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Introduction
Development
The Exo-systems
Conclusions
Note about the author
References
Abstract:
The following paper describes the evolution of programs for the prevention of women abuse in Buenos Aires, Argentina, emphasizing the hazardous implementation of programs for abusive men, from an ecological point of view. It points out the deficiencies in the macrosystems and exo-systems, and proposes the possible solutions to these deficiencies.
Author:
Mr. Mario Payarola (Psychologist-Bachelor degree in 1977- University of Buenos Aires) - Awardee of the Canadian Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1996 and 2000.
Professor of the subject "Programs for abusive men" in the Interdisciplinary Career on Domestic Violence, University of Buenos Aires, 2002/2004.
The board of directors of the Ending Relationship Abuse Society of B.C. would like to extend our sincere thanks to Mr. Payarola for submitting this article for the proceedings. Our hope was that he would be able to attend the conference in person, but since this was not possible we are pleased to offer you his insights in this article.
Introduction
After seven years of military dictatorship, Argentine society recovered democracy as a way of life. The dictatorship left terrible wounds in society, mostly because of the criminal actions of the military government towards the population. They kidnapped people, created concentration camps and killing fields, and invented the term "desaparecidos" which means the ones who are "missing", referring to those that were killed. Human rights were violated day by day during seven years. In that context nobody was able to speak out because one was threatened with death.
Development
With the return of democracy in 1983, people felt great relief. The first elected government decided to charge the military responsible for the violation of Human Rights during the dictatorship.
In changing the living conditions and with the standing of the Constitution, it was possible to speak out about domestic violence in general, mentioning the vulnerable populations: children, women and elders. In 1984 the first courses on domestic violence began to be offered by two psychologists, Mrs. Cristina Vila and Jorge Corsi. These courses were taught at different general hospitals and non-profit organizations.
In 1988 a well known boxer (world champion), killed his wife by pushing her from a balcony, after beating her. This death brought the issue of battered women out in the public. At that time this was an issue only spoken of by the two professionals mentioned in very limited audiences. After the death of this woman, there were TV programs and many other media (newspapers, radios, etc.) speaking about woman abuse. It is important to mention to a Canadian public that there was no feminist movement during the seventies as in many other countries, mostly because of the dictatorship already mentioned.
The first democratic government created a Women’s Secretary with the intention of promoting women’s equality. In 1988, with their support, a First Conference on Woman Abuse was held in the city of Chapadmalal. The conference showed that many organizations around the country provided services to protect women from violence, and they are still multiplying everywhere. Unfortunately the services for abusive men did not multiply in the same way until 1990.
One important event was the creation of an Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Career in Domestic Violence at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Buenos Aires in 1989. The proposal of this career was an initiative of Mr. Jorge Corsi (Psychologist), who had been an awardee of the Canadian Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1988. This award allowed him to deepen his knowledge of domestic violence in Canada.
One of the subjects of this career is "Programs for abusive men", and at that moment none of these programs existed. As a means of studying these programs, Mr. J. Corsi started the first program at a general hospital (dependent on the Municipality of Buenos Aires), facilitated by himself and another psychologist. This initiative was meant to offer a community service along with professional training for the students of the post-graduate career. After a year or so, the groups continued in another building, still depending on the Municipality of Buenos Aires city. It also created a 24-hour phone number, and other services for women, as legal advice and groups for battered women. So the three services - phone, women and men’s groups - were intended to work in coordination.
By 1994 the political authorities ended the men’s groups and dismissed the professional team, but continued with the other two services. In order to continue offering the services for men, Mr Corsi decided to continue with the program in another non-profit organization who graciously rented their place once a week.
In 1995 I ended my post-graduate career and was offered work in this organization. I first started with intake interviews and progressively was incorporated into the groups, first as an observer and later as a facilitator.
In 1997, we started our own non-profit organization and rented a house, thanks to the financial support of a German organization that helps Third World Countries in different programs. At that time Mr. J. Corsi and myself facilitated three groups. We decided to work by proposing three stages, each one with different goals. The groups were designed in an open format; that is to say that men can enter the group and pass to another stage as soon as they reach certain goals. Men were referred mostly by other women’s non-profit organizations and only 20% of them from the Justice Courts. The contents of the program had been taken from Canadian literature, adapting them to our culture, and had a pro-feminist stance as suggested by David Adams.
The Exo-systems
a) Justice
The first law for the protection of victims of family violence was sanctioned by December, 1994. This law is included in the Civil Code. It allows Family Judges to exclude the abusive man from his home, but there are no legal sanctions. The judges can suggest that men attend a program for abusive men, but it is not mandatory. The government does not provide these programs. They are held in non-profit organizations, which at the moment are only three. This means practically nothing in the three million population of Buenos Aires city. This is due to a lack of a federal government policy towards domestic violence.
