Att vara eller att inte vara man

: en kvalitativ studie om mäns konstruktion av maskulinitet genom våld i förundersökningsprotokoll vid grov kvinnofridskränkning

Abstract

This study examines how violence in close relationship in seven cases of gross violation of women's rights can be understood from Messerschmidt's theory on construction of masculinity and criminality. The purpose of this study is to examine the explanations for the violence in the cases as well as how the perpetrators describes the victim’s role in the violence. The problem statements in this study are 1) What does the working situation look like for the woman and man in the analysed cases? 2) How are the violence explained in the cases and how does the perpetrators describe the women's part in the violence? and 3) How can these explanations be understood from Messerschmidt's theory on masculinity and crime? The used method is a qualitative content analysis. The results show that the perpetrators unemployment has an effect, though not a causal relationship, on the occurring of the violence. Three themes emerged from the analysis that showed that control, jealousy and authority are central when describing the violence. It also emerged that the perpetrators tried to place the blame on the victim by describing how she provoked him to violence. Conclusions of this study are that the analysed descriptions can be understood and explained through the construction of masculinity and the violence mainly occurred when the masculine identity was perceived as being questioned by the victim.