The purpose of the essay is to overcome interpretative dualism between Italian and Serbian society about gender violence against women. In a comparative approach it will find elements of continuity between the decline of male domination in Italy and the decline of patriarchal power in Serbia as a result of a variety of historical and social causes that, inside the paper, are explained. The emancipation of women finds a block in the violence suffered by partners in some familiar contexts. While globalization and unemployment seem to deprive men of the marks of traditional power, but 'men in decline' have an post-patriarchal 'identity revanche' in assuming the dominant role of perpetrators in private life. Gender violence has an instrumental ...