Margunn Bjørnholt

Lucas Gottzén, Margunn Bjørnholt and Floretta Boonzaier, (eds., 2021): Men, Masculinities and Intimate Partner Violence. London/New York: Routledge.

Although men’s violence against women has for a long time been recognized as a gendered issue, and a number of masculinity scholars have made important connections between theorising on men and masculinities and its relationship to violence, the question of men, masculinities and IPV has not been foregrounded in masculinity studies, gender studies or in studies of violence more broadly. This book aims to fill this gap by explicitly foregrounding the theorising of men and masculinities in the context of the study of intimate partner violence.

We are overwhelmed that our symposium attracted such a large crowd. I hope those who were not able to attend will hang on and read the book edited by @lgottzen @mbjornholt & Floretta Boonzaier. To be publ 2020 by @Routledge_Socio https://t.co/aPkPv9AeZK

— Margunn Bjørnholt (@mbjornholt) September 4, 2019

Kristin Skjørten, Elisiv Bakketeig, Margunn Bjørnholt & Svein Mossige (red.) (2019): Vold i nære relasjoner: Forståelser, konsekvenser og tiltak. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

Les boken her (open access).

Denne boken presenterer ny kunnskap om vold i nære relasjoner, og belyser blant annet spørsmål som: Er vold i nære relasjoner fortsatt et likestillingsproblem? Hva er seksuell vold i parforhold? Hvilke særlige utfordringer har eldre voldsutsatte? Hva hindrer voldsutsatte med funksjonsnedsettelse å søke hjelp? Har holdningskampanjer noe for seg? Er frivillige organisasjoner fortsatt vaktbikkjer? Hvordan beskytte barn mot vold i foreldretvister? Fungerer besøksforbud etter sin hensikt? Ønsker voldsutsatte at overgriper blir straffet? Hvordan påvirker migrasjon forståelser av kjønnslemlestelse?

Vold i nære relasjoner er i dag anerkjent som et alvorlig samfunnsproblem, 40 år etter at kvinnemishandling ble satt på dagsorden. I årene som har gått har det skjedd mye, både når det gjelder hvordan vi forstår volden og samfunnets håndtering av volden. Derfor er bokens røde tråd vold i nære relasjoner som et felt i bevegelse. Nye former for overgrep i familien er avdekket, nye perspektiver er kommet til, og flere begreper tatt i bruk for å betegne denne volden. I kjølvannet av et mer pluralistisk voldsbilde er mange nye tiltak satt i verk. Ulike internasjonale konvensjoner forplikter også Norge til å iverksette tiltak for å forebygge og bekjempe vold i nære relasjoner.

Opplever kvinner og menn like mye vold i parforholdet? Er vold i parforholdet et uttrykk for manglende likestilling? Og hva er sammenhengen mellom vold i parforholdet og maktfordelingen mellom kjønnene i samfunnet for øvrig?

På oppdrag fra Justis- og beredskapsdepartementet har NKVTS undersøkt hva kjønn og likestilling betyr for vold i parforhold. Studien «Vold i parforhold – kjønn, likestilling og makt» finner at kvinner er langt mer utsatt for grov, seksuell og gjentatt vold i parforhold. Kvinner frykter i større grad å bli skadet eller drept enn menn utsatt for samme type handling. Når det gjelder mild partnervold, er like mange kvinner og menn utsatt for minst en handling som regnes som vold i omfangsstudier, men kvinner er utsatt for flere hendelser. Den kvalitative delen av studien diskuterer hvordan vold i parforhold bør defineres.

Seksuell vold, og vold i svangerskapet, er en viktig del av kvinners voldsutsatthet i parforhold. Den seksuelle volden dekker et bredt spekter av voldsformer, fra det som kan anses som milde former og seksuell trakassering, til voldtekt. Under graviditet og barseltid er kvinner er særlig sårbare for vold, og fødsel kan være traumatisk for kvinner som har opplevd seksuelle overgrep. Den seksuelle og reproduktive volden flyter over i hverandre.

