Emakunde Basque Institute for Women Conferences

Overall conference: "What it takes to be a man:the risks of masculinity"

"What it takes to be a man:the risks of masculinity"

María Jesús Izquierdo Benito

The criticism of sexism has been accompanied by a narration where women are made to look like objects of oppression, and the role of oppressors is assigned to men. That definition of women as passive subjects favours the fact that men are conceived as the subject: oppressors and responsible for eliminating the oppression. But stating that the relationships between women and men are relationships of oppression is one thing; it is a completely different matter to assume that man only has the position of subject and woman only has the position of object or passive subject. We need to complete the analysis by inverting the terms subject and object.
On the other hand, men are expected to adopt an active role in losing the privileges that sexism produces for them. The underlying hypothesis is that there are moral aspirations that move them. However, the interests are also mobile that can guide them to eliminate sexism. Being a man not only produces benefits but it is also costly. Man’s social position is accompanied by a separation from sons and daughters and by a burden of responsibility to maintain the family.
Establishing a family means appropriating a heritage, but if they separate from women, they come up against another side of reality, the deprivation of something that they considered as theirs when they got married. Sexism crowns them as fathers and owners of a home from which they are dethroned if they do not keep women by their sides. A second paradox: the defence of sexism converts them into suspects of some conditions that have been given to them. Power is only maintained if it is exercised within certain limits, and maintaining sexism demands that no man go beyond its bounds. Therefore, man is the king and he also feels cornered like a dangerous beast. Is it possible to shrug off that weight/privilege without relinquishing loving and being loved? Is it possible to love and be loved without relinquishing that weight/privilege? These are two important questions that are opened up to man.

Presented by:

Ms. Mª Jesus Izquierdo Benito

Associated files:

Izquierdo.M_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

Izquierdo.M_07_eus.pdf ()

Overall conference: "Construction of masculinity and gender relations"

Construction of masculinity and gender relations"

Luis Bonino Mendez

Masculinity is an arbitrary social construction resulting from the patriarchal organisation and male dominion in gender relations. With some variations, but persistent, it is comprised of a series of values, definitions, beliefs and meanings about being/must being (and not being) male, but above all, on their status related to women. .
Understanding that, beyond the identity mandates, what masculinity imposes on males is an existential place with full rights, at the expense of not guaranteeing it for women, is, in our opinion, essential to understand the paths and urgency of the change towards a fairer and more humane world. If we consider that change from a gender perspective, moving towards fairer and more healthy forms of relationships, means –if we focus on the male pole-, prioritising the tasks of transforming those aspects of masculinity of men’s lives that perpetuate the fact that women today are discriminated in the world, with less possibilities and less legitimisation as citizens.
Trying to relieve males of the costs of exercising their own masculinity is still an important task for their well-being, but it does not guarantee any transformation of generic inequality, it makes the destructive action which exercising such masculinity exerts on the female group invisible, and above all, it inhibits essential paths towards achieving a democratic inter-generic agreement.
To go deeper into these questions, the presentation will focus on reconstructing the complexity of hegemonic masculinity, to then describe how the introduction of the optics of gender relations –and not only the identity aspect- help disclose better the impact that masculinity has on the lives of women and men, how and why women have a worse time and how to address self-knowledge and the male change in terms of paths towards equality.

Presented by:

Mr. Luis Bonino Mendez

Panel I: Health and Care
Conference: "Men who care for themselves, men who care for others, men who are cared for"

Men who care for themselves, men who care for others, men who are cared for

Benno de Keijzer

This presentation addresses the interface between the construction of gender in men and the field of health, both in the analysis of the consequences and in the analysis of the potentialities. The health/illness/health care process of men remains relatively invisible in health studies from a gender perspective despite many direct and indirect, as well as serious and costly consequences on the health of both men and women.

Health services in Latin America have not yet abandoned the “mother-child” paradigm” in their programmes; thus they are unable to see or foster man’s participation in such specific aspects as family planning (now reproductive health) and in programmes of chronic illnesses, of mental health or health promotion and much less incorporating men into the care of child health. In our culture the word “care” continues to be a female connotation with little prestige for many men.

