Interpersonal violence and abuse in young people’s relationships in five European countries: online and offline normalisation of heteronormativity

Abstract

Qualitative interviews with 91 young people aged 13‐18 in Bulgaria, Cyprus, England, Italy and Norway explored their experiences of intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA). Some young women experienced extensive offline sexual pressure and young women were substantially more negatively affected by IPVA than young men. The data revealed that online space has created new mechanisms of control and surveillance that can intensify the impact of offline abuse. Analysing the data in the light of existing theories of cultural violence and coercive control, we explore both the normalising influence of prevailing heteronormative models of femininity and masculinity as well as young people’s agency to resist such normalisation. Key messages Sometimes young people who experience and perpetrate IPVA understand this as normal gendered behaviour. The normalisation of abuse is further perpetuated when young people equate control to love, care and protection. Online space provides new patriarchal platforms for the extending the scope and regularity of monitoring and emotional abuse.