ABSTRACT
Men's sense of natural superiority draws on a cluster of metaphors that cast men as stronger, more rational and more in touch with the ways of the world than women. This cluster of metaphors has been active for thousands of years thereby enabling its core understanding to become embedded as a self-evident given in gender relations. This chapter uses transcript material from interviews with men who have recently abused their partners to explore their use of metaphors to justify their violence. As in preceding chapters, it examines ways in which such use is bolstered by synecdoche and metonymy and consolidated within common forms of expression. It finishes by highlighting the cost to society of men's allegiance to maintaining notions of natural superiority.
