Introduction

This book reflects the continuing development of ideas and practice arising from the interplay between feminist and systemic thinking. The first British book about gender issues in family therapy Gender and Power in Families (Perelberg and Miller 1990) put the examination of gender and power more firmly on family therapy’s agenda. Many of its chapters argued for the incorporation of a feminist perspective into family therapy, a position which, by this volume’s publication in 1995, seems much more taken for granted. This present volume shows the way in which practitioners have taken further some of the ideas addressed by those authors in areas such as child sexual abuse and race and cultural issues and also turns the gender lens towards further issues such as violence within partnerships, drug abuse, AIDS, working with child perpetrators of sexual abuse and post-divorce and stepfamily process. Reflecting the broadening use of a gender focus, this volume contains chapters which range from applications in contexts wider than the family such as adult psychiatry and social services, to the intimate context of two women’s joint experience of a therapeutic relationship.