Disclosing violence in calls for help
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.35106Keywords:
disclosures, domestic violence, feminist psychology, social interaction, gender and language, discourseAbstract
Violence against women is a pervasive problem, both in New Zealand society and around the world. Yet assessing the scale and effects of violence is difficult, as many women face barriers to disclosure. This paper examines women’s disclosures of violence in calls for help to a victim support agency. We use conversation analysis and focus on membership categorisation to describe the different ways disclosures are built and understood in situ. It was only in a minority of cases (around 20%), that callers made direct reference to violence, or categorised themselves explicitly as victims, albeit with indications of problems in speaking. However, for the majority, women did not mention the words ‘victim’ or ‘violence’ at all. Instead, culturally shared knowledge associated with categories of people (e.g. ex-partners) and places (e.g. home and jail) were used to build and interpret a description as a disclosure of violence. Our work contributes to an understanding of women’s disclosures of violence by examining them directly in the setting where they occur. We discuss some of the insights gained from examining interactions in situ, and the practical applications of our work for improving services for women who have experienced violence.
References
Bender, A. K. (2017) Ethics, methods, and measures in intimate partner violence research: the current state of the field. Violence against Women 23(11): 1382–1413. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801216658977
Cuff, E. C. (1993) Problems of Versions in Everyday Situations. Washington, DC: International Institute for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and University Press of America.
Devries, K. M., Mak, J. Y. T., García-Moreno, C., Petzold, M., Child, J. C., Falder, G. … Watts, C. H. (2013) The global prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. Science 340(6140): 1527–8. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1240937
Ehrlich, S (2001) Representing Rape: Language and Sexual Consent. London: Routledge.
Ehrlich, S. (2014) Language, gender, and sexual violence. In S. Ehrlich, M. Meyerhoff and J. Holmes (eds) The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality 452–70. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584248.ch23
Fanslow, J. L. and Robinson, E., M. (2011) Sticks, stones, or words? Counting the prevalence of different types of intimate partner violence reported by New Zealand women. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma 20(7): 741–59. https://doi.org/10.10.1080/10926771.2011.608221
Fitzgerald, R. and Housley, W. (eds) (2015) Advances in Membership Categorisation Analysis. London: Sage Publications.
Gavey, N. (2005) Just Sex? The Cultural Scaffolding of Rape. New York: Psychology Press.
Greatbatch, D. and Dingwall, R. (1999) The marginalization of domestic violence in divorce mediation. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 13(2): 174–90. https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/13.2.174
Hepburn, A. (2004) Crying: notes on description, transcription, and interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction 37(3): 251–90. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3703_1
Hester, S. and Eglin, P. (1997) Culture in Action: Studies in Membership Categorization Analysis. Washington, DC: International Institute for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and University Press of America. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404500221039
Ingrids, H. (2014) Category work in courtroom talk about domestic violence: gender as an interactional accomplishment in child custody disputes. Feminism and Psychology 24(1): 115–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353513515294
Jefferson, G. (2004) Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (ed.) Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation 13–31. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.125.02jef
Jordan, J. (2004) Beyond belief? Police, rape and women’s credibility. Criminal Justice 4(1): 29–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466802504042222
Jordan, J. (2011) Here we go round the review-go-round: rape investigation and prosecution – are things getting worse not better? Journal of Sexual Aggression 17(3): 234–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2011.613278
Jordan, J. (2015) The long and winding road: improving police responses to women’s rape allegations. Critical Issues on Violence against women: International Perspectives and Promising Strategies. 104–16. New York: Routledge.
Keeling, J. and Fisher, C. (2015) Health professionals’ responses to women’s disclosure of domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 30(13): 2363–78. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514552449
Lamb, S. (1999) Constructing the victim: popular images and lasting labels. In S. Lamb (ed.) New Versions of Victims: Feminists Struggle with the Concept 108–38. New York: New York University Press.
Lees, S. (2002) Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial. London: Women’s Press.
