Year Published: 2011

Authors: Shanaaz Mathews, Rachel Jewkes and Naeemah Abrahams

Publisher: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Oxford University Press

Suggested Citation: Mathews S, Jewkes R & Abrahams N (2011) 'I had a hard life': Exploring childhood adversity in the shaping of masculinities among men who killed an intimate partner in South Africa. The British Journal of Criminology, 51(6): 960-977. Centre for Crime and Justice Studies: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azr051.

Download


South Africa has a female homicide rate six times the global average, with half of murdered women killed by an intimate partner. The gendered nature of such murders indicates the need to explore the masculinities of men who kill an intimate partner. This paper explores the childhoods of 20 men who were incarcerated for such murders and draws on 74 in-depth interviews with these men, family and friends.