Relying on evolutionary theories to explain gender violence ignores the environmental and social factors that influence such behaviours
When, as part of a study on men’s practices, grade seven boys of a remote rural area of Nkomazi in Mpumulanga were invited to keep journals, they responded with enthusiasm. One is the journal of 14-year-old Boas, a boy subjected to deliberate neglect and brutal attacks by his father, in a context where domestic violence and rape are endemic.