Lindholm, J., Börjesson, M. and Cederborg, A.-C. (2014) ‘What happened when you came to Sweden?’ Attributing responsibility in police interviews with alleged adolescent human trafficking victims. Narrative Inquiry 24(2): 181–99. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.24.2.01lin
Lombard, N. and McMillan, L. (2012) Violence against Women: Current Theory and Practice in Domestic Abuse, Sexual Violence, and Exploitation. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12131
Longhurst, R. (2012) Feminist perspectives on home. International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home 158–162. San Diego, CA: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-047163-1.00319-2
MacLeod, N. (2016) ‘I thought I’d be safe there’: pre-empting blame in the talk of women reporting rape. Journal of Pragmatics 96: 96–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.03.008
Ostermann, A. C. (2003) Communities of practice at work: gender, facework and the power of habitus at an all-female police station and a feminist crisis intervention center in Brazil. Discourse and Society 14(4): 473–505. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926503014004004
Othman, S., Goddard, C. and Piterman, L. (2014) Victims’ barriers to discussing domestic violence in clinical consultations: a qualitative enquiry. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 29(8): 1497–1513. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260513507136
Powell, A. and Murray, S. (2008) Children and domestic violence: constructing a policy problem in Australia and New Zealand. Social and Legal Studies 17(4): 453–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663908097080
Powell, A., Henry, N., Flynn, A. and Henderson, E. (2013) Meanings of ‘sex’ and ‘consent’: the persistence of rape myths in Victorian rape law. Griffith Law Review 22(2): 456–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/10383441.2013.10854783
Sacks, H. (1972) On the analyzability of stories by children. In J. J. Gumperz and D. Hymes (eds) Directions in Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of Communication 325–45. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Sacks, H. (1995) Lectures on conversation (ed. G. Jefferson). Oxford: Blackwell.
Schegloff, E. A. (1972) Notes on a conversational practice: formulating place. In D. N. Sudnow (ed.) Studies in Social Interaction 75–119. New York: Macmillan.
Schegloff, E. A. (2010) Some other ‘uh(m)’s. Discourse Processes 47(2): 130–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/01638530903223380
Schegloff, E. A., Jefferson, G. and Sacks, H. (1977) The preference for self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation. Language 53(2): 361–82. https://doi.org/10.2307/413107
Stokoe, E. H. (2003) Mothers, single women and sluts: gender, morality and membership categorization in neighbour disputes. Feminism and Psychology 13(3): 317–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353503013003006
Stokoe, E. (2012a) Moving forward with membership categorization analysis: methods for systematic analysis. Discourse Studies 14(3): 277–303. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445612441534
Stokoe, E. (2012b) ‘You know how men are’: description, categorization and common knowledge in the anatomy of a categorial practice. Gender and Language 6(1): 233–55. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i1.233
Tennent, E. (In press) ‘Do you think it’s a crime?’ Building joint understanding of victimisation in calls for help. Discourse and Society.
Towns, A. and Adams, P. (2009) Staying quiet or getting out: some ideological dilemmas faced by women who experience violence from male partners. British Journal of Social Psychology 48(4): 735–54. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466608X398762
Wardhaugh, J. (2012) Feminist perspectives on homelessness. International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home 163–71. San Diego, CA: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-047163-1.00351-9
Wowk, M. T. (1984) Blame allocation, sex and gender in a murder interrogation. Women’s Studies International Forum 7(1): 75–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-5395(84)90087-6
Cuff, E. C. (1993) Problems of Versions in Everyday Situations. Washington, DC: International Institute for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and University Press of America.
Devries, K. M., Mak, J. Y. T., García-Moreno, C., Petzold, M., Child, J. C., Falder, G. … Watts, C. H. (2013) The global prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. Science 340(6140): 1527–8. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1240937
Ehrlich, S (2001) Representing Rape: Language and Sexual Consent. London: Routledge.
Ehrlich, S. (2014) Language, gender, and sexual violence. In S. Ehrlich, M. Meyerhoff and J. Holmes (eds) The Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality 452–70. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118584248.ch23
Fanslow, J. L. and Robinson, E., M. (2011) Sticks, stones, or words? Counting the prevalence of different types of intimate partner violence reported by New Zealand women. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma 20(7): 741–59. https://doi.org/10.10.1080/10926771.2011.608221
Fitzgerald, R. and Housley, W. (eds) (2015) Advances in Membership Categorisation Analysis. London: Sage Publications.
Gavey, N. (2005) Just Sex? The Cultural Scaffolding of Rape. New York: Psychology Press.
Greatbatch, D. and Dingwall, R. (1999) The marginalization of domestic violence in divorce mediation. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 13(2): 174–90. https://doi.org/10.1093/lawfam/13.2.174
Hepburn, A. (2004) Crying: notes on description, transcription, and interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction 37(3): 251–90. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3703_1
Hester, S. and Eglin, P. (1997) Culture in Action: Studies in Membership Categorization Analysis. Washington, DC: International Institute for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and University Press of America. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404500221039
Ingrids, H. (2014) Category work in courtroom talk about domestic violence: gender as an interactional accomplishment in child custody disputes. Feminism and Psychology 24(1): 115–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353513515294
Jefferson, G. (2004) Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (ed.) Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation 13–31. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.125.02jef
Jordan, J. (2004) Beyond belief? Police, rape and women’s credibility. Criminal Justice 4(1): 29–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466802504042222
Jordan, J. (2011) Here we go round the review-go-round: rape investigation and prosecution – are things getting worse not better? Journal of Sexual Aggression 17(3): 234–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2011.613278
Jordan, J. (2015) The long and winding road: improving police responses to women’s rape allegations. Critical Issues on Violence against women: International Perspectives and Promising Strategies. 104–16. New York: Routledge.
