Våldets “verklighet” : en diskurspsykologisk studie om talet om mäns våld mot kvinnor i nära relationer på diskussionsforumet Familjeliv

Sammanfattning: Title: The “reality” of violence: a study of how participants of the internet forum Familjeliv talk about domestic violence against women, with a discourse psychological approach. The purpose of this study was to examine how participants in the discussion forum Familjeliv reasoned and constructed the reality of men's violence against women in intimate relationships. The data used in the study comes from 20 discussion-threads on the forum where violence in intimate relationships has been discussed based on the participants' experiences, questions and findings. The data has then been analyzed on the basis of  discourse psychology and feminist theory. The focus of the analysis was to examine the language that the participants used. To do this, two analytical tools were used: positioning and interpretative repertoires. The result showed a variety of reasoning and constructions regarding the definition of violence, the responsibility of the women and men, and whether men's violence against women should be considered a social problem or not. The majority of the data that was  analyzed highlighted the woman's responsibility in the relationship, some of whom also saw it as both the man and the woman's responsibility while some left the entire responsibility to the man. The result also showed that men's violence against women is seen as a societal problem by many who participated in the discussions. At the same time, there were some who considered that men's violence against men was a major problem, and therefore thought that this problem should be given more attention than men's violence against women. In order to develop support efforts for women exposed to violence in intimate relationships, knowledge about the public's perception of the phenomenon is required. As a professional, this knowledge also increases the understanding of how exposed women are treated in everyday meetings with other individuals.