Collateral damage: Men’s ‘domestic’ violence to women seen through men’s relations with men

This article examines ‘domestic’ violence through a focus on men, masculinity/masculinities and men’s violence to known women. More specifically it analyses the implications of masculinity for policies and practices aimed at reducing violence and the risk of violence by men against known women, including programmes run by the Probation Service. On the basis of research rooted and tested in probation practice, it argues that masculinity is generated through relations between men, and that ‘domestic’ violence may be a means of regulating those relations. Thus, addressing relations between men is likely to be critical to the effectiveness of relevant programmes.