Problematising the 'Man Problem' in the Domestic Abuse Act: Discursive Co-option and The (In)Visibility of Gender

FitzGerald, Sharron and Carline, Anna ORCID: 0000-0001-9350-3501 (2025) Problematising the 'Man Problem' in the Domestic Abuse Act: Discursive Co-option and The (In)Visibility of Gender SOCIAL & LEGAL STUDIES, 34 (5). pp. 714-734. ISSN 0964-6639, 1461-7390

Text FitzGerald & Carline (2024).docx - Author Accepted Manuscript Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (52kB)

Abstract

This article offers a discourse analysis of domestic abuse's ‘Man Problem’ by combining and developing Naffine's, Foucault's and Bacchi's work in a new way. Taking the parliamentary debates around the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 in England and Wales as our focus, we critique how MPs problematise gender to justify a gender-neutral definition of domestic violence and abuse (DVA). We illustrate how MPs reframe DVA's ‘man problem’ not as the problem of men as perpetrators of violence against women. But rather, they represent the law and policy ‘problem’ as men's invisibility as victims of DVA. We develop a new theoretical innovation to advance our critique: discursive co-option, and we uncover two gender paradoxes. We argue that MPs co-opt gender equality discourses to advance masculinist politics and patriarchal logics in ways that have detrimental effects for the less powerful, and which elide the reality of women's experiences of DVA.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	DVA, gender, discursive co-option, patriarchy, masculinism
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	18 Sep 2024 09:04
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2026 19:57
DOI:	10.1177/09646639241288528
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3184573
Disclaimer:	The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate.