Textual transformations of subjectivity in men’s talk of gender-based violence

Abstract

This study examined how men accounted for their violent behaviours against their intimate female partners. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 men from three men's groups in Johannesburg, South Africa. All the men self-reported that they had committed acts of intimate partner violence previously, and the majority were from low-income, township settings. Dissociations, justifications and confessions featured as the predominant accounting forms that worked to transform participants' subject positions from the 'violent abuser' to the 'legitimately violent partner' and even to the 'changed man'. Attention is accorded to how gender ideologies and heteropatriarchal discourses legitimating male violence against women were reinforced, yet were at times challenged within their talk and through rhetorical devices. In line with a poststructuralist reading, the study highlights the complexities underpinning men's varied meanings of violence. On the one hand, it reveals the agentic shifting of identities. On the other, it highlights the social discourses that are embedded in men's talk and therefore inscribed into male subjectivities.

Intimate Partner Violence Among Patients With Dissociative Disorders

“…These findings lend credence to the notion that dissociation may increase risk of IPV (e.g., Basu, 2010; Cuartas, 2002; Cuevas et al, 2010; Daisy, 2005; D. Dutton et al, 1982; Iverson et al, 2013; Krüger & Fletcher, 2017; LaMotte & Murphy, 2017; Lau & Stevens, 2012; Marchiori et al, 2004; Simoneti et al, 2000; Stein, 2012; Temple et al, 2010). The present study suggests that those highest in trait dissociation, even among this highly dissociative sample, are at higher risk of IPV.…”

“…A handful of studies have explored the role of dissociative symptoms in IPV, including as a predictor of adult interpersonal revictimization (Daisy, 2005; Iverson et al, 2013; Noll, Horowitz, Bonanno, Trickett, & Putnam, 2003), a mediator of the relationship between childhood abuse and adult IPV (Daisy & Hien, 2014), a mediator of the relationship between adult IPV and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related dissociation (Fleming & Resick, 2016), and a predictor of PTSD symptoms among victims of IPV (Seedat, Stein, & Carey, 2005). In addition, high rates of dissociation and DDs have been found among IPV victims (Basu, 2010; Cuevas, Sabina, & Picard, 2010; Marchiori, Rossi, & Colombo, 2004; Stein, 2012; Temple, Weston, & Marshall, 2010) and perpetrators (Cuartas, 2002; Dutton, Fehr, & McEwen, 1982; LaMotte & Murphy, 2017; Lau & Stevens, 2012; Simoneti, Scott, & Murphy, 2000).…”

Transforming Research Methods in the Social Sciences

“…In this regard, feminist research benefits from a broader vision of critical work on gender in society and its myriad enactments and sociopolitical formations. Critical work on masculinities, for example, can thus be enhanced through a feminist lens (Boonzaier, 2014;Lau & Stevens, 2012;Ratele, 2008Ratele, , 2013.…”

What is there to learn about violence and masculinity from a genderqueer man?

“…First, it offers insights into men’s subjective understandings of their use of violence, which tend to be overlooked in quantitative work on men and violence. Secondly, it reveals how men position themselves in relation to their use of violence and how they construct their subjectivities post-violence [26]. Similarly, by focusing on a case of a ‘non-violent man’ in a violent context it becomes possible to examine the social discourses that are embedded in talk, as well as inscribed into subjectivity.…”