Martín Hernán di Marco, a sociologist at the University of Oslo, has interviewed 13 men in Buenos Aires who are imprisoned for femicide.
"There has been quite a lot of research carried out on gender-based and domestic violence over the last thirty years, but much less research about the men who perpetrate the violence," says de Marco.
Femicide is intentionally killing a woman because of her gender.
This form of hate crime is a global issue but has gained particular attention in Latin America, where a number of countries have introduced legislation to stop the violence.
Di Marco wanted to understand why the men resorted to violence and murder. He was curious about the perpetrators own thought about what they had done.
We need to talk about – and with – these men
"We talk a lot about violence, but rarely talk directly with the men who inflict it," Di Marco says. He calls it the paradox of violence.
This leads to knowledge gaps in the discourse about violence.
"Without an insight into the men's life stories, love loves, or their thoughts on other topics in life, we lack essential tools to intervene.”
Di Marco stresses the importance of getting an in-depth understanding of the men's perspectives.
"I'm particularly interested in understanding how they think – that is, the reasoning behind their crimes. Ways of thinking that are not individual but are nurtured by society.”
Interviewed 13 inmates
Di Marco visited three Argentine prisons to hear the men's life stories.
"I approached the interviews with an open mind," says di Marco.
"Having an open mind is essential to avoiding overly simplistic, stereotypical conceptions about the perpetrators. Although there is research linking homicide to mental health, focusing on that aspect could overshadow other important aspects of their lives that may be necessary to understanding and preventing violence.”
In the second interview, he asked the inmates to talk about their relationships with former partners.
In total, there were 33 interviews with 13 men.
The average age of the men was 32 years old.
Of those interviewed, 39 percent had completed primary school, 46 percent had completed upper secondary school, and 15 percent had a university degree when the crime was committed.
Justified the killings
The men had different ways of explaining the killings.
Many of the men tried to justify, or even legitimise, their crimes.
Several of the men referred to the killing as an accident:
"They distanced themselves from their crimes by claiming that the violence was the result of a sudden and unforeseen fit of rage, which distinguishes it from premeditated murder.”
Some of the men denied that the violence was "gender-based", claiming that the murder did not qualify as femicide, which often gives harsher sentences.
A third group blamed the victim or society.
"Some claimed, for example, that they were wrongly accused or are victims of a political agenda run by radical feminists.”
Or they blamed themselves but did not accept full responsibility:
"They blamed mental illness or a difficult upbringing.”
"Did no one accept full responsibility?"
"None of the people I interviewed accepted full responsibility for the murder. They all tried to explain it away, blame the victim, and so on.”
"This is associated with the fact that there are almost no treatment programmes for such men," di Marco adds.
"None of the people I interviewed accepted full responsibility for the murder."
Emotions out of control
There were three recurring themes in the interviews.
The first is that the men described the violence as a reaction to rejection.
"The men I interviewed describe the use of violence as a tool. They use it to maintain control, especially when they feel their status is under threat. This is often expressed as a violent reaction to rejection, especially when they're concerned that their partner might leave them," di Marco explains.
They resort to violence in desperation.
Di Marco refers to the second recurring theme as "violence as denied harm-doing":
"The perpetrators had often learned violent behaviour through socialisation and cultural norms, and they normally deny that they intended to harm anyone. These men often don't realise that they're causing harm, and a number of them presented themselves as victims.”
Finally, di Marco observed that several of the men had used violence for the emotional transfer of pain, to make their partner "feel what they themselves felt":
"The perpetrators seem to lack other ways of expressing feelings such as pain, doubt and uncertainty. They resort to violence in desperation. Killing is a way to manifest repressed emotions. It emerged in the interviews that a number of the men saw the act of murder as the only option.”
“A difficult topic”
"It’s a difficult topic, but important," says Anne Ryen.
She is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Agder and has conducted research on violence against women.
"In a previous lecture, I asked if we know what violence and murder mean. Most of us would say that we do know what they mean – but do we really? If a woman is stabbed to death in the street, it is reported as murder. If a person stabs their female partner to death in the home, this can be reported in different ways, and in some situations they may escape punishment, while the murderer ends up in prison.”
Ryen is interested in how people understand different forms of violence.
