Women's domestic violence against men, gender norms and masculinity : A qualitative study about social workers' experiences of meetings with male victims

The purpose of this study is to investigate social workers' experience in meeting men who are victims of domestic violence by women. Through this study we want to acquire an in-depth understanding of how social norms of gender and masculinity have an impact on domestic violence by women as well as its impact on social workers in their treatment of the abused men. The methodological starting point of this study is based on a hermeneutic qualitative approach where empirical data have been obtained through semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted with six social workers who all come in contact with domestic violence through their work. Results from this study show that the norms of gender and masculinity which exist in our society do affect the view of men and manhood and it affects the view on women’s violence and violence in general. It also affects how the social workers treat men who are victims of domestic abuse by women. The result of this is that men feel a lot of shame about being victims of domestic abuse hence making it hard to reach them in efforts to help. Our conclusion is that social workers need to learn more about how norms of gender and masculinity affect what the men are feeling and hence find ways to treat these men without shame interfering in that treatment.