Intimate partner violence as masculine accomplishment: resistance to victimhood in accounts of violence by gay men in urban South Africa

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health concern. Much research on the topic has focused on heterosexual relationships where men are frequently perpetrators and woman the victims of IPV as a function of systemically gendered inequality embedded in pervasive forms of patriarchy. However, IPV is also a concern in same-sex relationships. While the forms and functions of sexuality and gender in talk about IPV in heteronormative relationships are well documented, research on the ways that these key social categories feature in accounts of Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence (SSIPV) has been limited. The current study advances this important area of violence scholarship by exploring the ways in which self-identified gay men describe violence in their intimate relationships. Our critical discourse analysis of accounts of IPV elicited through in-depth, semi-structured interviews demonstrates the ways in which the participants framed violence as unintimidating, tolerable, natural, erotic or even actively sought-after as part of an overarching strategy aimed at making claims on agency and resisting victimhood. The analysis suggests that researchers and policymakers should take cognisance of the local meanings and range of moral positions used by gay men to account for IPV when setting scholarship agendas and developing interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Intimate partner violence
• same-sex intimate partner violence
• gay men
• masculinities
• discourse analysis

5. Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the participants of the study and the organisations that assisted with the recruitment of interviewees.

6. Disclosure statement

There is no potential conflict of interest that could have influenced the current research study.

7. Word Count

7109; (inclusive of references: 8465)

Notes

1. Subject position refers to the relative location of one’s self produced within and against discourses, and thus subjected to its rules, exclusions and potentialities (Foucault, 1982).

2. An alternate, more empowering, term of ‘survivor’ has been used in opposite sex IPV.

3. ‘P’ denotes participant and ‘I’ denotes Interviewer. Only pseudonyms were used.

4. ‘Eish!’ is a South African informal exclamation expressing surprise, exasperation or disbelief.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yolandran Moodley

Yolandran Moodley is a counselling psychologist in the Centre for Psychological Services and Career Development at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. His research areas include violence, sexuality and the intersections between psychotherapy and spirituality. The current research was conducted whilst at the department of psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Brett Bowman

Brett Bowman is a professor in the Department of Psychology and Assistant Dean (Humanities Research) at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. His research focuses on the intersections between violence and social asymmetries in low- and middle-income countries.  The overarching objective of his current work lies in better understanding the psychology of violence by critically examining the situational features and mechanisms that shape the trajectories and outcomes of violent interactions in multi-country contexts.