Though intimate partner violence (IPV) is predominately understood as a women"s health issue most often emerging within heterosexual relationships, there is increasing recognition of the existence of male victims of IPV. In this qualitative study we explored connections between masculinities and IPV among gay men. The findings highlight how "recognising IPV" was based on an array of participant experiences including emotional, physical and sexual abuse inflicted by their partner, which in turn led to three processes. "Normalising and/or concealing violence" referred to participants" complicity in accepting violence as part of their relationship and reticence for disclosing that they were victims of IPV. "Realising a way out" included participants' understandings that the triggers for, and patterns of, IPV would best be quelled by leaving the relationship. "Nurturing recovery" detailed strategies employed by participants to mend and sustain their well-being in the aftermath of leaving an abusive relationship. In terms of masculinities and men"s health research, the findings reveal the limits of idealising hegemonic masculinities and gender relations as heterosexual, while highlighting a plurality of gay masculinities and the need for IPV support services that bridge male/female as well as the homo/heterosexual divides.Word count: 192 4

Murder-suicide (M-S) is a complex phenomenon that can involve a multifaceted set of interrelated biological and social factors. M-S is also sexed and gendered in that the perpetrators are most often male and their underpinning motives and actions link to masculinities in an array of diverse ways. With the overarching goal to describe connections between men, masculinities, and M-S, 296 newspaper articles describing 45 North American M-S cases were analyzed. The inductively derived findings revealed three themes: (a) domestic desperation, (b) workplace justice, and (c) school retaliation. Cases in the domestic desperation theme were characterized by the murder of a family member(s) and were often underpinned by men’s self-perceptions of failing to provide economic security. Workplace justice cases emerged from men’s grievances around paid-work, job insecurity, and perceptions of being bullied and/or marginalized by coworkers or supervisors. The school retaliation cases were strongly linked to “pay back” against individuals and/or society for the hardships endured by M-S perpetrators. Prevailing across the three themes was men’s loss of control in their lives, hopelessness, and marginalized masculine identities. Also evident were men’s alignments to hegemonic masculinities in reasserting one’s masculine self by protesting the perceived marginalization invoked on them. Overall, the findings give pause to consider the need for men-centered M-S prevention strategies to quell the catastrophic impacts of this long-standing but understudied men’s health issue.