A continuum of acceptability: understanding young people’s views on gender based violence

Abstract

This chapter examines young people's understandings of gender based violence (GBV) and the ways in which they talk about the acceptability of violence. It reviews research on secondary school pupils' views and experiences of gender based harassment and violence, showing the pervasive normalisation and acceptance of GBV by young people as well as the centrality of heteronormativity to their justifications of violence. Building on the concept of a continuum of violence, the chapter argues that we need to re-theorise young people's views on violence in terms of a ‘continuum of acceptability’. Finally, it considers how young people's acceptance of sexual harassment, coercion and sexual violence can be used to understand why some women engage in, or normalise and accept, ‘lad culture’.