Violence against women, new research questions the men involved

15.12.2023

The research group led by Prof Ines Testoni of the Advanced Course in Creative Arts Therapies at the University of Padua published the article Gender- based violence comes on the scene: Creative Arts Therapies intervention in prison with men who committed or tried to commit feminicide. The study presents the findings of an intermodal psychodrama intervention aimed at counteracting the risk of future violent behaviour.

Six prisoners who committed or tried to commit femicide participated in 10 psychodrama sessions in prison. Sessions included the preliminary motivation of the participants in the program, positive and critical aspects of the intervention, personal and relational changes, and their reflections on gender roles. The project increased participants’ well-being and led them to new reflections on themselves, others and their relationship with women.

The Creative Arts Therapies (CAT) are techniques that use the different expressive channels of the arts to allow people to access parts of the Self that have remained segregated in the unconscious or in the secrecy of repression or more simply in unawareness and to open them to the communication circuit with others. This dynamic allows them to be able to look at themselves, discover something they did not know about their relationship with the world and with themselves.

Aimed at raising awareness of consciousness, the study revealed that participants had never problematized the issue and had never considered women as others, but rather idealized them as mothers who look after them and respond to all their needs.

Inmates were motivated to participate in the program, as the research indicates, by their need to unveil themselves and take off their mask. A form of superficial being in the routine of life as a prisoner and by working on oneself by removing this mask could reflect on their existence.

By sharing experiences and feelings, participants could access memories and reflect on their emotions. The role reversal technique and assuming the role of auxiliary ego gave the participants the opportunity to experience the meaning of seeing another perspective. Therefore, by accessing feelings of weakness, vulnerability and alternative male roles may be particularly difficult for inmates both for safety reasons and because hegemonic masculinity attributes these aspects to female gender

There were changes on both a personal and relational level. Psychodrama helps personal growth, making one aware of inner flaws, mistakes, and difficult to face aspects of self. The goal is for those who wish to change to do so and to stimulate personal resources to deal with present and future situations.