Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

First Advisor

Richard Walsh-Bowers

Advisor Role

Thesis Supervisor

Abstract

The purposes of this study are twofold: a) to explore the material experience of partner abuse among gay male relationships and b) to explore the discursive conditions from which gay men must draw to negotiate the experience of relationship violence. I incorporated Standpoint epistemology and Queer theory to inform the theoretical basis of this thesis. To achieve the research objectives, I conducted a total of seven interviews with gay men. The findings from the interview data are presented in two phases. First, I presented three stories of gay men who had experienced violence and abuse at the hands of their same-sex partner. With these stories, I presented sites of intervention and community mobilization. Furthermore, I bring to focus the unique findings of this study that would otherwise be ignored through mass-survey style research. Second. I presented the constructions and negotiations of partner abuse among the remaining four participants. These participants drew upon a number of heteronormative discourses that produce the experience of gay male partner abuse. Implications of a discursive analysis are discussed. Briefly I consider community psychology as a means to coordinate multiple interventions throughout the ecological spectrum along with therapeutic implications in dealing with partner abuse among gay men. Finally, I take a reflexive approach to explore my own positions within the research process.

Convocation Year

2000

Convocation Season

Fall

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