Protection of face and avoidance of responsibility: Chinese men's account of violence against women

Abstract

This study of the accounts of Chinese male abusers identified three categories of narrative strategy: protection of face, avoidance of responsibility and the privatization of violence against women. The extent of the use of narrative strategies is a function of the interaction between the audience and the abuser, or the therapist and the client in the clinical context. Our findings underscore the need to obtain information on intervention, so that abusers might take full responsibility for halting their violence, unlearning their habitually violent behaviour, and moving toward finding previously unappreciated, constructive forms of conflict resolution.