Although efforts have been made on an official level to base the work more and more on a gender perspective with men of different ages, these efforts are atomised in HIV prevention programmes (with emphasis on HSH) or the use of forbidden substances and in some work models with male aggressors. No account is taken of the fact that –taking these three examples- these problems are associated with each other and that a man who has a violent relationship with his companion/family often abuses of substances and probably does not have a lot of care/self-care with respect to his sexuality and reproductivity. In the Latin American context, the most integral and interesting proposal related to work with men comes from the civil society.

In this presentation we will go into three aspects in depth:

- lessons learnt in health work with adult and young males over the last 20 years in Mexico and other countries of the continent.
- some of the clues that favour considering the change in men based on a qualitative study developed in Mexico.
- proposals for policies and programmes with a relational outlook that incorporate both women and men in the field of health.


Lola Larrauri Díaz

We consider femininity and masculinity as two personal working models that entail two styles of feeling, thinking and acting, and which affect the relationships that we establish with ourselves and with others.
Female self-aggression and self-denial, compared with the male hetero-aggression and egocentrism are, apart from the keys that condition inequality, two of the elements that have a decisive influence on health.
Thus, self-aggression is related to the appearance of different psychosomatic manifestations, as an expression of accumulated tension, and self-denial leads to a lack of self-care, putting everything into caring for other people. On its part, hetero-aggression and egocentrism, which lead to accepting… and even demanding the care provided from self-denial, hinder or prevent assuming the responsibility required to take action bearing in mind the consequences of one’s own acts.
The sexual field is especially affected by the attitudes of gender. Obtaining satisfaction is compromised: on the female side due to the tendency to subordinate this to other people, sometimes even inhibiting one’s own desire, and on the male side, due to validating virility through the exercise of sexuality and identifying the other’s person’s satisfaction with their own “power”.
On the other hand, being afraid of not adequately responding to the expectations subjectively attributed to the other person, compromises the freedom to decide and act even more, limiting the possibility of responsible action. Thus, the exposure to risk is practically unavoidable, insofar as this fear is subjectively more important than the consequences of sexual practices without protection.
All of this is, to a great extent, unwitting, making it difficult to address it through classical health information procedures and even through those that are exclusively centred on training in social skills.
If we also bear in mind that the field of sexuality is subject to a whole series of cultural taboos, which prevent it from being self-explored and expressed, we can point out that only an integral coeducational intervention, which simultaneously addresses the three attitudinal elements (affective, cognitive and behavioural), can be effective to prevent the consequences of risk practices and to improve the level of health, increasing the satisfaction produced by enjoying desired and free sexuality.

Presented by:

Mr. Benno De Keijzer

Ms. Lola Ferreriro Díaz

Associated files:

Ferreiro.L_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

DeKeijzer.B_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

DeKeijzer.B_07_eus.pdf ()

Ferreiro.L_07_eus.pdf ()

Panel II: Youth, Leisure and Risk
Conference: "Learning to be a man: models and risks behaviours"

Learning to be a man: models and risks behaviours

<Richard de Visser

To be able to address concerns about excessive alcohol consumption among young men, we need to understanding why some young men drink excessively while others do not. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify how young men’s patterns of alcohol consumption are related to their beliefs about masculinity, and the importance of drinking to their masculine identities. Thirty-one individual interviews and five group discussions were conducted with an ethnically- and socioeconomically-diverse sample of men aged 18-21 living in London, England. Analysis revealed a variety of associations between masculinity and alcohol consumption. Some men - a minority - rejected a link between masculinity and alcohol consumption. These men emphasised the importance of other behaviours to masculine identity. A second group of men believed that alcohol consumption is a marker of masculinity and therefore valued excessive alcohol consumption as an important part of their behaviour. A third group of men accepted a link between masculinity and alcohol consumption, but noted that it was possible for men to resist pressure to engage in “masculine” drinking if they already had “credit” accrued from their competence in other “masculine” domains such as sport. The results show that although many men believe that heavy drinking is an important masculine behaviour, the links between masculinity and health-related social behaviours such as drinking are not simple. The finding that men can trade masculine “credit” suggests that it is important to find ways to help young men to develop masculine identities that do not involve excessive alcohol consumption and associated harms.