There have been discussions with representatives about including domestic violence in the Criminal Code but the controversy still continues. Some are against this idea because the State will have to provide programs for abusive men in an economic context of “default”, and they believe the State will not be able to finance them.
b) University students
As a Professor I have found interest in the students in acquiring a knowledge of this field of specialty, although there is no guarantee that they will be able to sometime facilitate groups. There are no job offers for them at the moment, unless they create their own non-profit organizations with other colleagues or offer their services in organizations already created.
c) Other professionals in the field
There are many professionals working in the field without any special training from the University. In them I have found a lack of interest in programs for abusive men. They are fond of working with victims rather than abusers. There are many prejudices towards abusive men, one of which is that people believe they won't change their behaviour and so it is useless to do something for them. These biases are also heard in the general population; I think it is because media show only the terrible cases where the abusive men are psychopaths. They also believe that abusive men only deserve to be in jail for their crimes.
Conclusions
From an ecological point of view (Bronfrenbrenner) we may arrive at the following conclusions in order to evaluate the present situation of programs for abusive men in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In the macrosystem our recent history of political and social violence is deeply rooted in many people who still believe that violence is a way of solving conflicts. Since the return of democracy (1983) there has not been a stable public policy towards the prevention of domestic violence.
In the exo-system the lack of the inclusion of domestic violence in the Criminal Code gives abusive men the chance of being violent without being legally sanctioned, and the existing Civil Law does not oblige men charged with violence to attend programs. At the same time the government is not compelled to provide services for men, leaving such programs in the hands of non-profit organizations who are free to provide them without guidelines and standards. In this way the possibility of multiplying efficient programs for men becomes a personal effort of specialized professionals and non-profit organizations.
Contrary to this, if there was a public policy towards prevention of domestic violence, along with the inclusion of abusive behaviour as a crime, the State would be obliged to provide services for men. It would also be obliged to support these services financially and to give general guidelines for the organizations to follow.
Note about the author
In 1996 I won my first award at the Canadian Embassy in Buenos Aires in order to study domestic violence in Canada (during four weeks), and traveled to Canada in September. I visited Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. In Ottawa I visited the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence and interviewed a professional who guided me in visiting different organizations. In Vancouver I visited the B.C. Institute Against Family Violence. I also met Mrs. Ester Frid and Mr. John Daly who were running a program for Spanish speaking men; they gave me a video which I still use in some of my lectures and classes (“From father to son”). I learned a lot speaking with Mr. Dale Trimble about his experience in working with abusive men in Canada and he also handed me a video which has been very useful for my studies.
In 2000 I won my second award at the Canadian Embassy and planned my visit in October, so I could attend to the First National Conference in Victoria. Thanks to Jan Robson and Tracy Seddon I could speak about my short experience with abusive men in Buenos Aires.
In 2002, when I was offered the subject “Programs for abusive men” in the Interdisciplinary Post-graduate Career in Domestic Violence at the University of Buenos Aires, I introduced in the teaching program the Harry Stefanakis and Anne Davidson article “The Transtheoretical Model of Change”, and also the E.R.A. Guiding Principles which I myself have translated into Spanish.
References
Adams, D.:"Counseling Men who batter: A Pro-feminist analysis of five treatment models", Eds.Bograd and Yllo, Boston, USA, 1986.
Bronfenbrenner, U.: "La ecología del desarrollo humano", Ed.Paidós, Barcelona, España, 1979. (Translation:"The ecology of Human Development").
Corsi J.: "Men’s abusiveness in relationships", Ed. Paidós, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1995. (Original title in Spanish "Violencia masculina en la pareja".)
Currie, D.: "Group models for batterers" in Sinclair, D. "Understanding wife assault", Toronto, Canada, B.C., Canada, 1985.
Davidson, A.: "The Transtheoretical Model of Change: A Heuristic for Exploring how to End Men’s Violence against Women Part II – Working with Women", BC. Association of Counsellors of Abusive Men, Proceedings, B.C.,Canada, 1998.
Rondeau, G.: "Les programmes Quebecois dáide aux conjoints violents", Université de Montreal, Canada,1989.
Sonkin, D. And Durphy, M.: "Learning to live without violence", Vulcano press, California, USA,1982.
Stefanakis, H.: "The Transtheoretical Model of Change: A Heuristic for Exploring how to End Men’s Violence against women Part I – Working with Men.", BC Association of Counsellors of Abusive Men, Proceedings, 1998.
Wood, B. and Robson, J.: "Moving towards the light", Changing Men Consulting, Vancouver, Canada, 2000
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