Voldsutsatte mødre har en særlig utsatt posisjon. For en del blir foreldresamarbeidet etter samlivsbrudd en arena for fortsatt vold og kontroll. Studien viser at noen mødre får god hjelp av hjelpeinstanser, mens andre opplever møtet med hjelpeapparatet som nok en belastning.

Kjønnsperspektivet er sentralt for å forstå partnervold fordi det er store kjønnsforskjeller i utsatthet. I tillegg har kvinner og menn ulik tilgang på ressurser som igjen får betydning for muligheten til å bryte ut av relasjonen. Kjønnsperspektiv får frem dominerende mønstre, men utelukker ikke at voldsutsatte menn kan ha både tilsvarende og særegne utfordringer.

Prosjektet er gjennomført av Margunn Bjørnholt (prosjektleder), Ole Kristian Hjemdal og Hannah Helseth.

Les rapporten

Margunn Bjørnholt og Hannah Helseth (2019). Vold i parforhold – kjønn, likestilling og makt. Oslo: Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress. Rapport 2/2019. Last ned rapporten her eller bestill den her.

Se lanseringen av rapporten her (presentasjon ved Margunn Bjørnholt og Hannah Helseth med kommentarer fra likestillings- og diskrimineringsombud Hanne Bjurstrøm).

Les også kronikken «Kvinner er mest utsatt for vold i parforhold» av Margunn Bjørnholt og Hannah Helseth i Forskning.no.

Andre publikasjoner i prosjektet

Artikler og bokkapitler

• Domestic violence and abuse through a feminist lens (2021). In J. Devaney, C. Bradbury-Jones, S. Holt, R. Macy, C. Överlien (eds.), The Routledge Handbook on Domestic Violence and Abuse. London/New York: Routledge.
• Gottzén, Lucas; Bjørnholt, Margunn &  Boonzaier, Floretta (2020). What has masculinity to do with intimate partner violence? In Lucas Gottzén, Margunn Bjørnholt and Floretta Boonzaier (eds.), Men, Masculinities and Intimate Partner Violence. London/New York: Routledge.
• Bjørnholt, Margunn; Rosten, Monika (2020). Male victims of violence and men’s rights struggles: a perfect match? I Lucas Gottzén, Margunn Bjørnholt og Floretta Boonzaier (red.), Men, Masculinities and Intimate Partner Violence. London/New York: Routledge.
• Bjørnholt, Margunn (2020). Vold, kjærlighet og makt i likestillingslandet. In Anja Bredal, Helga Eggebø og Astrid Eriksen (red), Vold i nære relasjoner i et mangfoldig Norge. Cappelen Akademisk.
• Bjørnholt, Margunn (2019). Theorising sexual violence in intimate relations in Scandinavia. I Marie Bruvik Heinskou, May-Len Skilbrei og Kari Stefansen (red.), Rape in the Nordic Countries. London/New York: Routledge. ISBN: 978-1-13-860651-7.
• Skjørten, Kristin; Bakketeig, Elisiv; Bjørnholt, Margunn; Mossige, Svein (2019). Vold i nære relasjoner – et felt i bevegelse. I Kristin Skjørten, Elisiv Bakketeig, Margunn Bjørnholt og Svein Mossige (red.), Vold i nære relasjoner: Forståelser, konsekvenser og tiltak (s. 13-29). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. doi: 10.18261/9788215032320-2019-01.
• Bjørnholt, Margunn; Helseth, Hannah (2019). «Jeg ville jo si nei» – seksuell vold i parforhold. I Kristin Skjørten, Elisiv Bakketeig, Margunn Bjørnholt og Svein Mossige (red.), Vold i nære relasjoner: Forståelser, konsekvenser og tiltak (s. 85–103). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. doi: 10.18261/9788215032320-2019-05.
• Bjørnholt, Margunn (2019). Vold i parforhold – fortsatt et likestillingsproblem. I Kristin Skjørten, Elisiv Bakketeig, Margunn Bjørnholt og Svein Mossige (red.), Vold i nære relasjoner: Forståelser, konsekvenser og tiltak (s. 33–47). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. doi: 10.18261/9788215032320-2019-02.
• Bjørnholt, Margunn (2019). The social dynamics of revictimization and intimate partner violence: an embodied, gendered, institutional and life course perspective (PDF). Nordic Journal of Criminology, 20(1), 90–110. doi: 10.1080/14043858.2019.1568103
• Bjørnholt, Margunn; Hjemdal, Ole Kristian (2018). Measuring violence, mainstreaming gender; does adding harm make a difference? (PDF). Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 2(3), 465–479. doi: 10.1332/239868018X15366982109807
• Bjørnholt, Margunn (2018). How to make what really matters count in economic decision-making: Care, domestic violence, gender responsive budgeting, macro-economic policies and human rights (PDF). I Vincenzo Giorgino og Zachary David Walsh (red.), Co-Designing Economies in Transition: Radical Approaches in Dialogue with Contemplative Social Sciences (s. 135–159). London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-319-66591-7.

