WUNRN
New Zealand Family Violence
Clearinghouse
THE CULTURE OF COOL: GETTING IN
EARLY TO PREVENT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
YOUTH -CULTURE -BEHAVIOR -MEDIA
-PREVENTION OF RELATIONSHIP VIOLENCE
Towns, Alison; Scott, Hazel - 2008
150-Page Report
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Key
Messages for Family Violence Workers from the research - Hazel Scott.doc |
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ReportonOwnershipThecultureofCoolpeerreviewedrcircV2.pdf
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The
underlying thesis of this project is that men’s violence towards women is
preventable. If young people are more informed about these practices they will
be more able to resist them in their own relationships. The practices of
dominance and entitlement that emerge from social and cultural pressures can no
longer be considered “natural” or “just the way things are” for men and women.
Young people’s actions in relationships become informed conscious choices. The
intention of this research is that the knowledge uncovered can be employed to
construct new curricula in schools and to inform existing curricula which work
towards the early intervention and the prevention of domestic violence. It is
hoped that these curricula will involve critically reflecting on our cultural
heritage - questioning historical and current media representations and other
institutional practices that promote ways of being which work against ethical
and just behaviour in boyfriend/girlfriend relationships - and promoting
egalitarian relationships which appear to protect women from men’s domestic
violence. This research demonstrates that qualitative research of this nature
can provide important knowledge about the relationship between culture and
violence and can usefully inform early intervention and prevention practices.