A Marked Man: Female-Perpetrated Intimate Partner Abuse

Abstract

Concepts of intimate partner abuse and violence are shifting, complex, situationally-contingent and multi-faceted. Whilst women's narratives of abuse have provided much-needed, if harrowing, insight into the subjective experience of intimate partner abuse, men's accounts of femaleperpetrated abuse have been slower to emerge, generating much controversy and hostility even in contemporary times. This paper seeks to add to a small, but developing qualitative literature on male victims' accounts of intimate abuse and violence. Drawing on case-study data, the article charts some of the salient themes emergent from a series of in-depth interviews and the personal diary of abuse of a heterosexual male victim, and explores some of the congruences with other accounts of intimate abuse and violence. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which male victims of intimate abuse might be situated within contemporary frameworks of masculinities.

Men as victims of intimate partner violence

“…None of the victims presented severe consequences; despite these findings, several authors referred that men may be seriously injured. 16,20,29,30,33 Intimate partner violence may have psychological negative outcomes in the victims, 20 however, these possible effects were not assessed in the present study.…”

“…The majority of these studies focus on the prevalence of male victims of IPV, characterization of the violent episode, including motives and mechanisms of aggression and its consequences for the victim. 15,16,19,20 Some studies compare male victims of IPV with female victims of this type of violence. 10,22,23 The characterization of IPV perpetrated against men is important to better understand this phenomenon and to assess the need to create public policies in order to prevent it.…”

Accounting for Intimate Partner Violence

“…The marked difference of the structure and form of the abuse narrative reiterates the fact that IPV remains an "unbelievable" or "forbidden" discourse for male victims (Allen-Collinson, 2009a, 2009bMigliaccio, 2002). The findings of this study suggest that a broad questioning technique (e.g., "How are the children?…”

“…In the context of this study, it is suggested that the abuse narrative constituted the "forbidden" narrative, which was unbelievable in terms of its content and narrative style but also by the inextricable link between femininity and victimhood (Allen-Collinson, 2009a, 2009b. As highlighted earlier, the abuse narrative was notably difficult to articulate (Plummer, 1995) and directly challenged the men's gendered assumptions of themselves, given that discourses of victimhood and vulnerability are not "known" within a masculinist discourse (Burr, 2008).…”

“…Although the excessive focus on structure (vs. agency) is often viewed as a criticism , the concept of hegemonic masculinity is useful in providing theoretical insight into the expression of public masculinities. Personal attributes such as physical size, selfreliance, control, and stoicism seem to play a part in influencing the expression of the abuse experience (Allen-Collinson, 2009a, 2009bMigliaccio, 2002). Although gender identities are not fixed entities, it is plausible that a challenge to one's gender order prompts the questioning of one's gender identity, by both a male victim and those he encounters (Connell, 1987).…”