Benilde Vázquez Gómez

The fight for equality between the sexes has been focused for many years on analysing and breaking away from the dominating female stereotypes and the role that women have been playing in society. However, the experience of the last few years shows that the change in women is not sufficient if it is not accompanied by a modification of the male stereotypes.

In a first stage, feminist movements sought equality by imitating male behaviours, thus paradoxically reinforcing the greater social value of masculinity, sufficiently coined in our history.
What is this greater social value based on? How has this male identity, which represents not just a superior physical value but also mental value for man, been constructed? With what elements is it configured?

In this presentation we will briefly analyse how one of those instruments is sport; a manifestation of the human activity where many of the features of the dominating male identity are put into play: physical strength, aggressiveness, competitiveness, protagonism, leadership, etc.

The close relationship between sport and masculinity has been shown historically, both in its origins in Classical Greece and in contemporary sport. Masculinity has been reinforced throughout history in frequent warring clashes, and this now takes place with the contemporary sporting competitions or clashes. The identifications referred to hindered or prevented the participation of women in sports, especially in some, until very recently, or still today in many social media.

Of course, these relations or associations are learnt very early on and very deeply from the different manifestations of the first socialisation and at early ages: in the family above all, then at school and always through the other socialising agents, either direct or indirect. This is the reason for the difficulty in eliminating these conceptions and why many sports are often considered as activities that are not proper for women. .

Due to the same type and depth of reasons, boys develop earlier on or they do so on their own, the interest and approach to sport and its practice, identifying themselves with their fathers, who embody male values that have been attached to sport and its practice. The case of girls has been and continues, to a certain degree, to be the opposite, as their identification with their mothers has separated them from those values and interests.

Sport enables boys and adolescents to cope with risk behaviours and a certain degree of aggressiveness or standardised violence that would not be acceptable in normal life. Based on this, the basic discussion must be: Is sport good to construct the new masculinity? Is it desirable to learn violent behaviours that would reinforce aggressiveness and physical dominion as marks of identity of the male stereotype?

For many sociologists, sports competition is the euphemism with which social violence is represented in modern day societies. In this regard, sport would be an instrument to channel high individual and social aggressiveness generated by present-day society, although, obviously, sport itself can also generate violent acts above all in large, socially-disseminated, sporting events.

The objective of sports education must be focused more on controlling that aggressiveness and other diverted behaviours, as well as on reinforcing other behaviours, which are necessary in sport, such as cooperation, effort, spirit of sacrifice, control of anxiety, etc., and are desirable in the social sphere.

It is understood, then, that values and behaviours of the type considered typically female can be fostered and disseminated by means of sport attitudes. Therefore I believe that sport, just like other human activities, has no sex.


Beatriz Moral Ledesma

In this paper we will analyse some social and cultural factors that could explain the higher road accident rate of men. The basis for this analysis is the idea that the current prevailing model of masculinity induces many men to adopt rash styles of driving. Motor vehicles represent a series of values associated with the values of this model of masculinity, such that it becomes one of the most appropriate means for its expression.
Motor vehicles and the way in which they are used are associated with a series of symbolic connotations that are useful for constructing and demonstrating the masculine identity. Rash driving is one of these ways of using them and which, in our opinion, represents one of the most dangerous, standardised and generalised ways of demonstrating their virility.
By saying this, we do not mean that all men are rash drivers, as not all of them respond in the same way to the hegemonic model of masculinity. But it is true that the majority of rash drivers are males, something that requires an urgent explanation that might help us understand and attack the current road accident rate.

Presented by:

Mr. Richard De Visser

Ms. Élida Alfaro Gandarillas

Ms. Beatriz Moral Ledesma

Associated files:

DeVisser.R_07_engl.pdf (English)

Moral.B_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

De_Visser.R_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

De_Visser.R_07_eus.pdf ()

Moral.B_07_eus.pdf ()

Panel III: Money Management
Conference: "Money management in our daily lives: we earn, we invest, we pay taxes"

