Masculinity, Socialization and Justification of Gender Violence in men of the Region of Araucanía (Chile)

Abstract

Gender violence is established as one of the biggest social problems and public health in recent years. The scientific literature suggests that this is due to a perceived loss of power by men over women (Kimmel, 2008): this situation does nothing but increase the number of women who are victims of violence and worse are killed by their partners or former partners. Now, what are the perceptions of men about gender violence? Are there mechanisms for naturalization and justification of gender violence in a relationship by men? How the construction of masculinity characterized these men? This paper addresses these questions from quantitative study in three of the counties with the highest number of complaints of gender violence in the region of Araucania: Puerto Saavedra, Chol-chol and Lumaco, in 2015. The results indicate that men justify violence by drug use, as well perceptions, beliefs and stereotypes associated present a model of hegemonic masculinity (Kimmel, 2000; Connell 2005) and a traditional model relationships (Gomez, 2004).