Four St. Thomas University social work students are coming together to research the important but under-emphasized issue of men’s violence in Atlantic Canada, in hopes of connecting with other researchers and increasing awareness.
Starting at the beginning of the semester, students Libby Howatt, Daryan Dort, Darian Curtis and Mia Stewart began their research on men’s violence research initiatives in the Atlantic provinces. So far, the work has been eye-opening.
“One of the driving forces behind our project is just the need to challenge and reshape the stereotype surrounding men, particularly related to violence,” said Howatt. “Society holds a preconceived notion about masculinity … we’re trying to break that down and reshape it in a way through research.”
Their research involves a literature review of men’s violence research and an environmental scan of the current research, resources and services being offered relating to men’s violence, which will be used by the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research (MMFC).
With 19 universities identified, they hope to contact researchers and create a network for those investigating such an under-represented topic. In their short time studying the topic, something that has jumped out is the gaps in research and resources on men’s experiences with violence. There aren’t many organizations that focus solely on it.
“Oftentimes there’s resources out there, but the information to them is not always accessible,” said Howatt. “There might be a lot more going on that people aren’t kind of reaching out.”
Howatt’s groupmate Dort related this gap in men’s violence initiatives to the societal stereotype and the prevalence of gender norms. Men may feel ashamed to reach out if they are experiencing intimate partner violence because it may be seen as emasculating.
“Shifting away from this stereotype is even just spreading awareness that this does happen for men as well, not just women,” said Dort. “Women can be the perpetrators and men don’t tend to report it as often just based on societal stereotypes.”
The group hopes that their research will be a starting point for major change in the area of men’s violence and awareness about the subject in both New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada.
“Our research is going to be a stepping stone for hopefully the [MMFC’s] research and allowing them to further the research in it. So I think that’s really important,” said Howatt.
Joni Leger, associate director at the MMFC and supervisor of the student research group, said they are very fortunate to have the students working with them to fill in the gaps in men’s violence research.
“If they can help us just to understand the landscape in Atlantic Canada, ‘what research is currently going on?’” said Leger. “That will give us something that we can work with and hopefully hand off to other researchers”
Leger, who started at the MMFC just last year, said the main pillars of the centre’s work is research, training and raising awareness. They exemplify this through their student research opportunities, as well as connecting researchers that study family, domestic and gender-based violence with community partners.
For Leger and the MMFC, learning about men’s violence and pinpointing what men need is a top priority.
“It’s not as simple as just taking what we’ve learned and just going, ‘oh, well, that’s applied to men, right?’” said Leger.
“There’s a gap in even knowing what service to deliver, because we don’t have the research evidence to support, ‘what are the experiences of men when it comes to violence? What do men need?’ I think we have to answer that question first.”
These are the questions the students aim to answer in their research and Leger has high hopes that their research will help them connect the community of researchers and improve the state of men’s violence.
“I’m pretty confident that they’ll be able to accomplish what they’ve set out to do.”
