In this course we will explore the ways in which the perpetration,
experience and social response to violence are shaped by cultural beliefs
and practices related to gender. In particular, we will consider how gender
roles and ideologies shape men and women's willingness to use violence, and
how gender-related beliefs and practices affect the social and legal
response to violence. In order to consider these questions, we will first
discuss what gender is and how it is related the distribution of power,
analyze traditional and contemporary constructions of "masculinity" and
"femininity", and consider how people internalize, resist and use gender
ideologies in their everyday lives. Subsequent sections of the course we
will discuss how gender shapes the exercise of violence in extra-familial
contexts, violence perpetrated within the family, and male violence against
men.