The experiences of men whom courts have ordered to try to learn why they use violence against their partners is the focus of MTSU’s next Women’s and Gender Studies Research Series lecture, set for Thursday, Feb. 21.

Dr. Natalie Hoskins, an assistant professor of communication studies, will present “The Dangers of Masculine Support Messages: Deconstructing Gender to Understand Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence” at 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in Room 100 of the James Union Building.

A campus map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap. Off-campus visitors attending the event can obtain a special one-day permit at www.mtsu.edu/parking/visit.php.

Hoskins’ research involved 10 months of participant observation at a Midwestern batterer intervention program group. It also included 15 in-depth interviews with men who were members of the group.

“The current study examines the ‘lived experiences’ of men who have been court-mandated to attend so-called ‘batterer intervention programs’ to better understand the complex tapestry of childhood adversity, parent-child attachment and social support among intimate partner violence perpetrators,” Hoskins said.

The professor’s talk is free and open to the public. The Department of Communication Studies is part of MTSU’s College of Liberal Arts.

For more information about the Women’s and Gender Studies Research Series, contact the Office of Women’s and Gender Studies at 615-898-5910 or womenstu@mtsu.edu.

Women’s and Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary program comprising experts from across the university in fields ranging from sociology, psychology, communication, media, literature, global studies, human sciences, and child and family studies to philosophy, religious studies, world languages, history, chemistry, anthropology, community and public health and political science.

— Gina K. Logue (gina.logue@mtsu.edu)