Vad är våld?

Teoretiska och politiska perspektiv

Abstract

Most of all violence is commited by men, both in war and in peacetime. Half of the victims of male violence are men - the other half are women and, directly or indirectly, children. This pattern is global and historical constant - violence has a gender. This article analyzes men´s violence against themselves, men’s violence against other men and mens violence against women, in a cultural and feministic perspective. Elimination of violence against women has been one of the UN’s highest priorities since 1993, a goal which is also incorporated in Swedish gender equality policy. In recent years in Sweden there has been a shift in perspective of the political work from gender equality issues to handling issues, that is, prevention, detection and treatment as well as violence as a health problem. Issues like these could not, however, be properly managed without a solid theoretical base explaining the connection between all forms of men´s violence – for example, how male violence in war is related to male violence in everyday life. Such research in Sweden has difficulty establishing itself after the 2000s backlash, and the ruling perception seems to be that the theoretical question is ”completed”.