Concepções de masculinidade e violência por parceiro íntimo praticada: um estudo com homens do Amazonas

Abstract

The construction of masculinities occurs based on gender scripts that are determined prior to the birth of the subjects, to which they will seek to adapt. To these standards refers the concept of hegemonic masculinity. Thus, it is possible to envisage problems when we realize that men are at the heart of several statistics relating to violence, for example, leading to homicide rates and leading an alarming number of reports of intimate partner violence. Taking this into consideration, this research was developed, which consisted of two studies, with the general objective of analyzing conceptions of masculinity of men from Brazil and Amazonas and their relationships with committed intimate partner violence. The first study was an integrative review of Brazilian literature, aiming to investigate relationships between masculinities and violence in our country. 17 articles were analyzed, indicating six analytical categories: 1) Reports of men who commit violence; 2) Senses of gender and violence among adolescents; 3) Suicide and masculinities; 4) Professionals’ perspectives on factors related to violence and suffering of men; 5) Characterization of violence; 6) Gender constructions among couples with a history of violence and elderly people in nursing homes. It was concluded that traditional constructions of masculinity, based on ideals such as virility and courage, were cited by men in contexts of violence, which denotes that these conceptions can influence in the occurrence of violence against others and against themselves. The second study had the objective to analyze correlations between conceptions of hegemonic masculinity and violence by intimate partner practiced by men from Amazonas. It had a quantitative design and it was descriptive, exploratory and correlational. Two instruments were used: the Meanings of Adolescent Masculinity Scale, which aimed to assess adherence to conceptions of masculinity, and Revised Conflict Tactics Scales 2, which investigated intimate partner violence committed and suffered by the sample. 218 men participated, aged between 18 and 59 years (M = 27.9). The results did not indicate a statistically significant correlation between the conceptions of masculinity and IPV practiced by men in this sample. However, it was observed significant correlations between masculinity factors, in addition to correlations between IPV practiced and suffered. It is concluded that there is a tendency to adopt a set of conceptions about masculinities on the part of men, as well as that IPV occurs, in most of the time, with overlapping types of violence, with psychological aggression most frequent, followed by physical violence and sexual coercion. Taken together, these works reinforce the need to deepen the study of the relationships between masculinities and violence, seeking to minimize the impact of this problem.