Psychology's construction of a gendered subjectivity through support groups for domestic violence.

Abstract

The increasing psychologisation of domestic violence in the past 25 years is an example of what Rose (1985) terms the 'psychological-complex'. The psy-complex rests on a particular understanding of the subject of psychology. The subject is the unitary, rational and psychological being. This understanding of subjectivity is gendered as it identifies women as responsible for the transferal of the psy-complex to the family. The psy-complex is analysed as a form of power resting on this gendered subjectivity. It is also analysed as a form of power that has escaped feminist scrutiny due to the feminist assumptions. that power is repressive and prohibitive.