Money management in our daily lives: we earn, we invest, we pay taxes

Capitolina Díaz Martínez

This paper deals with the relation of couples with money, its uses and its management. Analyzing the recurrence of traditional forms of signification from the perspective of a certain type of “manly” identity. The work refers to areas such as emotional bondage, material resources and the value and signification given to certain roles and the management of resources in formally constituted couples involving a man and a woman.
Important changes regarding traditional gender roles are emerging, however, this transition takes place alongside changes in socio-economical factors, with various impacts. For instance, restrictions in the access to housing and jobs, and on the chances for increased autonomy are common and many individuals find they are falling back into traditionally gendered roles, with the extended family providing financial and other contributions. The work unveils degrees of tension in many couples, impacting their growth both as individuals and in their living together.
A certain Spanish singularity with the family as core component, is further strengthened when sons and daughters, and couples, remain in the proximity of their family of origin.
The prevalence of “manly” mandates and the re-enforcement of certain powers by the male components of the couple is something that remains relatively opaque in the private domains. The author argues that we may be sustaining socializing patterns, recursively reproducing traditional “manly” roles, even when they are now enacted in the midst of new social, cultural and economical demands.


María Pazos Morán

The differential behaviour of men and women as couples receives a lot of attention by feminist research. Numerous studies show us that, even in those cases where there is a turn in the tables of the material circumstances (for example when women earn more than men), the behaviour of women and men still adapts to the traditional gender roles. This is an important phenomenon that must be known in all its breadth, depth and variability.

Based on evidence it seems that, under different circumstances, in different countries and periods, domination is maintained. These results arouse a lot of interest, above all in environments where we are still in the phase of denying the problem. In Spain, when the debate about whether women were discriminated or not, about where there is gender violence or not, etc. is still ongoing to a certain extent, many have voiced their opinions to say that feminism is old-fashioned because ‘now we are equals’. This recurrent negationism is one of the most elementary mechanisms to resist change. In this context, it is explicable that many feminists tend to emphasise that the problem exists and continues to exist (discussion on several sides, on the one hand with the usual side and on the other hand with feminist currents who doubt the survival of the patriarchy.- or is it the same side?)

But that debate about the continuance or the change of the sexual order, about whose futility Bourdieu warns us in ‘The Male Domination’, encloses two dangers: firstly, it is a false debate insofar as something is also changing and those changes are of great interest. In fact, a sign of change is to actually surmount this debate: curiously, in countries where women’s status is more advanced, such as Sweden, the majority of the political parties state they are feminist parties, which goes to show that they acknowledge the survival of the patriarchal domination, whatever they may call it. Swedish feminist movements, on their part, do not need to occupy their time in verifying the domination but rather, they concentrate on advancing political claims. On the contrary, in countries with greater gender inequality, extreme postures catch on more, according to which women would be invariably oppressed and it would be impossible for them to become integrated into the world as it is today. These postures often lead to the abandonment of political claims (the only solution would be the ‘change of paradigm’) and to a resistance reduced to individual acts or heroic ruptures with daily life, sometimes accompanied by the option of a certain ghettification. These heroic ruptures, by being respectable as personal options, undoubtedly demand too much for too small and too insecure a result (Bourdieu, work mentioned).

The second danger of castling in the debate about continuance or change, apart from the waste of energy and time is the danger that, by insisting on continuance, we may paradoxically contribute to presenting the arbitrary as unavoidable, or what Bourdieu calls ‘naturalisation of the arbitrary’ or ‘relative dehistorisation and eternisation of the structures of sexual division and of the relative division principles. In other words, we would once again feed the image that women are ‘different’, ergo there is nothing we can do.

The important matter is, as the patriarchy is not something ‘natural’ but an arbitrary social construction, what are the mechanisms that enable it to survive in such an apparent ‘natural manner. And this question can be divided into two different parts: Firstly, what are the elements that prevent us from detaching ourselves from the established order and what are the elements that foster change. Secondly, what is the specific role of the institutions and of the public policies (and consequently of the public budget) in these processes. In any case, it is a matter of understanding the actual nature of the phenomenon, carefully distinguishing the reality of the deceitful representation: we cannot forget that, insofar as the behaviour of women is concerned, unwarranted statements are often made disguised as objective facts. Therefore, it is worthwhile stopping to look at some of those statements and their consequences. Section 2 is devoted to this. Section 3 attempts to figure out the institutional factor of continuance and above all the role of the tax and benefits system in the configuration of the family model of the male supporter and dependent wife. Section 4 analyses women’s responses to the lack of alternatives in the traditional model and how the social model of supporters/carers on equal terms is the way to solve the dilemmas between professional and family life, increasing women’s opportunities and their negotiating power in the couple. Finally, section 5 is devoted to the conclusions, putting forward a list (not a comprehensive one) of reforms that would have to be carried out in Spain to advance towards the social model of supporters/carers on equal terms.


