Men, masculinities, and gender‐based violence: The broadening scope of recent research

Abstract

Men's relationships to gender-based violence (GBV) have long been an area of sociological inquiry, but until recently men have primarily been framed as perpetrators of violence against women. More recently, research on men and GBV has broadened to include studying men as victims/survivors, as investigators and law enforcement officers, as passive or active bystanders, and as allies in working to address this social problem. We review this research in an effort to bridge these divergent bodies of work; we identify methodological trends and gaps in existing research, make recommendations for improved theoretical and methodological robustness, and suggest that research perspectives on men and GBV have shifted over time as wider understandings of gender and masculinities become more hopeful and more inclusive. While we see optimism and promise in new directions of GBV research, we urge ongoing research to retain the wisdoms and critical perspectives that marked the beginnings of GBV inquiry. K E Y W O R D S domestic violence, gender-based violence, men and masculinities, men as allies, men as victims, rape, sexual violence 1 | INTRODUCTION Over the last half-century, research on gender-based violence (GBV) has expanded dramatically as scholars work to better understand the phenomena and thereby contribute to addressing GBV more effectively. In this article, we use GBV to include primarily physical sexual violence (i.e., rape, sexual assault, and so forth), intimate partner violence, and sexual coercion, but also other forms of interpersonal physical and non-physical violence imposed on

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What does gender have to do with the price of tuna? Social-ecological systems view of women, gender, and governance in Fiji’s tuna fishery

“…Gender-based violence is commonly discussed and researched in reference to violence against women and girls (Carpenter 2006). The little research that examines gender-based violence against men tends to centre on sexual violence or military violence (Carpenter 2017; Christian et al 2011;Peretz and Vidmar 2021). We therefore adopt the following definition of gender-based violence, "violence that is targeted at women or men because of their sex and/or their socially constructed gender roles" (Carpenter 2006, p. 83).…”

Settler colonial origins of intimate partner violence in Indigenous communities

“…Critiques of feminist perspectives of IPV are multifold including: primary emphasis on heterosexual relationships (Cannon, 2015); early primary focus on the category of gender itself (McPhail et al., 2007); assuming that violence cannot be gender symmetric (Melton & Belknap, 2003); assuming victims want to leave their abusive relationships (Mills, 2003); and failing to account for the differential experiences of IPV for those with non‐heteronormative identities (Boonzaier & Van Schalkwyk, 2011). Importantly, more scholars are addressing IPV and other forms of gender‐based violence among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans partnerships (Cannon & Buttell, 2020; Harden et al., 2022; Messinger, 2017), IPV perpetrated by women (Peretz & Vidmar, 2021; Spencer et al., 2016; Testa et al., 2011), and IPV victimization related to women's decisions to stay in their abusive relationships (Cravens et al., 2015; Meyer, 2012). De Coster and Heimer (2021) argued that a unifying feminist theoretical framework that explores the intersections of gendered and racial structures can more effectively examine systems of oppression and IPV.…”