique discursive practices that reveal violence, perpetrator responsibility, and victim resistances.Item Women’s everyday resistance to intimate partner violence : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Science in Health Psychology at Massey University, Aotearoa(Massey University, 2018) Black, AliceAotearoa’s rate of reported intimate partner violence (IPV) is among the highest in the OECD. Surviving IPV requires considerable strength and resilience. There is a large body of work exploring women’s resistance to violence. However, this is often framed within a victim and agent dichotomy, which can obscure the variability of women’s everyday experiences. In addition to understanding the more overt forms of resistance women enact against IPV, there is a need to focus on the everyday ways in which violence manifests and the subtle, imperfect ways in which women respond as they carry out their daily routines and practices. This thesis draws on both feminist research and literature on the conduct of everyday life from social psychology to explore how women navigate their daily lives and reproduce gendered relations within the constraints of IPV. Particular attention is paid to moments of adaptation, agency and resistance. Working with the support of Te Whakakruruhau (Māori Women’s Refuge), I conducted semi-structured interviews with eight women, four staff members and four former clients, to explore their experiences of day-to-day IPV. My participants’ experiences revealed how deeply enmeshed IPV can become within everyday practices, from making breakfast to going to the toilet. While my participants' lives were characterised by chronic anxiety and constraint, they adopted novel tactics to get through dangerous everyday situations such as going to bed or doing the dishes. They drew on simple routines such as making coffee or working in the garden in order to create a sense of routine that aided them in ‘getting by’. Further, they demonstrated remarkable creativity, flexibility and agency in creating novel enclaves of care within otherwise inhospitable settings. These findings have implications for how IPV is characterised and how agencies can identify and support women within the constraints of violent relationships.Item Posttraumatic stress and peritraumatic dissociation in women who have experienced domestic violence : a thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University(Massey University, 2002) Miller, Frances ClaireThe aim of the present study was to examine the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in women who have experienced domestic violence. In addition, the relationship between PTSD and dissociation at the time of trauma (peritraumatic dissociation) was investigated. A community sample of 22 women who have experienced domestic violence completed a mailed self-report questionnaire. The following variables were assessed: frequency of physical and psychological abuse, general psychopathology, exposure to other traumatic experiences, peritraumatic dissociation and PTSD symptoms. As hypothesised, a significant proportion of women in the sample (32%) were classified as PTSD cases. The results of the study support previous research findings that have shown a positive relationship between current PTSD symptoms and chronicity of the abuse. A significant relationship was also found between peritraumatic dissociative experiences at the time of the abusive relationship and current PTSD symptoms and general psychopathology. Women classified as PTSD cases reported significantly higher rates of peritraumatic dissociative experiences than those classified as non-PTSD cases. The results of this investigation suggest that future research is needed to examine the association between peritraumatic dissociation and PTSD symptomatology in this population group.Item Women and their fur-babies : leaving family violence together : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology, at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Gillespie-Gray, JasmineThe use of animal abuse as a coercive control technique within intimate partner violence is found in nearly half of all violent relationships. Concern for their animals’ well-being, fear for their own safety and difficulty finding temporary animal accommodation leads to women remaining in these relationships. Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge is the only women’s refuge in New Zealand that makes formal provision for animals at their safe houses, enabling women and animals to leave violence together. This research explores the relationship women have with their animals within the context of intimate partner violence, positions animals as victims of family violence themselves, and asks why the service Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge offers is important in enabling women and their animals to leave family violence together. Three women who had animals and were residing at Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge, two Te Whare Tiaki Wahine Refuge social workers and four Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals staff volunteered to participate in conversational interviews that were focused on women’s relationships with their animals and experiences of animal abuse and intimate partner violence. The provision of accommodation for animals leaving violence was investigated. The interviews were voice-recorded, transcribed and analysed using feminist standpoint epistemology and Riessman’s (1993) method of narrative inquiry. The analysis represents the strength of women’s relationships with their animals and the importance of them being able to leave their violent relationships together. Animals were positioned as victims of family violence within this research, resulting from the animals’ experiences of physical abuse, purposeful neglect and emotional suffering. Women were found to generally position their animals to be part of the family and an important source of comfort, unconditional love and companionship, especially during difficult times. Having these animals at the safe house with them meant that the women were able to settle in to the safe house better and focus on moving forward with their lives, rather than worrying about their animal’s safety or grieve the loss of, or temporary separation