Like father...? Childhood experiences relating to parenting, gender and violence among men who have committed intimate partner violence

Abstract

This article addresses the intersection between parenthood, gender and violence that frequently characterizes the childhoods of men that violent their partners. In their family experiences, violence appears as a continuum, presents a simultaneously destructive and productive nature, and shapes a pedagogy that leads to its normalization. It´s also learned as a legitimate resource to use in their relationships and it´s instrumentalized by their fathers -and sometimes with recognition from their mothers- to instill in them the principle of gender hierarchy, it´s desirability and legitimacy. The analysis of their childhood experiences in childhood suggests that the construction of their masculinities it´s closely linked to power, but also to vulnerability and alienation, where different forms of violence have a fundamental and foundational role.