Girlfriend Abuse as a Form of Masculinity Construction among Violent, Marginal Male Youth

Abstract

This study focuses on the development and effect of familial and gender ideologies on the masculine identities of thirty marginal male youth aged thirteen to seventeen years, all of whom were gang members or belonged to violent male peer groups. Qualitative, indepth interviews uncovered protest and negative masculine identities. Their abusive behavior, directed at girlfriends, gays, and racial minorities, is suggested to be a response to blocked access to traditional institutional benefits of patriarchy. Violence compensated for perceived threats to their masculine identities. The construction of masculinity was an ongoing process for these boys, negotiated and developed on a daily basis using available resources in their social space location. Significant differences within the sample explain the variation in the degree to which they embraced patriarchal-authoritarian models of family and gender, and variation in the forms and seriousness of their physical and sexual violence.