Male Violence

This essay discusses the causes and statistics of male violence, focusing on the role of masculinity in violent behavior. It explores the impact of violence on society and the gendered nature of domestic violence.

Running head: MALE VIOLENCE
Male Violence
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Violence refers to extreme form of the aggression like murder, rape or assault. There are
many causes that can give rise to violence like frustration along with the exposure to the media.
There are certain situations in the society that increases risk of the aggression like drinking,
insult along with other forms of the provocation. Damage that is inflicted by the violence can be
physical or psychological. Violence can be said to be a common kind of human behavior that
takes place in people across the world. Violence bears negative effects on the people who are
witnessing or experiencing it and it can be said that children are susceptible to the harm (Ray
2018). The violence is mainly perpetrated by the people of the male gender on the women as
they are physically more powerful and they are more dominant in the society. This essay
discusses about the statistics in relation to violent victimization in UK. The essay also discusses
about the role of the masculinity in the different theories of the violence. The essay also talks
about other theories of the violence that can help in explaining why the violence is mostly carried
out by the men within the society.
The boys and the men in the society learn the “appropriate” gender roles on the basis of
the masculine expectation of the society. It can be stated that the identity of the individuals in the
society are socially constructed. According to Heise (2018), the process of “gendering” takes
place from a very early age that leaves a deep impression on the mind of the boys and the girls
within the society. The toys are marked in a different manner that bears testimony to the different
expectation from the girls and the boys in the society. The external sources help the men and the
boys in learning about the conventional gender roles. The boys are asked not to cry as it is held
that they are stronger and hence should not engage themselves in the act of crying. The girls on
the other hand are thought of to be the weaker gender who engages themselves in crying. There
are colloquialisms in the society that helps in transferring message that members of certain

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gender should have rigid expectations. In the event of not fulfilling the expectation, the boys and
the men in society are subjected to ridicule. It has been argued by Raine (2019), the men in the
society can be said to be influenced by the upbringing along with the social environment that
plays an important role in determining the view of an individual in relation to masculinity and
the manhood. There are various kinds of influential factors that help in shaping the idea of the
manhood like the race, class and the sexual orientation. The social identities are the salient
factors in the society that helps in the determination of who has power and the privileges in the
society.
It has been found out with the help of research that 35 % of the women in the year 2013
experience some kind of violence. Statistics has brought out the fact that nearly third of the
women in the relationship had to face physical and the sexual violence. In UK, it is found that
two women are put to death by the partner in every week within England along with Wales.
Among the female homicides, it is found that 40 % lose their lives on account of the gendered
violence. The UK police receive call regarding domestic abuse and 89 % are about the woman
getting abused by the man (Hird 2017). The domestic violence within the society can be said to
be of gendered nature and it is found that the women in the UK have four times more chances of
being killed by the current or the former partner.
It was found that in the year 2009-10, the women in the society were victims in relation
to 73 % of that of the domestic violence incidents. It has been found that in 81 % of the
incidents, offender was found to be male (Searles 2018). The severity of the violence that was
used by the men was found to be more extreme and the men had more chances of using the
physical violence and the threats. According to Herrero et al. (2017), the women have four times
more chances of experiencing the lethal violence like the threats or the assault with the gun or

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the knife. The women have three times more chances of reporting suffering in relation to
physical injury. This statistics in UK points forward to the fact that the violence in the society is
primarily the problem of the males. The statistics in relation to violent victimization in the
society highlight the fact that it is the males in the society who are majorly involved in inflicting
violence in the society.
Culture of the violence theory helps in addressing pervasiveness of the violent patterns in
the societal dimension. Culture plays an important role in sanctioning the violent acts and the
cultures legitimizing the violence can be seen in the case of the rape myths. The rape myths pave
the path for misconstrued notion of the blame and the blame of the rape is laid on victim instead
of offender. This theory helps in addressing the pervasiveness of the violent patterns within the
societal dimension (Straus, Gelles and Steinmetz 2017). This theory helps in explaining how the
cultures and the societies help in sanctioning the violent acts. It helps in explaining how the
direct act of the violence is built into the system of the society. There exists an intrinsic
relationship in between the notion of masculinity and the violence in the society. According to
Krahé (2018), the masculinity in the society can be defined in terms of characteristics like
possessing strong personality, ambitious, dominant and assertive. The men carry out the acts of
the violence as it helps in affirming that they are superior in relation to the women in the society.
The violent acts are carried out as it helps in revealing that they are stronger as compared to their
female counterparts in the society. An important feature of the homicide can be said to be the
gendered character of the homicide. Study has brought out the fact that the males make up a
large majority of the homicide offenders (Oakley 2016). They are the perpetrators of the violence
owing to the notions prevailing in the society. There are a small number of homicides where the
offender along with victim have been found to be male. The culture pertaining to violence in the

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society is responsible for the males carrying out the violence. It is hence found that violence is
distinctively masculine and therefore violence can be said to be prerogative of the male members
in the society.
The power theory was developed by that of Robert Connell and it states that the power
imbalance in the society gives rise to sexual inequality in the society. On the basis of the power
theory, it can be said that the domestic violence within the society exists on account of the power
differential existing within the families. Power differentials occurs in the family owing to age
and the gender differences (Searles 2018). It is found that those people who are stronger inflict
violence on the weaker section of the society. The men are granted more power in the society on
account of their social status and their strength. The common pattern in the society is that the
people who are more powerful abuse the ones who are least powerful in the society. The
oppression that takes place against the women can be said to be expression pertaining to the male
chauvinism. The violence is used like a mechanism by the men in the society for controlling and
subjugating the women. It can be said to be a manifestation pertaining to unequal power
relationship that is sustained by the notions of patriarchy in the society. The discriminatory
culture norms prevailing in the society give rise to the gendered violence in the society. It has
been found that the cultural embodiments in relation to patriarchal thinking vary across the
cultures however the basic tenet in relation to patriarchy makes the women the victim of violence
within the framework of the society. Domestic violence perpetuates the dependence of the
woman and she is considered to be a form of the property in the society. The violence that is
carried out against the women in the society can be said to be the manifestation of the male
power which is endorsed with the help of the individual experiences along with the wider
structural inequality.

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The domestic violence in the society rises from the personal, cultural and the economic
factors that help in the creation of an environment where gender based violence exists.
Patriarchal form within the society lessens the status of the women that paves the path for the
violent activities against the women in the society (Ray 2018). The patriarchal ideas in the
society makes the men feel that they are superior that makes them the perpetrators of the
violence in the society. The patriarchal outlook helps in the development of humiliating attitudes
towards the women and it perceives the women like an “object”. It provides the women with the
low status in the society and it makes the women subject to the male violence that has a negative
impact on their life (Hird 2017). The patriarchal style in the family helps in legitimizing the
violence within the man-woman relationship which can be said to be the basis of the gender
inequality in the society.
The boys in the society who do not meet expectations of being man are thought of to be
homophobic and they are derided upon by the people in the society. These kinds of degradations
control the boundaries regarding the acceptable appearance and the behavior of the men and the
boys in the society. It can be stated that the gender roles in the society are rigidly defined and
they are vigilantly enforced. Violence can be said to be a tenet of the hegemonic masculinity as a
large number of violence is carried out by the men (Oakley 2016). Violence can be stated to be a
masculine phenomenon and statistics brings out the fact that the women are the main victims of
the male violence. It has been observed that the queer and the transmen are also at the receiving
end of the violence as they are thought of to be weak in the society (Searles 2018). Violence
takes place against the individuals on the basis of the sexual orientation that helps in the
expression of the sexual stigma. Sexual stigma can be said to be based on the sexual orientation
of an individual that rises from the shared belief of the society. It is found that homosexuality is

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derided upon in the society and the stigma is enacted by the institutions in the society. There are
men who are oppressed in the societal structure that helps in embodying the concept of the
“marginalized masculinities”. They are ridiculed by the privileged men that helps in constructing
the identities of these men.
Violence is indicative of aggression that is manifested in the society with the help of the
murder or the assault. There are certain situations which increases the chances of the violence
like the drinking and the insults. The men within society learn “gender roles” based on masculine
expectation of society. Identity of individuals in the society can be said to be socially
constructed. It is found that within UK there are two women who are killed by that of their
partner in each week. Research has brought out the fact that there are 40 % of the people who
lose the lives owing to gendered violence. Culture of violence theory talks about violent patterns
within the framework of the society. Culture is responsible for sanctioning violent acts and
culture helps in legitimizing the aspect of the violence in the society. The male chauvinism
prevalent in the society makes the women subject to oppression by the male gender. Violence
acts like a mechanism that helps in controlling women within society.

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References
Heise, L., 2018. Violence against women: the missing agenda. In The health of women (pp. 171-
196). Routledge.
Herrero, J., Torres, A., Rodríguez, F.J. and Juarros-Basterretxea, J., 2017. Intimate partner
violence against women in the European Union: The influence of male partners’ traditional
gender roles and general violence. Psychology of violence, 7(3), p.385.
Hird, M.J., 2017. Engendering violence: Heterosexual interpersonal violence from childhood to
adulthood. Routledge.
Krahé, B., 2018. Violence against women. Current opinion in psychology, 19, pp.6-10.
Oakley, A., 2016. Sex, gender and society. Routledge.
Raine, A., 2019. A neurodevelopmental perspective on male violence. Infant mental health
journal, 40(1), pp.84-97.
Ray, L., 2018. Violence and society. Sage.
Searles, P., 2018. Rape and society: Readings on the problem of sexual assault. Routledge.
Straus, M.A., Gelles, R.J. and Steinmetz, S.K., 2017. Behind closed doors: Violence in the
American family. Routledge.