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In L. Thiesmeyer (Vol. Ed.), Discourse and silencing : representation and the language of displacement, pp. 43-77.

This book section discusses the results of a study examining the discursive contexts which support silence about men's violence towards their female partners. The authors argue that secondary prevention of male partner violence requires early intervention and that, although friends and family may often be aware of the violence, discursive tactics are employed so that it is treated as secret in nature. In this action research study 18 men who had been violent towards their partners each participated in a 90 minute interview with an interviewer who had had considerable experience in working with men who had been violent to their partners. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using discourse analysis. They were read for the ways in which the men employed common-sense understandings which might silence talk about their violence. Many examples of how men position themselves within discursive contexts in order to silence talk of their violence are provided. The authors conclude that early intervention to stop men's violence requires interpretation of these discursive contexts and that this research contributes to that end.

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