Hard knocks : domestic violence and the psychology of storytelling / Janice Haaken.

""Janice Haaken-feminist researcher, clinician, and activist-grips us with her analysis of the stories we tell ourselves about family violence. Whether probing the complexities of victim narratives or examining the different ways feminists and activists narrate domestic violence, Haaken is a pioneer in extending psychoanalytic-feminist theory into the tough terrain of anti-violence politics. Essential reading for activists and gender studies theorists alike." Lynne Layton, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School, USA<BR><BR>"In an accessible, direct and compelling manner, this impressively scholarly text surveys the full array of recent debates tackling the complexities of gender and violence. Janice Haaken's voice has become pivotal in the rethinking of domestic violence literature and research, ensuring that this book will become an essential text across the social sciences in all areas where gender is discussed." Lynne Segal, Anniversary Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK<BR><BR>This book draws on interviews carried out over a period of eight years, as well as novels, films, and domestic violence literature, to explain the role of story-telling in the history of the battered women's movement. The author shows how cultural contexts shape how stories about domestic abuse are told, and offers critical tools for bringing psychology into discussions of group dynamics in the domestic violence field.<BR><BR>The book enlists psychoanalytic-feminist theory to analyse storytelling practices and to re-visit four areas of tension in the movement. These areas include the conflicts that emerge between the battered women's movement and the state, and the complex relationship between domestic violence and other social problems. The volume also looks at the tensions between groups of women within the movement, and how to address differences based on race, class or other dimensions of power. Finally, the book explores the contentious issue of how to acknowledge forms of female aggression while still preserving a gender analysis of intimate partner violence.<BR><BR>The book is ideal reading for scholars, activists, advocates and policy planners involved in domestic violence, and for students of psychology, social work, sociology and criminology."--BOOK JACKET.