ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the findings of an exploratory study of how men experience criminally defined physical violence. It places men's responses explicitly within a framework that takes masculinity seriously. Men's actual or potential experiences of violence, whether it be criminally defined or not, have not been the primary target for contemporary sociological explorations of masculinity. The chapter explores to gain an understanding of the coping strategies of men who had experienced a physical assault. Open-ended interviews, designed to explore how assault had affected their lives, were conducted with thirty-three men, all contacted through Islington Victim Support Scheme or through Hobdell's contacts with police and probation officers. The men interviewed located their emotional, physical, and social responses to their victimization in relation to 'being men'. The frame of masculinity was quite apparent, and was the focus for discussion within the interviews. However the men characterized the violence to themselves, there were many changes in their habits and actions.
