Transgressive women don't deserve protection: young men's narratives of sexual violence against women in rural Papua New Guinea

Kelly-Hanku, A., Aeno, H., Wilson, L., Eves, R., Mek, A., Nake Trumb, R., Whittaker, M., Fitzgerald, L., Kaldor, J.M., and Vallely, A. (2016) Transgressive women don't deserve protection: young men's narratives of sexual violence against women in rural Papua New Guinea. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 18 (11). pp. 1207-1220.

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Abstract

Sexual violence against women and girls is commonplace in Papua New Guinea (PNG). While the experiences of women are rightly given central place in institutional responses to sexual violence, the men who perpetrate violence are often overlooked, an oversight that undermines the effectiveness of prevention efforts. This paper draws on interviews conducted with young men as part of a qualitative longitudinal study of masculinity and male sexuality in a rural highland area of PNG. It explores one aspect of male sexuality: men’s narratives of sexual violence. Most striking from the data is that the collective enactment of sexual violence against women and girls is reported as an everyday and accepted practice amongst young men. However, not all women and girls were described as equally at risk, with those who transgress gender roles and roles inscribed and reinforced by patriarchal structures, at greater risk. To address this situation, efforts to reduce sexual violence against women and girls require an increased focus on male-centred intervention to critically engage with the forms of patriarchal authority that give license to sexual violence. Understanding the perceptions and experiences of men as perpetrators of sexual violence is a critical first step in the process of changing normative perceptions of gender, a task crucial to reducing sexual violence in countries such as PNG.

Item ID: 44241
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1464-5351
Keywords: women; gender violence; sexual violence; men's perceptions; Papua New Guinea
Funders: Papua New Guinea National AIDS Council Secretariat, Australian Government
Date Deposited: 26 Jul 2016 22:39
FoR Codes: 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420699 Public health not elsewhere classified @ 50%
44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4401 Anthropology > 440102 Anthropology of gender and sexuality @ 50%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920199 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) not elsewhere classified @ 35%
95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9599 Other Cultural Understanding > 959999 Cultural Understanding not elsewhere classified @ 35%
97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970111 Expanding Knowledge in the Medical and Health Sciences @ 30%
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