Conclusions and action proposals

Subjecting women to the patriarchal order is supported by multiple mechanisms, including mechanisms such as socialisation into gender roles from birth; the educational institutions, media, fashion industry, the configuration of the tax and benefits system, the treatment by the public powers of male sport, of prostitution, of cultural events, etc.

In this context, the private behaviours of women and men are not only determined by their economic situation, their socialisation and their personal desires, but by the alternatives that are offered to them. Public policies have an influence on people’s decisions, providing the possibility or incentives for some actions or others. Indeed, this influence not only consists of an unconnected series of incentives and stimulations for each specific situation, but its effect goes beyond the circumstance and even beyond the population affected. In social politics, the measures that foster the sexual division of work affect all women, as they have consequences on the behaviour of the business people, of men and women, configuring some standards that convert independent women into socially condemned peculiarities.

There is evidence that the social model determines the negotiating power of women. In countries where the social model is the model of the male supporter and dependent wife, there tends to be a bimodal distribution, with one sector of women alone without children (or divorced with one child) and others with children in families with traditional behaviour patterns. It is very difficult to find men with egalitarian behaviours in these societies. However, in countries that are closer to the social model of supporters/carers on equal terms, such as Sweden or Denmark, women manage to get men involved much more easily and they are less subjected. In short, it is not just a question of the individual preference of women for equality but the existence of alternatives to practice it.

We can therefore conclude that the individual responses are important but not sufficient. Today enough experience has already been accumulated to know what changes are necessary in public policies to change the social model. We know which social policy measures foster egalitarian behaviour in men, and we also know which public policies foster inequality. However, the resistances to change are masked with rhetoric resources such as the family freedom of choice. It is important to deactivate these arguments. On the other hand, it is important to underline that, as recognised by the international authorities, equality is not only economically possible, but rather, it represents an increase in economic efficiency and, in particular, it is essential to seriously address the serious fertility crisis problem. Fortunately the equality objectives coincide with the economic efficiency objectives (see Pazos, 2007) and Nordic feminists such as Sommestad (2002) advise us to use these arguments.

The reforms that favoured a change of social model in Sweden were possible due to a combination of favourable social and political conditions. Diane Sainsbury (1999) analyses these conditions and underscores the role of the feminist movement, observing that the reforms were deeper in Sweden, where the feminist movement was very much in favour of equality, than in other Nordic countries where the feminism of difference was more important. In Spain we are at a historical moment of social change where the discussion about the orientation of the public policies is still unresolved. A model has not yet been put into place that offers a margin to consider that it may crystallise into a reform of our social organisation system which decisively supports gender equality. This would require re-orientating the priorities of public expenditure. The most important reforms of the social policy to put us in the way of a model of supporters/carers under equal terms would be:

• Paternity leave that is untransferable and equal to maternity leave: Reform of current maternity, paternity and parental leaves and establishment of leave for birth or adoption which would be the same for each parent, paid at 100%, of the same duration and with the same compulsory part for each parent (for further information, see http://www.nodo50.org/plataformapaternidad/ )
• Total individualisation of the IRPF (Personal Income Tax), eliminating all the tax relief for dependent wives in the current form (joint statement) or in any other form.
• The benefits and/or tax relief for care are not, in any case, conditional upon the labour inactivity of the caring person. This implies the removal of art. 18 of the Bill on Dependence and of the extensions of leave for care of the Equality Law.
• Public attention service to dependence.
• Start-up of a real public children’s education system for ages 0 to 3, which will establish the subjective right to a place and will guarantee attention for the entire demand at affordable prices for all the population depending on their income level. The centres must have sufficiently long and flexible hours to cover the working hours, with special resources for special working hours and seasonal work emergencies.
• Elimination of all the items from the public budget that mean supporting non-egalitarian and/or humiliating actions for the image of women.


