Tackling attitudes on domestic violence
by Thel Krollig
She’s been a parking officer, a photocopy repairer, a cook and a builder’s labourer. But Laura Cook finally reached a point in her working life when she decided it was time to use her brain instead of her body.
Age, she says, played a factor in this decision, but an enduring interest in psychology led her to undertake her honours degree in psychology at UniSA.
Cook was named the winner of the Tony Winefield Award for honours students and the UniSA recipient of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) prize in psychology, for her project, Investigating the relative impacts of sexual orientation and gender on perceptions of domestic violence.
Cook says she would like her research findings to influence the current domestic violence legal, intervention and education system.
"Domestic violence has primarily been researched and treated in law and policy as a problem of male violence against women in heterosexual relationships. Non-typical cases, such as same-sex couples and female to male violence, have largely been ignored," Cook said.
"As a result of my research, I believe that this focus on ‘gendered’ models of domestic violence leads to ineffective, inappropriate or overly simplistic interventions," she said.
"The results from my thesis suggest that the development of interventions and education campaigns may be improved by moving away from simplistic gender models and considering the impact of multiple identities on an individual’s social position."
Cook suggests that it is social dominance and the role it plays
nurturing and growing attitudes about domestic violence that leads the
disempowered, regardless of gender bias, to act out domestic violence
against others.
Now a masters student in psychology, Cook is refining her subject
material on first point of contact for young people searching the
internet for information on sexual orientation.
"At a time in their life when they are particularly vulnerable, seeking information and reassurance, young people who suspect they may be homosexual can be bombarded with extreme views on homosexuality, often from right-wing religious groups," she said.