Cultural Scaffolding and Dark Triad: A Feminist Poststructuralist Perspective on Male Perpetrators of Domestic Violence and Abuse

Abstract

Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is under-reported, under-prosecuted and under-convicted. The apparent ineffectiveness of policy approaches in reducing the incidence of DVA, or mitigating its social and economic costs, forms the backcloth of my enquiry. I explore the processes by which heterosexual women enter, endure and leave abusive relationships. Using narrative style interviews, I worked with fourteen women with a wide range of characteristics in terms of age, ethnicity, physicality, and socio-economic status. I examine the space between normalised heterosexual relationships and abuse. I shine a spotlight on the full range of perpetrators' behaviours that entrap and oppress their female partners, and identify four key domains in which the coercive tactics of the abuser work to: ensnare his victim; dismantle her previous identities; prevent her from leaving the relationship; and punish her for leaving. From a feminist poststructuralist perspective, participants' experiences of entering, enduring and exiting abusive relationships can be read as part of the wider cultural scaffolding (Gavey, 2019) of heteropatriarchy, which left them exposed to ensnarement and exploitation. Using Dark Triad (Paulhus, 2014) as a model for conceptualising perpetrators' manipulation of their ex-partners, their children, and professionals, I offer an alternative to traditional psychology's way of understanding men's abuse of their female partners.