Meanings of Intimate Partner Violence from the Perpetrators’ Perspective. A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies ; Significados sobre la violencia de pareja desde la perspectiva de sus perpetradores. Una revisión sistemática de estudios cualitativos

Gender-based intimate partner violence is a persistent social problem, despite the increased social awareness achieved by feminist movements, and the incorporation of a gender perspective into legal frameworks that address this problem in different countries. Furthermore, and considering that this type of violence is mainly perpetrated by men against women, while the patriarchal structure that blames the victims and exonerates the perpetrators is still in force, it is necessary to address the issue of masculinity involved in this phenomenon. This is especially relevant today, given the transformative and reactionary effects of the fourth wave of the feminist movement, as well as the increase of intimate partner violence in the post-pandemic scenario. These contingencies have repercussions on the significance of this violence in terms of its (dis)legitimacy, on the adherence/rejection of traditional gender norms, and on how this violence response to masculinity threats. This article analyzes how perpetrators of intimate partner violence make sense of their actions, and the gender constructions implied in their accounts. For this purpose, we present a systematic review of recent qualitative studies, conducted under the PRISMA statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses). The study identified a total of 1195 articles published in 4 databases (Web of Science, Science Direct, EBSCo and Scielo) and in Google Scholar. Of these, 19 met the eligibility criteria. The thematic synthesis of their results organizes the perspectives of perpetrators of intimate partner violence into 4 themes: minimization, exemption from liability, differentiation and recognition. In conclusion, a hybrid masculinity is shown as men both reproduce traditional masculine mandates and, at the same time, move away from them, although in a predominantly individualistic way. These results problematize the personal and depoliticized meanings of intimate partner violence perpetrators, as well the need for an ...