title: Navigating the gender minefield: An IPV prevention campaign sheds light on the gender gap.
abstract: This article examines how differences in male and female views about intimate partner violence (IPV) contributed to divergent responses to a prevention campaign conducted in the western USA. The study examines focus groups (n = 22) and in-depth interview data (n = 13) collected during campaign development to shed light on quantitative results indicating that women (but not men) increased their perceived severity of domestic violence and awareness of services from pre-test to post-test, while male attitudes moved in the opposite direction. Results of the qualitative study provide the basis for the authors' conclusions about why reactions differed: (1) men's unwillingness to view abuse within a gender context limits men's ability to accept the inequity in statistically demonstrated male and female roles as perpetrators and victims; (2) male resentment of existing gender stereotypes contributed to a rejection of campaign messages that utilised gender prevalence statistics to depict images showing men as perpetrators and women as victims; and (3) victim blaming attitudes contributed to resistance to empathy for victims depicted in the campaign. The authors offer suggestions for future campaigns that foster agency among both perpetrators and survivors while confronting the structural barriers to enacting change.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication & Theatre , Montana State University Billings , Billings , MT , USA.
authors.forename: Sarah N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.affiliation: b Department of Social & Cultural Sciences , Montana State University Billings , Billings , MT , USA.
authors.forename: Joy C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Honea
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D005783:Gender Identity; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008571:Men / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D036301:Qualitative Research; D017678:Sex Distribution; D040241:Social Marketing; D014481:United States; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: gender; health communication; intimate partner violence; social marketing