“The women, they maltreat them… therefore, we cannot assure that the future society will be good”: Male perspectives on gender-based violence: A focus group study with young men in Haiti

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of violence against women (VAW) held by Haitian men to gain a better understanding of why VAW occurs. Women in Haiti have experienced significant violence, both before and following the 2010 earthquake. Fifteen men ages 26 to 47 participated in a focus group. The data revealed three themes: men's beliefs about VAW and its context, factors influencing VAW, and recommended interventions. When approaching VAW, men must be part of the collective effort. Their insights are valuable when planning and implementing interventions to decrease VAW in Haiti and worldwide.

Violence and abuse of internally displaced women survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

“…However, only some areas of the world have such high rates despite the level of education. Such regions indicate lower status of women with equally rigid masculinity norms, regarding the acceptability of using violence against women (Gabriel et al 2016). In terms of cultural attitudes supporting violence, although the majority of the women, in both, the abused and non-abused groups, did not express a personal tolerance for abuse, there were higher percentages of women overall who expressed such tolerance than in a sample in the USVI and in the US (Stockman et al 2014).…”

Concept Mapping: Engaging Urban Men to Understand Community Influences on Partner Violence Perpetration

“…Lack of judgment Reality T.V. (10) Religious beliefs (25) Perceived racism (38) Partners have different opinions about issues in the community (39) Lack of positive parent role models (46)…”

“…Urban environments like Baltimore, MD, house a myriad of socio-structural factors that increase the risk of violence [16], including homicides and other forms of street violence that are often a priority of prevention [15,[18][19][20]. Given the complexity of violence, identified risk factors have emerged at multiple levels of the socio-ecological framework [21], with violence among men associated with use of violence in intimate relationships [15,[22][23][24][25][26]. Socio-ecological factors such as adverse childhood experiences, witnessing abuse as a child, cultural norms related to manhood and acceptability of violence, and participating in community violence have been linked to IPV perpetration among men in adulthood [15,[22][23][24][25][26].…”

“…Given the complexity of violence, identified risk factors have emerged at multiple levels of the socio-ecological framework [21], with violence among men associated with use of violence in intimate relationships [15,[22][23][24][25][26]. Socio-ecological factors such as adverse childhood experiences, witnessing abuse as a child, cultural norms related to manhood and acceptability of violence, and participating in community violence have been linked to IPV perpetration among men in adulthood [15,[22][23][24][25][26]. Central to violence perpetration is the construct of stress, also associated with community-driven factors such as discrimination [27][28][29], neighborhood disorder [30], and other neighborhood related stressors like fighting for survival [28,31], criminal justice involvement [32,33], neighborhood poverty [34][35][36][37], and individual financial strain [36][37][38] (Fig.…”

“…While women are likely to experience violence from an intimate partner, men are more likely to be a victim of violence perpetrated by a stranger or acquaintance, which, in turn, increases their odds of using IPV [13][14][15]. At the community level, community violence and social norms that promote gendered power dynamics increase male perpetrated abuse [25,31,39]. Peitzmeier and colleagues [31] explored the impact of recent community violence victimization among a sample of adolescent men from four disadvantaged cities in North America, Asia, and Africa (Baltimore, USA; Delhi, IN; Johannesburg, ZA; Shanghai, CN).…”