‘Potentially violent men?’: teenage boys, access to refuges and constructions of men, masculinity and violence

Abstract

This article discusses the challenges of meeting the needs of teenage boys who become homeless as a result of domestic violence. In particular it focuses upon the impact of age limitation policies upon teenage boys, which many refuges still operate. It considers the reasons for these policies which, it is argued, still include reliance upon so-called ‘cycle of violence’ or ‘intergenerational transmission of violence’ theories. It is argued that such theories are problematic as they correlate being a man and being violent. Consequently, teenage boys of violent men are constructed as ‘potentially violent’. The ways in which absent fathers are discursively constructed as responsible for any possible future violent, criminal behaviour of their sons is also problematised. Such assumptions which presume a casual effect between absent fathers and the future behaviour of teenage boys, are argued to be part of the reason why theories, such as the ‘cycle of violence’, persist. The article contends that there is a need for more adequate theorising of the relationship between men, boys and violence. It also argues that access to refuge service provision should be based solely on physical and economic resource constraints, and not by reference to such problematic theories.

Keywords:

• teenage boys
• refuges
• access
• housing
• domestic violence
• constructions of masculinity
• fathers
• fatherhood

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Richard Collier and Helen Stalford for their insightful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this article. This article is part of a project which was funded by The SLSA Small Grants Scheme. I am grateful to them for this support. Thank you to Paul Welsh for being ‘a good man’.

Notes

1. Domestic violence is defined as: “Any incident of threatening behaviour, violence or abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional) between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality.” The author recognises the incidence of female violence upon men (Grady 2002) and that in same-sex relationships (Herek and Berrill 1992) but asserts that the majority of domestic violence is perpetrated by men against women (Women's Aid 2009).

2. Refuges are ‘safe-houses’; places usually provided by Local Authorities although sometimes independent providers or charities, which offer accommodation to women and their children who are fleeing violence in a secure location.

1. According to a recent survey by Women's Aid, 52% of refuge funding was from Supporting People. The Supporting People Programme, which was established in April 2003, provides housing related support which is delivered locally by 150 Administering Authorities, over 6000 providers of housing related support, and an estimated 37,000 individual contracts. The programme aims to ensure that housing related support is needs-led and that it is high quality cost effective care (ODPM 2004, p. 1).

2. For example see Fitzpatrick et al.'s study of Scottish refuges, 66% of shared refuges and 100% of cluster flat refuges provided a children's room, compared with 10% and 33% respectively for a room provided specifically for teenagers (2003, p. 21).

3. From the author's own fieldwork experiences of visiting refuges, and discussing this issue with refuge service providers. I am grateful for the insights provided to me by refuge service providers.

4. My emphasis.

5. A young person must prove that he/she is homeless or threatened with homelessness and has or will have no accommodation under section 175 of The Housing Act 1996. It must be reasonable for the applicant to occupy the accommodation as per sections 175(3) and 177 of The Housing Act 1996. A local authority is also under no duty to provide permanent accommodation as per R v. Brent LBC ex p Awua (1995) 1 A.C. 55.

6. One of the aims of the legislation is to restrict housing resources to UK citizens and prevent asylum seekers and immigrants from qualifying for assistance.

7. The Homelessness (Priority Need for Accommodation) (England) Order 2002 (SI 2002/2051) Reg. 3, has recently extended the categories of ‘priority need’ to include all teenagers who are aged 16 and 17 under, and therefore given additional preference under s. 189 of The Housing Act 1996. Where an applicant is deemed to be ‘non-priority’ lesser duties of advice and assistance are owed under s.192 of The Housing Act 1996.

8. Under s. 182(1) of The Housing Act 1996 Local Authorities are to have regard to The Homelessness Code of Guidance for Local Authorities (England), Department of Health, (ODPM 2002), in exercising their functions under Part 7 of The 1996 Act and under The Homelessness Act 2002.

9. See earlier section of article ‘Refuges and age limitation policies for teenage boys’ for a definition and explanation of the main tenets of such theories.

10. The concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ has been utilised and been the subject of extensive academic analysis in many academic fields. For an extensive review of the use of the term see Connell and Messerschmidt (2005, pp. 833–836).

11. There are similar debates surrounding the construction of women in relation to femininity and violence. See Worrall (1990).

12. Connell and Messerschmidt cite four reasons why the term needs to be reformulated: a more complex model of gender hierarchy, explicit recognition of the geographies of masculinities, a more specific treatment of embodiment in the contexts of privilege and power and a stronger emphasis on the dynamics of hegemonic masculinity (2005, pp. 847–836).