She believes that di Marco and his colleagues’ research illustrates the following:
"The Argentine men don’t just talk about their crimes but use the way they talk about such killings to turn them into something specific. That is why we cannot take as given that “a killing” has a relevant local classification when a woman is killed by her partner or a male relative.”
"Violence against women has been regarded as a private matter"
Ryen explains that violence against women is also an issue in Norway.
In the last twenty years, more than 160 women have been killed by their partner, compared to about twenty men," she says.
Of the women killed between 2011-2021, four out of ten were killed by their husband, cohabitant, boyfriend or ex-partner.
Most often, intoxicants – alcohol or other substances – were involved.
"Broken bones and influenza are taken more seriously than the fear of being killed."
Ryen says that, in several cases, the Norwegian authorities ignored cries for help:
"Those killed had previously alerted the police, their GP or been to a crisis centre, but in 40 per cent of these cases, the agencies have not taken them seriously.”
"Broken bones and influenza are taken more seriously than the fear of being killed," says Ryen.
She interprets this as people often having a naïve relationship to the term "family":
"Family units allow for superordinate and subordinate relationships that can be dramatically triggered in certain situations. For decades, violence against women has been regarded as a private and gendered matter, and has been normalised in Norway. The remnants of this attitude goes some way to explaining why cries for help are sometimes ignored.”
"If a woman is stabbed to death in the street, it is reported as murder. If a person stabs their female partner to death in the home, this can be reported in different ways."
Impacts Norwegian women
Ryen explains that violence against women is also an issue in Norway.
In the last twenty years, more than 160 women have been killed by their partner, compared to about twenty men," she says.
Of the women killed between 2011-2021, four out of ten were killed by their husband, cohabitant, boyfriend or ex-partner.
Most often, intoxicants – alcohol or other substances – were involved.
Broken bones and influenza are taken more seriously than the fear of being killed.
Ryen says that, in several cases, the Norwegian authorities ignored cries for help:
"Those killed had previously alerted the police, their GP or been to a crisis centre, but in 40 per cent of these cases, the agencies have not taken them seriously.”
"Broken bones and influenza are taken more seriously than the fear of being killed," says Ryen.
She interprets this as people often having a naïve relationship to the term "family":
"Family units allow for superordinate and subordinate relationships that can be dramatically triggered in certain situations. For decades, violence against women has been regarded as a private and gendered matter, and has been normalised in Norway. The remnants of this attitude goes some way to explaining why cries for help are sometimes ignored.”
Cultural framework
Martín Hernán di Marco points out that the research carried out in Argentine prisons has certain limitations.
"The study's findings naturally reflect the cultural and institutional context," the researcher explains.
He explains that the prison environment may influence the perpetrators' narratives:
"In prison, these men are exposed to new ideas and discourses that can change their perspectives.”
Although mental health may play a role, that explanation is too simplistic.
Di Marco also points out the significance of the interviewer's gender when collecting data.
"As a male interviewer, I was met with very direct responses, possibly because of an assumed common understanding of gender roles. A female researcher would probably have been met in a slightly different way," he says.
Mental health explanation is too simplistic
In more recent studies, Di Marco conducted further research on prisoners in 11 Latin American countries, all of whom were imprisoned for femicide.
“The same themes keep coming back," he says.
"Regardless of the cultural and geographical context, the inmates share the same narratives and explanations as the men in the Argentine study.”
Di Marco believes his research challenges the standard notion that men who kill their partners "must have mental health issues":
"Although mental health may play a role, the explanation is too simplistic. Many of these men perceive women as objects meant to be controlled. They see these women as subordinate to men or they see them as a threat. Such attitudes are not just a product of an individual pathology but point to a broader societal issue,” he concludes.
Martín Hernan Di Marco is a postdoctoral fellow in the CRIMLA (Crime in Latin America) project at the University of Oslo, which researches crime in seven different countries in Latin America.
Di Marco is a sociologist with a particular interest about the histories of men who have killed their female partners.
The study "There Was No Other Option: Femicide Perpetrators' Sensemaking on Gender and Violence in Buenos Aires, Argentina" was published in 2023, with Ellie Fahs and Dabney P. Evans, in the journal Violence and Gender.