Bøker og monografier

• Skjørten, Kristin; Bakketeig, Elisiv; Bjørnholt, Margunn; Mossige, Svein (red., kommer 2019): Vold i nære relasjoner: Forståelser, konsekvenser og tiltak. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
• Gottzén, Lucas; Bjørnholt, Margunn; Boonzaier, Floretta (red., kommer): Men, Masculinities and Intimate Partner Violence. London/New York: Routledge.
• Bang-Olsen, Ingrid (2018). «Det var dråpen» – om kvinners oppbrudd fra voldelige parforhold. Hovedoppgave i psykologi. Universitetet i Oslo.

Abstract

This article offers a qualitative, institutional analysis of the dynamics of revictimization as the accumulation of disadvantages over time and across different institutional contexts, and its multiple gender dimensions. It draws on 37 qualitative interviews with victims of intimate partner violence, detailing the institutional causal pathways to victimization and revictimization over the life course, through the in-debth analysis of one case. Drawing on the vulnerability approach, developed by Martha Albertson Fineman, the analysis demonstrates how victimization and revictimization have been facilitated, tolerated, and even produced by particular institutional contexts, illustrating how the ‘risk of revictimization’ is not a characteristic of the individual, nor is it destiny. The article contributes to a constructive social science, elucidating how victimization is contingent on social and institutional contexts, and how at several critical points, better institutions and better institutional responses to particular events might have prevented or interrupted the dynamics of accumulating victimization. Focusing on embodied, gendered subjects and the role of institutions in producing as well as remedying inequalities has far reaching implications for research and prevention of violence. In contrast to a risk-factor approach targeting particular groups and individuals, a vulnerability analysis calls for a responsive state and universal institutional solutions.

Keywords

domestic violence, gender, intimate partner violence, institution, prevention, revictimisation

Read/cite this work

Bjørnholt, Margunn (2019). The social dynamics of revictimization and intimate partner violence: an embodied, gendered, institutional and life course perspective (PDF). Nordic Journal of Criminology, 20(1), 90–110. doi: 10.1080/14043858.2019.1568103

Keywords: Gender; mainstreaming; quantitative methods; survey; violence

This article contributes to the methodological debate on how to define and measure violence in order to more effectively capture gendered patterns of exposure to violence in survey studies. The authors take as their starting point Walby and Towers’ proposals to mainstream gender in surveys, and to define violence more narrowly by adding the concept of injury. This article applies Walby and Towers’ quality criteria to a Norwegian survey on violence and rape, and finds that it performs relatively well in accounting for the main gender dimensions they propose. The article presents an analysis of the gender dimensions of violence in the original study, as well as a re-analysis of the data, including harm in line with Walby and Towers’ propositions. It also adds fear of being severely injured or killed. Based on this analysis, the authors conclude that acts alone represent an adequate measure for severe violence and sexual violence and the gendered pattern of exposure. In contrast with Walby and Towers’ assumption, adding harm did not change the gender distribution of exposure. However, adding fear of being injured or killed made a gender difference.