The aim here is not to put forward a comprehensive list of all the necessary reforms, but just to underline some key social policy measures to configure a social model of supporters/carers on equal terms and that are related to the reforms that are being discussed and are taking place in Spain. Spanish society, today, discerns the possibility of equality and is in favour of it, but the steps must be taken in the right direction, and no steps in the opposite direction. When the differences are settled and a model of inequality is installed, it is much more difficult to reform it. We have a lot to learn from both the good and bad decisions of other European countries that have gone through a social situation prior to ours and have carried out political options that today make up their social models.


Clara Coria

Since my first research studies on money, which ended with the book “El sexo oculto del dinero” (The hidden sex of money) (1986) and later “El dinero en la pareja” (Money in the couple) (1989) many social changes have occurred with consequent modifications in the economic exchange between men and women. Some women have had access to administering money, others have acquired economic independence but surprisingly they have not reached autonomy and a great majority perpetuate the traditional models of dependence, sometimes dissimulated with airs of modernity. Parallel to this, some men, pressurised by female impetus have managed to accept a certain degree of economic independence in women. However, I wish to emphasise that although it is true that in some places (not as many as one would imagine) and some women (not as many as made possible by the social changes) have had access to economic independence and even autonomy, this does not mean that the subjective models of men and women with respect to money have changed. In the same way that some poor people have been able to become rich, this does not mean that poverty has disappeared or that they have managed to incorporate new economic benefits with more binding criteria than the criteria learnt and suffered for centuries as poor people. The end of the second millennium witnesses the achievements obtained by women in pursuit of opening up ways towards acquiring money –and with this towards economic independence-; however the beginnings of the third millennium still found them, despite the indisputable progresses, involved in unsolved conflicts as well as men, too, in conflict with the new power distribution proposals.

Whatever the level of autonomy attained by women on a personal level a clear male hegemony still persists in the world order, which is expressed both in the specific distribution of money and in the models that have unconsciously been incorporated into the subjectivity of men and women. These models circulate in the collective unconscious and are gradually incorporated together with the identity of sexual gender. I called this unconscious phenomenon “sexuation of money”. This means that money in our society is unconsciously allocated to the male and associated with his sexual power; it almost becomes an indicator of male sexual identity. This sexuation is still valid despite the many legal and social changes attained because it is installed in psychism and responds to very archaic conceptions which, because they remain unconscious are immune to changes. The sexuation of money incorporates the idea that “money is a man's thing” and this perpetuates multiple and varied female dependences as well as male fears and anxieties, too. Both the dependences and the fears (both generally unconscious) generate symptoms that are incorporated into daily life through more or less masked hostile behaviours. The violence that women often go through generates counterviolence (towards others or turned against themselves) which leaves them even more vulnerable and the violence that men go through (either due to the reaction of women or social pressures) fosters fights for power that can seemingly be heartbreaking.
On this occasion, I will present some of the aspects that sexuation of money adopts, the key conflicts in men and women, and also some of the complexities that one can see in both domestic and public daily life.

Presented by:

Ms. Capitolina Díaz Martínez

Ms. María Pazos Moran

Ms. Clara Coria

Associated files:

Díaz.C_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

Pazos.M_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

Coria.C_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

Coria.C_07_eus.pdf ()

Díaz.C_07_eus.pdf ()

Pazos.M_07_eus.pdf ()

Panel IV: Violence and criminality
Conference: “Aggression and dominance as a mark of masculinity”

Aggression and dominance as a mark of masculinity

Tamar Pitch

Urban safety has become one of the main politics and rhetorics both at the local and the national level in most European countries. Yet, the way this politics and rhetorics is argued about and, often, implemented, does not take into account that the urban population is composed by both women and men, and that there are great differences in the way they perceive and live safety issues. To indicate the main ones: it is men who victimize women, and not viceversa, and women are vicitimized by men more within the safety of homes and work situations than in open and public urban spaces.
This paper wants to show that by taking into account women’s perceptions and problems, politics adopted should be very different from the ones advocated: what women need is not the sterilization of urban terrain, but more social, economic and cultural resources to traverse this terrain with confidence.


