En (tro)verdig utsatt? Menns fortellinger om vold fra en kvinnelig eller mannlig partner
Based on a qualitative interview study, this chapter explores men’s stories about their experiences with being exposed to violence from a male or female partner. Research on intimate partner violence has traditionally focused on male perpetrators and female victims, reflecting the general cultural understandings of gender and violence. There is a lack of studies treating men’s exposure to intimate partner violence as a diverse phenomenon in itself, rather than as a contrast or comment to women’s exposure to such violence. This chapter looks at how men try to balance masculinity and victimhood in their stories. The analysis reveals three dominant narrative strategies that men use in order to present their stories of victimhood with dignity: narratives of caring and responsibility, narratives of fear and victimhood, and narratives of passivity related to superiority in physical strength. Some men combine different strategies, while others choose one as a core subject of their story. Furthermore, these strategies may have different meanings and are used differently, depending on age, class, distance to the violence in time, and the abusive partner’s gender.