Read the article here (PDF)

Cite this work:

Bjørnholt, Margunn; Hjemdal, Ole Kristian (2018). Measuring violence, mainstreaming gender: does adding harm make a difference? Journal of Gender-Based Violence, 2(3), 465–479. doi: 10.1332/239868018X15366982109807

This article explores how families with young children arrive at and live with different work–family adaptations within a welfare state that strongly supports the dual earner/dual carer model—that of Norway. It draws on a qualitative study among Norwegian-born and Polish-born parents, representing respectively ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ views on this model. The analysis aims at capturing the dynamic interplay between structures and policies, and everyday practices. We found that both Norwegian and Polish parents embraced the cultural ideal of the dual earner/dual carer model, but that their perceived scope of action differed. Within the Norwegian group there were differences related to class, however. Among middle-class Norwegian parents, the model was internalised as a moral obligation and part of identity, making it difficult to voice and cope with work–family conflict. Working-class parents in this group, varied more in their identification with this model. Across class, Polish parents, in contrast, used welfare state entitlements eclectically to shape new and more gender equal family practices in Norway, and to adjust to changing circumstances. The article illustrates how enabling structures may represent both opportunities for and limitation to individual agency, undermining the assumption of a simple ‘fit’ between work–family policies, work–family adaptations and gender equality in the family.

Bjørnholt, Margunn; Stefansen, Kari (2018). Same but different: Polish and Norwegian parents’ work–family adaptations in Norway (PDF). Journal of European Social Policy, 29(2), 292–304. doi: 10.1177/0958928718758824

Bjørnholt offers a reflection on 25 years of feminist economics providing illustrative examples of how feminist academic critique, within and outside of academia, in combination with civil engagement has evolved, promoting change towards better economics, better policies and well-being for all. Mirroring the widening scope over time of feminist economics, Bjørnholt discusses the exclusion of care and other life-sustaining, unpaid work from systems of national accounts and efforts to make them count; efforts to achieve gender justice through gender responsive budgeting; the effort to bring society’s attention to the extent of domestic violence and its consequences; and understanding economics as social provisioning, which considers the responsibility to care for everything, including human rights and our shared livingspace Earth, when assessing the consequences of macro-economic policy.

Bjørnholt, Margunn (2018). How to make what really matters count in economic decision-making: Care, domestic violence, gender responsive budgeting, macro-economic policies and human rights. In Vincenzo Giorgino and Zachary David Walsh (eds), Co-Designing Economies in Transition: Radical Approaches in Dialogue with Contemplative Social Sciences (pp. 135–159). London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-319-66591-7.

Read flyer/order here

The aim of this article is to examine how family policies contribute to changes in family practices and towards gender equality in families. Empirically we draw on interviews with two groups of Polish-born parents: Polish parents who have migrated to Norway and Polish parents living in Poland. Norway and Poland are relevant cases for our exploration because they represent different types of welfare states, which have followed different paths towards their current family policy package. In our analysis of actual work–family adaptations we found a convergence towards gender equal dual-earner/dual-carer arrangements in both groups, although there were differences in the level of agency. Polish parents in Poland felt less entitled to use the measures available to them, and sometimes refrained from using them, compared to Polish parents in Norway who expressed a strong sense of agency in using family policy measures to create a good life in Norway and as part of a project of change towards more gender-equal sharing of work and care responsibilities. The analysis confirms the strong link between family practices and family policies, but also illustrates how the effect of policies on practices may be hampered or boosted by the wider historical-cultural context of the society in question. In conclusion, in analyses of the link between policy and practice it may be fruitful to distinguish between family policy packages—the concrete set of entitlements for working parents—and family policy regimes, meaning policies in their wider context, including migrancy as a mediating factor.

Read the article:

Bjørnholt, Margunn; Stefansen, Kari; Wężyk, Agata; Merecz-Kot, Dorota (2017). The role of family policy regimes in work–family adaptations: Polish parents in Norway and Poland. Central and Eastern European Migration Review. doi: 10.17467/ceemr.2017.12