Qualitative researchers are required to be critically reflective and explain to readers their positionality on their work. This account can be relatively straightforward, but there are occasions when this process of reflection and outlining one’s positionality is much more complicated. This method-paper explains this process. It outlines, using examples of different occasions and situations, where and why such complications may arise, for example, around values and personal experiences. It concludes with further practical advice on writing the section on positionality for novice social scientists.

The focus of this paper is exploring topic avoidance in the form of family secrets and how they may influence Child-To-Parent Violence and Abuse (CPVA). The research was conducted with two families experiencing CPVA using the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM). This method was selected with the intention of gaining a deep understanding of the living experiences of families experiencing CPVA. An outcome of using this method was uncovering the ways in which secrets, as part of problematic communication, affect the behaviours of family members throughout their life-course. The narratives collected from each participant were analysed by the researcher and ‘Reflecting Teams’ as recommended by the BNIM approach. The findings showed that there was a pattern of parental avoidance of conflict through the use of topic avoidance and secrecy leading to Child-To-Parent Violence and Abuse, creating a ‘spiral of secrecy and abuse’ operating within the families.

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse is a recognized global public health phenomenon due to its prevalence and impact across the world. This paper examines how coercive and controlling behaviors within intimate relationships are obfuscated, in other words, thrown into the shadows, romanticized, and normalized within romantic fiction, further adding to this global issue. The “Fifty Shades of Grey” series is interpreted through the use of narrative analysis and the framework of Craven’s “Dominator” model. This illustrates how the distinct perpetrator personas, the Headworker, the Persuader, the King of the Castle, the Jailer, the Liar, the Bully, and the Sexual Controller, are present in the actions of the male protagonist throughout the series of books. This paper identifies how these books portray such behaviors that are used to coerce and control as desirable expressions of protection, masculinity, desire, and love. This paper, therefore, suggests that such texts contribute to the normalization of abusive relationships, embedding them within the cultural ideals of romantic love and, therefore, sustaining abusive relationships.