Managing Masculinity When Growing up With a Violent Father: A Qualitative Study of Boys’ Experiences

Abstract

A limited qualitative literature explores children’s lived experiences of violence, boys’ relationships with perpetrator fathers remain largely unexplored. Drawing on interviews with 31 boys, this paper explores their accounts of their relationships with their perpetrator fathers, focusing particularly on the implications of boys’ understanding of these relationships for their sense of burgeoning masculinity. Three themes are considered: in 1) Relational Ambiguity 2) Performing Masculinities, Managing Violence, and 3) Envisioning Alternative Futures, Re-visioning the Past. Our findings highlight the importance of interventions for boys that facilitate the expression of their often complex and ambivalent feelings and fears about their father’s violence, and what it means for them and their future.