Violence Talk and Gender in Youth Residential Care

Abstract

The article focuses on violence and gender from the special point of view of meanings attached to violence. It is based on a study where the meanings of violence were studied among young people in residential child welfare institutions (reform schools) in Finland. Fifteen focus group interviews were conducted in two reform schools, with 38 participants between the ages of 12 and 17 years. Belligerent masculinities, vulnerable femininity and negotiable violence in heterosexual relationships were the strong gendered themes in the analysis. Within those themes, different positions were available to the young. In the narrations, boys were violent actors in peer groups while violence as girls' activity or experience was clearly less talked about. The young people's interpretations of violence contained many cultural norms that are broadly shared but also criticized by society. As a result, child welfare and residential care face a demanding task in eliminating everyday practices that maintain violent relationships or experiences.

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