Abstract

Research shows that young people hold narrow views about what is domestic violence. As such, some of their views indicate support for the use of violence in intimate relationships. Gender seems to impact upon such views. We sought to assess the impact of gender on students’ perceptions of domestic violence at a university in the North of England, using a survey. Our findings show that females considered a broader range of behaviours as domestic violence, particularly the psychological/emotional and financial violences, compared to males. Whilst most of the sample constructed domestic violence behaviours as committed by male perpetrators against female victims, females were more likely to strongly disagree that males and females are equally violent in relationships. Our argument is that females were more likely to know about controlling domestic violence behaviours because they are more likely victims of domestic violence. The research has important ramifications for challenging stereotypes of gender roles and expectations about gendered behaviours.