“Wherever There's Men, it can Happen”: Constructions of Violence Against Women by Young Adults in Ireland

Abstract

Given the growing concern about perpetration of violence against women (VAW) amongst young adults, this article examines how a sample (n = 27) of Irish young adults (18–24 years) construct the term VAW. Participants drew on personal experiences to describe the term and were cognisant of the gendered perpetration of domestic, psychological, and sexual violence. A group of participants, however, constructed narrow understandings of VAW that did not align with their routinized experiences of unwanted touching and sexual microaggressions. We call for initiatives to enable young adults to name and link together different forms of VAW.