Promising Practice Programs

Bruises are tangible. Emotional scars are less visible - and can be just as devastating.
"Shredded" is a short drama about a deeply unhappy family. It explores the murky and uncertain lines between what is normal couple conflict and what clearly becomes an unhealthy relationship of power and control which emotionally affects the whole family.
"Shredded" is the result of women telling their stories - of their survival from the war zone of emotional abuse in a domestic violence relationship.

Aim:

• To develop a script based on women's own stories, and to produce a broadcast quality film based on these stories through a process, which was empowering for the participants.

Objectives:

• To explore the emotional side of abuse in a domestic violence relationship and to make a training/community awareness resource.
• To explore the often murky and uncertain line between so called 'normal' couple conflict and what clearly becomes a relationship of unequal power and control tactics, arising in high levels of fear, trauma, disempowerment and damage to the women and children involved.
• To explore community attitudes. "Why doesn't she just leave?"; "If it's that bad she should just go"; "She must have done something to deserve it"; "What could she do to change?".
• For women from the refuges to be able to tell their stories.
• To create an avenue for the refuge workers, the clients of the refuges, members of the arts community, and members of the general community to work in partnership on a community development project.

During the script writing workshops the women talked about shared abusive experiences such as their male partner pressuring them into having sex often during the day with the children in the house and/or with the door open or in semi-public spaces. They talked about how they complied to keep him 'happy' which equated with not 'causing' him to become violent or abusive or 'paying out' on them or the children in other ways. They wanted this shared story built into the film so that is why we did the sex scene.

Another example they talked about was how sexual advances were often not tangible enough to report but made them feel disempowered, dirty or afraid and that it was 'creepy'. We built this example into the film with the scene with the step-father of the teen age girl in the bedroom where she is on the bed just in a towel with head phones on and eyes closed while he is lurking and deliberately invades her personal space with his hand.

There are many examples within the film which can draw out the following messages in a workshop situation.

The Messages:

• Physical violence doesn't have to be present in a relationship where domestic violence is present;
• The affects of emotional abuse can be devastating on women and children in the family;
• Women often do try and tell someone about it, often a friend or family member, but if they don't get a good response they often don't tell again until there is further crisis;
• The community generally blames the women, for something they have or have not done;
• And women often don't make the issue public until they can tangibly see that it has affected their children.

This project also demonstrates good practice in the following ways:

• Takes account of contemporary research and practice developments in the field of sexual assault.
• Contributes to improving systems' responses to sexual assault, and is directed at preventing sexual assault.
• Demonstrates a sensitivity towards the barriers faced by victim/survivors in disclosing and reporting sexual assault.
• Has a clearly defined conceptual framework.
• Demonstrates a capacity for replication (i.e. other services/organisations could adapt/re-model the program for their use).

The development of the program is based on principles of social justice and feminist principles related to domestic violence.

Values and assumptions underpinning the program include:

• That Australian society is entrenched with structural social, political and economic inequalities and that this is neither natural nor right.
• Some groups of people within this society are disadvantaged and marginalised because of unequal power relationships. These inequities are based on factors such as gender, race, class, ethnicity, ability, sexuality and geographical location/isolation.
• That empowerment and respect are critical ingredients for well-being.
• That all people, including those from disadvantaged or marginalised groups, have a right to reach their full human potential as citizens.
• That women and children are primarily the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault within Australian society, and that the perpetrators are primarily men.
• That it is critical to listen to the voices of women and children and to bring their voices into the realm of knowledge and practice.

The principles of victim safety and perpetrator accountability are central to the messages in the film and training support package.

These principles rest on the values and assumptions that safety is a basic human right; violence is never the fault of the victim; domestic and family violence are structurally, institutionally, ideologically and systemically perpetrated, maintained, legitimised and reinforced against women and children in our society; all violence must be seen as unacceptable and a crime; perpetrators must always be held accountable for their actions; and there is never any cultural excuse for violence.

Feminist principles included the importance of empowerment, of respecting and valuing women from diverse backgrounds and of listening to women's stories. Domestic and family violence is understood as a social phenomenon based on unequal power relationships and therefore can be eliminated.

The script was developed using action research principles. The Script Development Workshops were facilitated by Di Dempsey who worked with women from our refuges over a number of months, meeting weekly.

The women told their stories, their hurt, their heartache, their shame and grief. They developed the characters, the family, the place, the events to be told. Di Dempsey took their stories away each week and developed the script. The women decided in the early stages to concentrate on emotional abuse rather than physical abuse. They all said that it 'hurt more'.

Between us we created a script and consequently a film which is artistic in its own right. But it also has many sombre messages. We believed that a professional, broadcast quality film was going to reach more people and be able to transmit the messages we wanted to portray in more powerful ways.