TY - JOUR PY - 2015// TI - Domestic violence (DV) service provision and the architecture of rural life: an Australian case study JO - Journal of rural studies A1 - Owen, Santi A1 - Carrington, Kerry SP - 229 EP - 238 VL - 39 IS - N2 - This article uses the concept of the architecture of rural life to analyse domestic violence service provision in rural Australia. What is distinctive about this architecture is that it polices the privacy of the rural family. A tight cloak of silence is carved around instances of domestic violence. Imagined threats to rural safety are seen as coming from outsiders (i.e. urban influences or Indigenous), not insiders within rural families. This article draws on key findings from a study conducted in rural New South Wales, Australia. The study interviewed 49 rural service providers working in human services and the criminal justice system. The application of architecture of rural life as a conceptual tool demonstrates challenges with service provision in a rural setting. The main results of this study found that this architecture operates as a silencing form of social control in three distinctive ways. Firstly, shame about being a victim of domestic violence encourages rural women's complicity in remaining silent. Secondly, family privacy maintains a veil of silence that accentuates rural women's social and economic dependency on men. Thirdly, community sanctions act as a deterrent to women seeking help.

LA - en SN - 0743-0167 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.11.004 ID - ref1 ER -