In which I discover a reassuring 'Grandma' inside the Growing Child

This morning Laura McCloskey, also well known in the field of domestic violence, delivers an invited address on breaking the cycle of family violence. While the presentation is well delivered and the data interesting, she is criticized for taking a gendered approach to the data collection.

I attend perhaps the most controversial of panels at the conference: a series of papers exploring the mutual perpetration of violence, and victimization of men and women by their intimate partners and its underlying correlates. It is not an understatement to say that such presentations would have labelled you a heretic in recent time.

David Finkehlor ends the opening address with a ‘witty ditty’ he has composed in a Gilbert O’Sullivan style, bemoaning the trials and tribulations of Institutional Review Boards (or Ethics committees in the UK). It is an unusual start to a conference but it is amusing and informal and sets the tone for the evening reception.

I am on my way to the annual International Family Violence conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the US.