NCJ Number
240008
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 18 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2012 Pages: 459-481
Date Published
April 2012
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article examines joint parenting as a new ethos governing postseparation parenting arrangements.
Abstract
A dichotomized picture of postseparation parents has emerged in family law that juxtaposes violent relationships with those that are "normal." Domestic violence scholars and advocates have played a role in reproducing this picture in their quest to secure protection for women and children. Although sympathetic, the authors argue this construction generates a number of problems: in particular, it obscures the gender power dynamics in relationships where women have not experienced violence. Interviews with separated mothers in dispute over contact arrangements reveal that there are significant continuities in the gender power dynamics they experience, despite differences in their exposure to male partner violence. Abstract published by arrangement with Sage Journals.