Justifications and Contradictions: Understanding Young People's Views of Domestic Abuse

Abstract

U.K. studies have found that young people have a high tolerance of violence and abuse if committed within an interpersonal heterosexual relationship. This article draws on empirical data from a school-based study conducted with seventy-seven young people in Glasgow that explored their views and opinions of abuse and violence in interpersonal (heterosexual) relationships. A central finding is that there is profound contradiction in the views of the young people regarding what is interpersonal violence and about who is doing what to whom. The young people in this study were extremely ambivalent about acknowledging the predominance of men as the perpetrators of interpersonal violence, and where they did acknowledge this they constructed numerous justifications to explain it. This article presents these findings and explores the reasons for why these young people both resist accepting men as perpetrators of interpersonal violence and endeavor to justify it.