Masculine Norms and Violence: Making the Connections

“One factor that becomes particularly clear is how gender enters the equation. Men are the predominant users of violence against women. Men are also the predominant authors of homicide and victims of it. "

Promundo and Oak Foundation focused this report on the questions: "How do norms of manhood link with the use and experience of violence, and what do these linkages imply for programmatic efforts to prevent violence?" The report gathers findings and connections using a gendered lens to examine the body of research on violence.  It offers "initial ideas on how some harmful, patriarchal ideas, norms, and socialization about manhood drive violence, in interaction with many other contextual ....Manhood or masculinity alone is not the cause of violence, but the way we socialize boys to become men is clearly a factor."

Harmful masculine norms include:

1. "Achieving socially recognized manhood...
2. Policing masculine performance...
3. 'Gendering' the heart - refraining from showing emotional vulnerability
4. Dividing spaces and cultures by gender
5. Reinforcing patriarchal power"

The report examines eight forms of violent behaviour in relation to masculine norms: intimate partner violence; physical violence against children (by parents or caregivers); child sexual abuse and exploitation; bullying; homicide and other violent crime; non-partner sexual violence; suicide; and conflict and war.

Recommendations for researchers, programmers, policymakers, donors, and others working to prevent and respond to violence include understanding patriarchal power and harmful masculine norms. "Recommendations for improved future practice include:

• Move beyond the notion that violence is natural and normal for men, and emphasize many men’s – and women’s - resistance to violence.
• Consider how masculine norms are reinforced and taught to children, along with how gender inequalities manifest in the lives of women and girls, and those of all gender identities.
• Include the voices, preferences, and experiences of survivors of violence in research, programs, and policy development.
• Fund, scale up, and build upon pioneering violence prevention approaches that directly address gender (including masculine norms) and power.
• Challenge masculine norms directly in violence prevention programming through gender transformative approaches (those that deliberately seek to change social norms related to gender).
• Reduce barriers to help-seeking and health seeking in response to experiences of trauma and violence for men and boys - and all other victims of violence - by working with social- and health service providers, as well as by promoting self care and help-seeking.
• Move beyond addressing only individual- or community-level changes in programming, and look to structural and political factors underlying - and even benefiting from - men’s violence."