Keeling, J. and Fisher, C. (2015) Health professionals’ responses to women’s disclosure of domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 30(13): 2363–78. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260514552449
Lamb, S. (1999) Constructing the victim: popular images and lasting labels. In S. Lamb (ed.) New Versions of Victims: Feminists Struggle with the Concept 108–38. New York: New York University Press.
Lees, S. (2002) Carnal Knowledge: Rape on Trial. London: Women’s Press.
Lindholm, J., Börjesson, M. and Cederborg, A.-C. (2014) ‘What happened when you came to Sweden?’ Attributing responsibility in police interviews with alleged adolescent human trafficking victims. Narrative Inquiry 24(2): 181–99. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.24.2.01lin
Lombard, N. and McMillan, L. (2012) Violence against Women: Current Theory and Practice in Domestic Abuse, Sexual Violence, and Exploitation. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12131
Longhurst, R. (2012) Feminist perspectives on home. International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home 158–162. San Diego, CA: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-047163-1.00319-2
MacLeod, N. (2016) ‘I thought I’d be safe there’: pre-empting blame in the talk of women reporting rape. Journal of Pragmatics 96: 96–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.03.008
Ostermann, A. C. (2003) Communities of practice at work: gender, facework and the power of habitus at an all-female police station and a feminist crisis intervention center in Brazil. Discourse and Society 14(4): 473–505. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926503014004004
Othman, S., Goddard, C. and Piterman, L. (2014) Victims’ barriers to discussing domestic violence in clinical consultations: a qualitative enquiry. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 29(8): 1497–1513. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260513507136
Powell, A. and Murray, S. (2008) Children and domestic violence: constructing a policy problem in Australia and New Zealand. Social and Legal Studies 17(4): 453–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663908097080
Powell, A., Henry, N., Flynn, A. and Henderson, E. (2013) Meanings of ‘sex’ and ‘consent’: the persistence of rape myths in Victorian rape law. Griffith Law Review 22(2): 456–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/10383441.2013.10854783
Sacks, H. (1972) On the analyzability of stories by children. In J. J. Gumperz and D. Hymes (eds) Directions in Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of Communication 325–45. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Sacks, H. (1995) Lectures on conversation (ed. G. Jefferson). Oxford: Blackwell.
Schegloff, E. A. (1972) Notes on a conversational practice: formulating place. In D. N. Sudnow (ed.) Studies in Social Interaction 75–119. New York: Macmillan.
Schegloff, E. A. (2010) Some other ‘uh(m)’s. Discourse Processes 47(2): 130–74. https://doi.org/10.1080/01638530903223380
Schegloff, E. A., Jefferson, G. and Sacks, H. (1977) The preference for self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation. Language 53(2): 361–82. https://doi.org/10.2307/413107
Stokoe, E. H. (2003) Mothers, single women and sluts: gender, morality and membership categorization in neighbour disputes. Feminism and Psychology 13(3): 317–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353503013003006
Stokoe, E. (2012a) Moving forward with membership categorization analysis: methods for systematic analysis. Discourse Studies 14(3): 277–303. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445612441534
Stokoe, E. (2012b) ‘You know how men are’: description, categorization and common knowledge in the anatomy of a categorial practice. Gender and Language 6(1): 233–55. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v6i1.233
Tennent, E. (In press) ‘Do you think it’s a crime?’ Building joint understanding of victimisation in calls for help. Discourse and Society.
Towns, A. and Adams, P. (2009) Staying quiet or getting out: some ideological dilemmas faced by women who experience violence from male partners. British Journal of Social Psychology 48(4): 735–54. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466608X398762
Wardhaugh, J. (2012) Feminist perspectives on homelessness. International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home 163–71. San Diego, CA: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-047163-1.00351-9
Wowk, M. T. (1984) Blame allocation, sex and gender in a murder interrogation. Women’s Studies International Forum 7(1): 75–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-5395(84)90087-6
Published
2019-07-31
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Tennent, E., & Weatherall, A. (2019). Disclosing violence in calls for help. Gender and Language, 13(2), 270-288. https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.35106
