Discursive construction about "being a man" in users of group therapy sued for intimate partner violence. Analysis from Discursive Psychology (Atena Editora)

Abstract

From a discursive constructionist framework, the identity narratives of "being a man" were analyzed in the speech of users of a group psychotherapy service in a state government institution for perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Users' speech fragments were selected when they reported intimate partner violence events and when they referred to a self-description of being a man. The fragments were categorized and analyzed using the methodology of Discursive Psychology. The results indicate two identity discourses about "being a man": an individual description, nuanced by the dominant discourse of the culture of being a man without a situational referent, and the description of "being a man" when they narrate a violent event with their partner. The individual description was characterized by a distant position, describing themselves as products of nature/society/teaching and with little capacity for personal agency. On the other hand, when they report events of violence in the couple, they attribute their acts as triggered by the actions of their partners/wives, they minimize the impact and responsibility of their actions. The relevance of considering a social, constructionist and discursive approach instead of a social/biological deterministic approach to identity is discussed.