Introduction: The importance of this volume

In the last 50 years researchers and practitioners have gathered a wealth of evidence relating to domestic violence and abuse. The knowledge base guiding legislation and practice is extensive. Unfortunately, the lens applied to the issue of abuse and violence has remained largely unchanged. This failure manifests as an extensive evidence base that is unrepresentative of the heterogeneous nature of both victims and perpetrators. The gendered model of intimate partner violence (IPV) that originated from the 1970s and the women’s liberation movement has been hugely influential in raising awareness of violence against women and violence within families; indeed, without this, terms like domestic violence or domestic abuse would not exist within the public narrative in the way they do. However, gendered models arguably have the unintended consequence of privileging one group’s experiences over another’s. This book consists of 15 chapters, each covering an important area of research or practice. These chapters include extensive reviews of the literature and empirical research that provide compelling evidence of a need to change how we construct victims and design services. It provides a compelling evidence base for the need to work inclusively and responsively around issues of gender. The book is broadly separated into two sections, one covering working with male victims in research, and the second working with them in practice and service-based settings.