Factors Influencing Attitudes to Violence Against Women

Abstract

Attitudes toward men's violence against women shape both the perpetration of violence against women and responses to this violence by the victim and others around her. For these reasons, attitudes are the target of violence-prevention campaigns. To improve understanding of the determinants of violence against women and to aid the development of violence-prevention efforts, this article reviews the factors that shape attitudes toward violence against women. It offers a framework with which to comprehend the complex array of influences on attitudes toward violent behavior perpetrated by men against women. Two clusters of factors, associated with gender and culture, have an influence at multiple levels of the social order on attitudes regarding violence. Further factors operate at individual, organizational, communal, or societal levels in particular, although their influence may overlap across multiple levels. This article concludes with recommendations regarding efforts to improve attitudes toward violence against women.

Social support factors associated with psychological resilience among women survivors of intimate partner violence in Gauteng, South Africa

“…Some communities have greater social cohesion than others. Prevailing community attitudes play an important role in responses to violence against women [51]. In communities with less social cohesion and where inequitable gender and subjective norms are prevailing, people are more likely to justify the abuse of women, and victims will be less likely to disclose abuse or seek help [52].…”

An Explorative Integration of Factors Causing Men’s Violence against Women

“…To summarize, IGT is generally well-documented, as there is a strong correlation between having witnessed/been a victim of violence and holding positive attitudes towards violence and exercising violence [25]. In the paper it is argued that since VAW appears to be most common in socially disadvantaged groups, the witnessing of violence and exposure to violence by children in those groups must also be extensive and cause vicious cycles of IGT.…”

“…There are reason to believe that education can help and that it is important for men to learn to take responsibility, but there is a risk that the unjust power structures that produce men's VAW become mystified when one relies on an individual-level solution to the problem. Research by empiricists such as Smith [22,23], Gelles [24] and Flood & Pease [25] shows that men, who commit VAW often suffer from a lack of economic, social and/or cultural resources. Moreover, they have often lived through patriarchal socialization; have often had violent childhood experiences and have often suffered and witnessed more violence compared with socioeconomically advantaged groups of men.…”

Análisis del Acoso Sexual y por Razón de Sexo desde la perspectiva de Víctima

“…Este fenómeno es una manifestación más de la violencia que se sigue ejerciendo y permitiendo contra las mujeres (Flood & Pease, 2009). Produciéndose en el seno de situaciones de desequilibrio de poder.…”