Feminists working on Violence Against Women (VAW) have often been disappointed by the failure of law to produce profound change. Ill-informed and stereotypical views about VAW held by judges, lawyers, law enforcement officers, those in the media and the general public have undermined laws intended to tackle violence including domestic violence. As a consequence, VAW activists have sought new methods to shift the public discourse and facilitate the operation of the law. This article examines how campaigners used a highly publicised storyline on coercive control in the long running BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers to circulate feminist knowledge on domestic violence. It discusses the reasons for the success of the activists on this occasion and reflects on the potential of popular culture combined with other forms of activism to embed feminist understandings of VAW and enhance the effectiveness of the law. It argues that popular culture can influence not only the legal professionals and others responsible for implementing and applying the law, but the broader public consciousness of domestic violence and VAW

Samuels, H.

English

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.In the last several years, the harm of coercive control has been increasingly acknowledged as a domestic violence harm by the England and Wales legal system. In this process of growing acknowledgement of  the  harm  it  inflicts  in  intimate  relationships,  coercive  control  is  being  inserted into existing discourses around domestic violence. The article examines the impact of a discourse on the understanding of a harm: how can the understanding of coercive control be impacted by the structure of the discourse into which it is inserted? The courts’ civil domestic violence  discourse  in  England  and  Wales  and  its  potential  impact  on  the  understanding  of  coercive control is examined as a case study. Using critical theory which links knowledge to social power as an analytical lens, the discourse is seen as not only founded upon a harm that is  entirely  detached  from  women’s  experiences  but  also  as  a  knowledge-sustaining  system,  operating on an everyday basis to protect and to further strengthen that alienated knowledge. Through  its  knowledge-sustaining  operation,  the  discourse  prevents  a  meaningful  change  in  the legal understanding of domestic violence, a change that is required for coercive control to be integrated into the discourse in a way that will reflect its essence and severity

Ohana, N

Open Research Exeter

The archaeology of the courts’ domestic violence discourse:  Discourse as a knowledge-sustaining system

In the last several years, the harm of coercive control has been increasingly acknowledged as a domestic violence harm by the England and Wales legal system. In this process of growing acknowledgement of the harm it inflicts in intimate relationships, coercive control is being inserted into existing discourses around domestic violence. The article examines the impact of a discourse on the understanding of a harm: how can the understanding of coercive control be impacted by the structure of the discourse into which it is inserted? The courts’ civil domestic violence discourse in England and Wales and its potential impact on the understanding of coercive control is examined as a case study. Using critical theory which links knowledge to social power as an analytical lens, the discourse is seen as not only founded upon a harm that is entirely detached from women’s experiences but also as a knowledge-sustaining system, operating on an everyday basis to protect and to further strengthen that alienated knowledge. Through its knowledge-sustaining operation, the discourse prevents a meaningful change in the legal understanding of domestic violence, a change that is required for coercive control to be integrated into the discourse in a way that will reflect its essence and severity

Ohana, Natalie

University of Kent Open Access Journals

The Archaeology of the Courts' Domestic Violence Discourse: Discourse as a Knowledge-Sustaining System

WestminsterResearch