A Queer Theorist's Critique of Online Domestic Violence Advocacy: Critically Responding to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Web Site.
Since the foundations of the contemporary anti-violence movement in the 1960s and 1970s, advocates have sought to establish a critical understanding of domestic violence that we can use to direct our efforts for social change. Yet many advocates and advocacy organizations continue to rely on a problematic narrative of sameness that marginalizes and erases diverse victims' experiences and needs. In this article, I conduct a critical discourse analysis of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Web site to identify outcomes of this narrative for the inclusivity of advocacy efforts. I argue that despite the organization's numerous claims to represent diverse victims' experiences, Web site content reveals that its purportedly general account of domestic violence normalizes the experiences of a small group of victims-namely, heterosexual, cisgender women. Further, the Web site's content greatly limits the potential for thinking about and discussing violence across difference. I conclude with recommendations for changes in advocacy practices.
['Shelton|Samuel Z|SZ|']
D003254:Consumer Advocacy D017579:Domestic Violence D005260:Female D006716:Homosexuality D006801:Humans D020407:Internet D008297:Male D011582:Psychological Theory D000072339:Sexual and Gender Minorities D012922:Social Change D061108:Social Media
domestic violence Advocacy national coalition against domestic violence critical discourse analysis LGBTQ gender essentialism heteronormativity queer theory