“It belongs to the house” domestic violence and sexual abuse as everyday life in a coastal community in Northern Norway

This chapter is based on ethnographic fieldwork in a remote, coastal community in Northern Norway and explores how older women relate to and understand experiences of domestic violence and sexual abuse in this specific cultural context.

Different levels and layers of social and cultural distancing are taking place both in terms of age, changing traditions and values along with tensions between generations when dealing with domestic violence and sexual abuse.

The women in this study were promoting the local value “to manage on one's own”, namely, the ability to be strong, overcoming obstacles and hardship in life regardless of circumstances. This value included a protection of home, both understood as their family and physical home and also as a sense of belonging to the local community and its identity. Revealing stories of domestic violence and sexual abuse could therefore be a threat to the patriotic project of home, both as a cultural and social place, with the risk of contributing to stereotypical perceptions of gender and cultural identity.