A Queer Theorist's Critique of Online Domestic Violence Advocacy

Critically Responding to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Web Site

Bibliographic Data

ID3609823
AuthorsSamuel Z Shelton (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume65
Issue10
Pages1275-1298
Publication date2018-08-24
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00918369.2017.1374060
PMID28854144
OpenAlexW2751780020
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited32

Since the foundations of the contemporary anti-violence movement in the 1960s and 1970s, advocates have sought to establish a critical understanding of domestic violence that we can use to direct our efforts for social change. Yet many advocates and advocacy organizations continue to rely on a problematic narrative of sameness that marginalizes and erases diverse victims' experiences and needs. In this article, I conduct a critical discourse analysis of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Web site to identify outcomes of this narrative for the inclusivity of advocacy efforts. I argue that despite the organization's numerous claims to represent diverse victims' experiences, Web site content reveals that its purportedly general account of domestic violence normalizes the experiences of a small group of victims-namely, heterosexual, cisgender women. Further, the Web site's content greatly limits the potential for thinking about and discussing violence across difference. I conclude with recommendations for changes in advocacy practices

Criminology · Domestic violence · Narrative · Poison control · Political science · Public relations · Queer · Sociology · Suicide prevention · The Internet · Web site · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Intimate Partner and Family Violence · Medicine · Sex work and related issues

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