Elena Larrauri Pijoan

"One of the questions that has led to a more bitter debate in North America as undoubtedly been the discovery that ‘women also beat’, which has allowed for talking about ‘symmetry’ in physical abuse in the family or couple nvironment. It is true that the major defender of this thesis has always made the effort o add that, despite the fact that behaviour can be symmetrical, the result is not (Straus, 1993; 1999).

This has brought about an interesting theoretic discussion to differentiate the characteristics of violence exerted by men and women. A summary from different authors (Loseke-Kurz, 1993; Yllo, 1993; Johnson,1995; Renzetti, 1999; Strauss,1999; Daniel O’Leary,2000; Miller, 2001; Das Dasgupta, 2002; Worcester, 2002) permits considering that the violence exerted by women within the family is (generally) distinguished by the following indicators:

- It is less intense, namely, even though statistics show a high rate of aggressions in women, the harm caused is usually much less.

- Due to the purpose that guides the violence, part of such violence exerted by women is defensive.

- Due to the reasons, the violence exerted by women is normally due to a one-off conflict and not a global pretension to intimidate or punish.

- Due to the context where it is interpreted, the violence of women does not tend to produce a feeling of long-lasting or omnipotent fear or to be more visible as it is an infringement of her role as a woman, whereas the violence of men tends to be minimised as it may be seen as a reaffirmation of their role as the head of the family.

What we must consider is how to express these differences in criminal laws".


Andrés Montero Gómez

The social awareness-raising and sensitisation process in male violence towards women has been long and continues to be difficult. It is very natural for there to be a lot of resistance, but this resistance is cultural, because violence is always an instrument to dominate the other party, in this case the female party. Whoever benefits from the domination will not yield to its eradication. Violence is a complex behaviour placed at the service of an idea of imposition. Imagine any expression of violence and you will always find it related to the intention, by the aggressor, to impose something on the victim, on the attacked person. From the legitimate or illegitimate violence of a soldier on the battlefield, to the also legitimate restraint exerted by the authorities in a street demonstration, including the illegal examples of violence of an attacker or a terrorist, as well as sustained violence that one man can exert on each and every one of the two and a half million mistreated women in Spain, all of them are instrumentations of force to make other people behave like the person exerting the force wants them to behave. Violence is used to impose some wills over others.

In democracies based on the rule of law there are some valued conditions that grant certain actors the power to exert violence legitimately. Certain circumstances grant public powers the legitimacy to force a citizen, either man or women, to do something by force. Those conditions are agreed by law by all women and men, and it is assumed that they are the least of the evils that we resort to when there is something that threatens us. Beyond those conditions, violence is illegitimate and illegal.

There are two premises that we must face up to without prejudice if we want to really understand male violence towards women. The first is that illegitimate violence is used by people who wish to illegally impose their will on others. The second is that society is still built in agreement with male codes of power and domination.

Male violence towards women is based on socially transmitted codes of inequality and inter-gender asymmetry. Men have held and still hold the social power, although quite a lot less so nowadays than before. Traditionally, we, men have used the means that we have deemed appropriate to maintain the power, as well as to dispute such power with other men. We have restrained women by force. We have also done so by socialising them in male code. At the risk of simplifying, what has occurred for many years to date, has been that economic development, combined with the wars that we have been unleashing to dispute the power between men, have generated the conditions for men to assign part of the power to women. This assignment, considered necessary by man himself to maintain the levels of social progress, have been driven by the synergy that converged with the actual awareness by women of their condition as human beings; a condition that they have had to fight for, often using the same socially implemented and inoculated male codes. If this idea appears to be a feminist idea, it is not because it is, but because it coincides very closely with the reality of a story, that of the human being in male form, that the feminist movement, despite the burden of its internal fights, has been reminding us of the fact that a lot still has to be done to attain equality.

Indeed, man has assigned power but his aim is for there to be a limit. Of course, violence towards women has always existed. Men and the male society have always considered that a certain type of violence was legitimate to restrain women’s behaviour. Consider how long it has taken us to accept and categorise that rape within a marriage constituted an offence. The entire movement, driven indeed by women and with a bit of collaboration from we, men, of visibilisation of the phenomenon of male violence in heterosexual relations is just another step forwards to subvert the underlying model of hegemonic masculinity. Therefore, it is very natural for the majority of men and many women, the latter acting unconsciously due to being socialised within the hegemonic code, are reluctant to accept some extremely clear evidence about male violence.

