‘Potentially violent men?’: teenage boys, access to refuges and constructions of men, masculinity and violence

Problematising the Relationship between Teenage Boys and Parent Abuse: Constructions of Masculinity and Violence

“…Moreover, such assumptions can unfairly label all young teenage males as 'potentially violent men', simply because they happen to be of the same gender as the traditional perpetrator of domestic violence (Baker, 2005(Baker, , 2009). As Kelly states:…”

“…Although 'cycle of violence' theories have been widely discredited as being overly simplistic, deterministic and reductionist 5 in relation to the meaning and experience of domestic violence in children's lives (see for example Kelly, 1994;Mullender et al, 2002), there is research evidence that some domestic violence service providers continue to believe in them (Stalford et al, 2003;Baker, 2009). 6 Why these discredited theories continue to exert some influence can be explained by Kelly.…”

“…Breaking cycles is much easier and safer to discuss than changing the structure of social relations. (1994: 51) Arguably the underlying factor which gives such 'common sense' understandings power is their adherence to assumed gender norms and their effects (Phillips and Phillips, 2010: 297), which problematically position men as violent by 'nature' and potentially violent (Baker, 2009), and women as 'naturally' caring and therefore passive victims. Such approaches fail to question the construction of gender in society and why some individuals choose to take up certain subject positions and others do not (Hearn, 1996).…”

“…The constraints of the dominant feminist paradigm of violence can be demonstrated through historical and current domestic violence research which often links aggression in teenage boys who have experienced domestic violence with the behaviour of the perpetrator, usually male, simply because they are of the same gender (Baker, 2009). Such assumptions draw on 'cycle of violence' or 'intergenerational transmission of violence' theories (Hester et al, 2007: 72-4), which originally gained prominence during the 1970s in the USA and gained some influence in the UK in the 1980s (Wilcox, 2012, this volume).…”

“…It focuses specifically upon teenage boys in relation to parent abuse due to the way that they are often constructed as 'potentially violent men' simply because they are of the male gender (Baker, 2009). In so doing, it will explore and problematise how masculinity is socially constructed in relation to violence.…”