Balancing Contradictory Identities—Performing Masculinity in Victim Narratives

Abstract

Modern sociological identity analysis argues that people perform a preferred identity, rather than revealing an essential self. But what if a given situation necessitates performance of apparently incompatible identities? Earlier research seems to suggest that people will resist one identity and foreground another. Here, the authors present another strategy of delicately balancing the performance of conflicting identities. Their interviews of Swedish young men who were victims of violence reveal that this identity balance occurs through emphasizing and defending the threatened but seemingly preferred identity, with reference to the other identity in more subtle terms. As they elaborated on their experiences, these men did not reject a victim identity altogether but subtly or implicitly modified it. They discursively positioned themselves as both “masculine men” and “victims,” combining seemingly mismatched identities. They achieve the identity work by describing initiative and defense, accounting for non-resistance, and describing injuries, fear, and sympathy from others.