Citation

Venäläinen S. Men Masc. 2020; 23(3-4): 772-787.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1097184X18824374

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

DISCUSSIONs about men's victimization by their female intimate partners have gained increased visibility in the last two decades. These discussions put victim positions on offer for men that stand in stark contrast to more widespread associations between masculinity and perpetration of violence. This article examines how these contradictory positionings play out and are discursively negotiated in Finnish online discussions of female-inflicted intimate partner violence (IPV). Two recurring types of positioning of men were identified in the analysis: neglected victims and naturally superior perpetrators. The analysis illustrates how gendered differences between men and women in relation to violence are both reiterated and denied in the processes of enacting, balancing, and rhetorically employing these positionings. Thereby, light is shed on the multiplicity of complex and fluid ways in which masculinities are constructed and customized in the context of meaning-making surrounding the issue of IPV.

Language: en

Keywords

discourse; intimate partner violence; masculinity; online discussions; victimhood