Queering desistance: Chrononormativity, afterwardsness and young men’s sexual intimate partner violence

Abstract

Queer criminology has primarily focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people as victims and perpetrators of crime, as well as on the criminalization of non-heterosexual practices. In this article, we contribute to the emerging discussions on how queer theory can be used in relation to criminological research by exploring desistance processes from a queer temporality perspective. Desistance research emphasizes how and why individuals cease offending and is often guided by a teleology in which individuals are expected to mature and develop new, non-criminal identities. Work on queer temporality, in contrast, has developed thinking that destabilizes chronology and troubles normative life trajectories. In this article, we draw on queer temporality perspectives, particularly the concepts of chrononormativity and afterwardsness, in analysing narratives of young men who have used sexual violence against women partners in Sweden. We demonstrate how criminal identities may develop in retrospect, after desisting, and that identity and behaviour may not necessarily go together.

Stories of Backlash in Interviews With Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Sweden

“…In Karin's story, the discord between the partner's feminist identity and his violent actions blended with guilt and shame, which became driving forces for further violence. Corresponding references to discrepancy between IPVAW perpetrators' principles and actions (Berggren et al, 2020;Boethius, 2015), and to associated shame (Gottzén, 2016), can also be found in previous research from a Swedish context. Such discrepancy, which in Karin's story made it hard to discern and understand the violence, is reminiscent of references to the co-existence of gender equality and IPVAW in Sweden as indicating a gap between principle and practice (Gottzén, 2014), between ideal and reality (Stubberud et al, 2018), or between a gender-equal surface level and misogynistic dynamics playing out below (Wemrell et al, 2021).…”

Finska fångars ambitioner om att upphöra med brott

“…Majoriteten av den nordiska forskningen har fokuserat på män, men på senare år har också kvinnors upphörande med brott belysts (Gålnander, 2020;Salovaara, 2019;Gjeruldsen and Jensen, 2021;Österman, 2018). Olika grupper av indi vider har studerats, såsom unga lagbrytare (Deuchar et al, 2016;Sandøy, 2019;Carlsson, 2013) och sexuella förbrytare (Kruse, 2020;Berggren et al, 2020). Påverkan av olika strukturella faktorer har också uppmärksammats i den nordiska forskningen, som betydelsen av arbete (Skardhamar and Savolainen, 2014), äktenskap (Skardhamar et al, 2015;Savolainen, 2009), skulder (Todd Kvam, 2019) och villkorliga domar (ToddKvam, 2020).…”

Masculine Identity: How It Affects Street Racing and Aggressive Behaviour in Young Motorcyclists

“…Masculine identity is often associated with violence, aggression and speeding in men (Amad et al, 2020;Berger et al, 2013;Berggren et al, 2020;Forward, 2021). Motorcycle races among youth are popular and have different monikers around the world like 'Mat Rempit' in Malaysia, 'sprints' or 'cannonball runs' in Europe and the United States of America, 'Hoon and Boy-Racer' in Australasia, 'Tramero' in Spain, and 'Hashiriya' in Japan (Hussin, 2017;Ibrahim et al, 2015).…”