To what extent is domestic violence by men to female partners a vehicle for asserting masculinity

This is a question in which you have the opportunity to get to the heart of the debate on whether masculinity centres of differences between men and women or men and men. You will consider critically accounts of ‘domestic’ violence which are non-gendered, accounts which consider it as the subordination of women by men, as gender categories and accounts which consider it as a means of regulating relations between men through the use of women as commodities. You will also consider critically work on masculinity and ‘domestic’ violence which argues that different masculinities produce different kind of violence, in contrast to work which argues that the form of violence stems from a single masculinity and that its form may be shaped by the resources available to the individual perpetrator.
You should show a good understanding of key debates in relation to masculinity, masculinities and manhood, which centre around whether masculinity is better understood in the plural as ‘masculinities’ inseparable from other aspects of identity, or as a common denominator of men in the singular, as manhood. Students should apply these considerations critically to men’s violence to known women, incorporating feminist arguments that such violence occurs all elements of social positioning.

Excellent answers will consider the relationship between areas of crime committed almost exclusively by men, such as domestic violence or sex-offending, where social positioning appears to be of little significance, and areas of offending engaged in mainly by men, such as ‘white-collar’ crime, where social positioning appears to be critical.