By Domestic violence is not a gender issue
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is not a gender issue – it is time for family peace.
In the last few days the results of the government investigation of IPV have been presented to me by the responsible minister. After reading them I am compelled by reality to present a dissaproving note to both the investigators and the government who still seem to be of the view that sexism is the solution to the problem of domestic violence.
The tone and the division was already defined right from the title – “The National Strategy to Combat Men’s Violence Against Women” – infering that we have a guilty sex and an innocent sex. But thanks to extensive research in the field, both at the national and international level, we now know with great certainty that this breakdown by sex is simply not true. We also know through extensive practice and experience that the attempts to solve the issue through this kind of analysis have failed. And they failed precisely because violence is not, and never has been, a gender issue.
In Sweden, however, even the slightest questioning of the current model has been regarded as swearing in an otherwise quiet and echoing church. Few are those who have dared to openly question the current model, but it is about time to start doing so. Sweden is, or should in any case strive to be, a knowledgeable society. This society is characterized above all by its willingness to be guided by free and politically independent research when it comes to making decisions affecting all of us. As such, careful analysis and lessons of accumulated experience ought to be an important criterion in decision making.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is not a gender issue – it is time for family peace.
In the last few days the results of the government investigation of IPV have been presented to me by the responsible minister. After reading them I am compelled by reality to present a dissaproving note to both the investigators and the government who still seem to be of the view that sexism is the solution to the problem of domestic violence.
The tone and the division was already defined right from the title – “The National Strategy to Combat Men’s Violence Against Women” – infering that we have a guilty sex and an innocent sex. But thanks to extensive research in the field, both at the national and international level, we now know with great certainty that this breakdown by sex is simply not true. We also know through extensive practice and experience that the attempts to solve the issue through this kind of analysis have failed. And they failed precisely because violence is not, and never has been, a gender issue.
In Sweden, however, even the slightest questioning of the current model has been regarded as swearing in an otherwise quiet and echoing church. Few are those who have dared to openly question the current model, but it is about time to start doing so. Sweden is, or should in any case strive to be, a knowledgeable society. This society is characterized above all by its willingness to be guided by free and politically independent research when it comes to making decisions affecting all of us. As such, careful analysis and lessons of accumulated experience ought to be an important criterion in decision making.