from, their relationship with their animal. This research has highlighted the need for systematic changes to the way we understand family violence and how we view animals within our society, and the need for the development and implementation of programs, like Tiaki have, that enable women, children and animals to leave violence together.Item Involving young men in preventing violence against women : a case study of Instituto Promundo's Program H : a research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of International Development at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(The Author, 2016) Rose, Courtney-JaneIntimate partner violence among youth is recognised as a public health concern, an obstacle to economic development, and a gross violation of human rights. This research found that intimate partner violence against women is closely linked to inequitable gender attitudes. In order to combat violence related to these gender attitudes, prevention interventions have particularly targeted young men in recent years. However, in aiming to solve this issue, violence prevention has often heavily focused on reducing the risk of negative behaviour, rather than positively empowering youth participation and growth. Approaches that instead view youth as resources to be developed, rather than simply as risks to society, are recommended. This research is focusing specifically on Instituto Promundo as an example of an organisation that seeks to fulfil youth rights in practice and improve youth behaviour and attitudes relating to gender within the Brazilian context. Promundo’s ‘Program H’ works to empower young men to rewrite harmful traditional masculinities and ultimately prevent violence through engagement in both individual and community activities. This report utilised a Positive Youth Development framework to investigate Program H, and found that the initiative has the potential to simultaneously prevent the risk of violence while also promoting positive youth behaviour. Program H significantly contributes to changing inequitable gender norms amongst young men, with potential positive and empowering flow-on effects to the young people of Brazil and the wider Latin American region.Item Intimate partner violence, family court, and assessment : a qualitative study of the experiences of women's advocates : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2015) Culver, KrystalIntimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a pervasive problem throughout New Zealand. Approximately a third of all women will experience some form of abuse from their partner in their lifetime. Literature on IPV highlights the difficulties these women face when they enter the Family Court system and the lack of understanding regarding the dynamics of IPV. Of particular concern are those women who undergo a psychological assessment as part of the custody dispute. The Family Court has posited the movement to collaborative parenting may outweigh the need to keep women and children safe. Consequently, women may not only be re-victimised, but both their safety, and the safety of their children, could be at risk. The purpose of this study was to provide a greater understanding of women’s advocates experiences of issues of IPV, Family Court, and psychological assessment in New Zealand. Four advocates from Women’s Refuge were interviewed and a thematic analysis conducted. Four superordinate themes emerged from participants’ accounts: process difficulties, conflict, lack of expertise and gender-based issues, while a fifth theme of cultural differences emerged from one of the participants. These experiences were supported by the existing literature, and added valuable knowledge from a New Zealand context. Unexpected issues also arose, including the difficulty women with children face in being granted the right to relocate. This will help form the basis of continued research into the area, with the aim of gaining a more discerning picture of key issues that arise for women who have experienced IPV and who are embattled in a custody dispute in the Family Court.Item Rebuilding lives : intimate partner violence and Kiribati mothers in New Zealand : a cooperative inquiry : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philsophy in Social Work at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand(Massey University, 2015) Teatao, Lydia IetaakeThis study explores strategies to rebuild lives as a result of intimate partner violence experienced by Kiribati migrant mothers in New Zealand through cooperative inquiry. Cooperative inquiry is a modality of participatory action research (PAR) based on people examining their own experience and action with those who share the same life experiences (Heron, 1996). It is also concerned with re-visualizing understanding of the world as well as transforming practice within it. As a result of working through an agreed set of actions, this process has empowered personal strength and courage for all those who took part, including myself. The method of cooperative inquiry is to be both a researcher and a participant and it does research with people but not on people. It is not about confirming or validating previous theories or hypotheses. It is about being deeply engaged with the human situation and inquiry initiated on a common interest shared by the group of participants. All participants, including the researcher, were Kiribati migrant mothers who have been violence free for at least two years. We all worked together as co-participants in this research project. The inquiry was underpinned by the Pacific Framework Talanoa with the Kiribati cultural context, aided by Te Itera model designed by the author. Key results are significant as they venture to restore and strengthen intimate partner relationships for Kiribati families residing in New Zealand. It contributes knowledge to social agency interventions regarding Kiribati families and their children and provides insights to future immigrants to New Zealand. Research participants also suggest that through being involved in a genuine research, they developed strength and courage commitment within their own extended families, communities and social connections in increasing awareness and education to alleviate intimate partner violence specifically targeting young families.