‘A life of violence’: Some theoretical/political/personal accountings on ‘masculinities’ and ‘intimate partner violence’

Reflecting on ‘a life of violence’, I had no idea that this issue would be such a key thread in most of my academic life, though in many different ways. Much, not all, of this work has been within the framework of Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities (CSMM), but also alongside that there has been policy development and profeminist activism. Indeed, I came to realise if one is interested in studying men and masculinities, it is really very difficult to do this without giving attention to violence, or rather, violation. When beginning to do detailed empirical research in interview and policy studies on men’s violence to known women in the early 1990s, this was far from accepted in studying men and masculinities. In this chapter, I suggest some theoretical/political/reflexive personal accountings of these various engagements with men, masculinities and violences, especially in terms of bringing together CSMM, Violence Studies, and Organisation Studies, along with my place and positioning, contributions, and also difficulties. In keeping with the frame of the book, I not only keep the thread on ‘intimate partner violence’, but also argue for a strong openness to how such violence interconnects with and blurs into many other forms and contexts, such as militarism, war and online violence.