There is an entire movement of chauvinist adaptation that runs against the revolution aimed at subverting the dominating masculinity codes. Right now, this male counter-revolution is based on three aspects. The most structural aspect is to consider that the ecosystem of equality already exists and therefore women will reach it by pure inertia. The worst thing about this aspect is not its actual existence, ignoring reality, but the fact that men have set the parameters for that equality, as it is a matter of equality encoded in male codes. The sentence that represents this, thought up by a man, would be something like: ‘OK, you want to be equal… well, you are going to be equal to me, playing with my rules’.

The second aspect to counteract the hegemonic demasculinisation of society is to state that gender violence is two-directional. Different field research studies are currently being carried out at universities in Spain to obtain data that quantify that two-directionality of heterosexual violence. The basic argument to pose, to deactivate everything that has been achieved to eradicate male violence towards women, would consist in proposing that man’s aggressions are a response to the psychological violence exerted against them by women. Male chauvinism that holds the social power will not hesitate to set itself up as the victim of feminism.

The third chauvinist resource that is baking between significance and statistics would be that the majority of mistreatment is light. This latter argumentary implementation means taking ground away from the efforts of the integral law to disarm violence from the roots. And the fact is that male violence is a systematic and continuous process that starts with control and isolation of the woman, to always continue with psychological violence with the addition or not, physical violence. This third thesis of the male counter-revolution seeks to locate the anti-violence action of the public powers only in those cases where there is physical aggression resulting in injury, backed by a medical report. In other words, dismantling the penalisation of male violence from its onset, which the integral law has achieved. The basic objective is to return to a criminal code, without a gender approach, which they have told us is ‘neutral’, placed at the service of male hegemony. There is no such thing as a light mistreatment, but moments in the scaling up of violence. Whoever believes that a discussion is not mistreatment is right. Whoever believes that insults during a discussion are not mistreatment is wrong. Whoever believes that insults are not serious, or that pushing or refusing affection, or continuously ridiculing the other person, either man or women, are not serious practices, then with their opinion they are helping hinder social access to equality, because they are legitimising violence.

Presented by:

Ms. Tamar Pitch

Ms. Elena Larrauri Pijoan

Mr. Andrés Montero Gómez

Associated files:

Montero.A_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

Pitch.T_07_engl.pdf (English)

Pitch.T_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

Montero.A_07_eus.pdf ()

Pitch.T_07_eus.pdf ()

Final thoughts: "Men faced with equality; equality with men?"

Men faced with equality; equality with men?

Jouni Varanka

Within the gender equality policy context the last 20 years have seen an increasing interest on the relationship of men with gender equality. As a result, we now have internationally agreed conclusions both on the UN level (CSW 2004) and on the EU level (EPSCO Council 2006). This means that the main perspectives are being institutionalised. However, the thematic is still developing.

I was involved in making a national strategy document on men and gender equality policy for the Finnish government. Based on that and other related work, I will highlight some challenges and strategically important perspectives for national or regional gender equality policy. Work with men and gender equality should be integrated within the context of overall gender equality policy, both organisationally and goal-wise. There is a need for more gender equality initiatives focusing on men, as well as focusing on both women and men. Two most common areas of policy initiatives related to men and gender equality seem to be reconciliation of work and private life and men’s violence against women. However, all topics can and should be looked at from the perspective of what is men’s role in them.

The most frequently asked question about men and gender equality is: “why would men participate?” I will examine the typical answer to this question and expand it from the perspective of gender equality policy. Typically the reasons for men’s interest are divided into four groups: 1) ethical value of equality; 2) benefits of equality to the overall society; 3) benefits of equality to women close to men; 4) benefits of equality to men themselves. I will expand this argument with two thoughts. First, I will show that gender equality policy measures that mainly target women’s empowerment will also benefit numerous men. Second, the lives and thus problems of men and women are often interlinked in a win-win or lose-lose fashion. Good examples can be found from the thematic area of “daily life”.

Presented by:

Mr. Jouni Varanka

Associated files:

Varanka.J_07_engl.pdf (English)

Varanka.J_07_cast.pdf (Spanish)

Varanka.J_07_eus ()