Relating Manhood: Narrative therapy and domestic violence

Abstract

This exegesis is the companion to the novel Every Breath You Take. It focuses on two neglected aspects of domestic violence: coercive control, and collusion – being the ways in which contemporary sociocultural stories contribute to the maintenance of domestic violence. This thesis draws on theory from feminism, critical studies on men, queer studies, sociology, literary and cultural studies. It nevertheless owes its greatest theoretical debt to Narrative Therapy, a postmodern intervention cofounded by Michael White (Australia) and David Epston (New Zealand). The exegesis describes the accompanying novel, Every Breath You Take, as arising from a critique of contemporary portrayals of domestic violence in literature and the media. Persistent stereotypes are contrasted with work in the field, notably Johnson’s typologies (2008) and the Duluth Model, a framework famous for the development and use of the ‘power and control’ wheel. Demonstrating application of the practices of Narrative Therapy as both guiding paradigm and writing methodology, the exegesis describes how and why the novel, Every Breath You Take, focuses on coercive control and the colluding stories that support its maintenance.