Category work in courtroom talk about domestic violence

Gender as an interactional accomplishment in child custody disputes

Bibliographic Data

ID12259262
AuthorsHenrik Ingrids (Stockholm University, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume24
Issue1
Pages115-135
Publication date2013-12-16
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminism & Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-3535 • E-ISSN: 1461-7161
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0959353513515294
OpenAlexW2000596182
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited41

This article examines how domestic violence and its effects on post-separation family life are dealt with within child custody disputes. Drawing on membership categorization analysis, audio-recorded courtroom testimonies from abused mothers seeking sole custody have been analysed. It was found that gendered categories like ‘male perpetrator’ and ‘female victim’ were central components in the mothers’ accounts of their legal claims, serving to support their claims of fearing the fathers of their children. However, the analyses also reveal that the opposing party attempted to contest and undermine such accounts during cross-examinations by substituting the very same categorizations. Such re-categorizations, for example from ‘female victim’ to ‘mad woman’, take the responsibility for the mother’s alleged fear away from the father. In exploring the relevance of gendered categories in mothers’ accounts, the article provides empirical examples of the subtle and complex ways through which gender discourses are manifested in child custody disputes in order to support or contest legal claims

Categorization · Child custody · CONTEST · Criminology · Domestic violence · Poison control · Political science · Relevance (law · Child Abuse and Trauma · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Law · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology

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