Gendering Violence: Theorising the Links Between Men, Masculinities and Violence

Abstract

When gender analyses are used in government violence prevention discourses, the focus is primarily upon women as victims, sometimes with an acknowledgement that most of the perpetrators are male. Many violence prevention advocates maintain that men’s violence against women is substantially different to men’s violence against men, on the basis that most violence against women occurs in the home, while most violence against men occurs in public settings. They also suggest that while the patterns and dynamics of men’s violence against women are gendered, men’s violence against men is not gendered. The main argument of this chapter is that men’s violence against women can best be understood in the context of men’s other violences, including men’s gendered violence against other men. The implication of the interrelatedness of different forms of men’s violence is that strategies to address one form of men’s violence need to address other forms of men’s violence. Consequently, we cannot eliminate men’s violence against women without also understanding and addressing the other violences of men in patriarchy.