title: Backlash or equality?: The influence of men's and women's rights discourses on domestic violence legislation in Ontario.
abstract: Through an examination of the public debates from Ontario's Bill 117, An Act to Better Protect Victims of Domestic Violence, this article explores the discourses that men's rights activists used to counter feminist constructions of domestic violence. Using a combined method, the author collapses the data into four important themes: protection, rights, and gender; funding and fairness; numerical and statistical truths; and resistance. By examining how they collectively construct the problem of domestic violence, the author exposes the ways in which men's rights advocates disqualify women's experiences and the responses to such claims.
authors.affiliation: Queen's University.
authors.forename: April L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Girard
mesh_terms: D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D008297:Male; D054526:Men's Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D009864:Ontario; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012935:Social Justice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012940:Social Problems; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D018454:Spouses / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014933:Women's Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence