Comments from the Editor-in-Chief

For Issue Two this year, I have selected papers around themes of violence and conflict with respect to gender. Patriarchal structures of masculinity, misogyny and gender-based discourse all intersect to impact on the existence, prevention, resolution and outcomes of conflict. Violence itself is manifest in different forms and I hope that this collection reflects that diversity. In Fostering solidarity for gender/ethnic reincorporation Santamaría and Hernández investigate the experience of female indigenous ex-combatants in Tierra Grata, Cesar, Columbia during the first stage of the implementation of the peace accords in 2017. The authors reconstruct the trajectories of women ex-combatants and the obstacles they face during reincorporation. In Dialogic contractions in online news discourse on violence against women, Aragbuwa analyses online news discourse on Violence against Women in Nigeria, performing a qualitative analysis from White’s dialogic perspectives of intersubjective positioning. In Spain ́s campaigns against gender violence, Fernández Romero examines the media’s treatment of male violence (against women) and describes gender-based violence discourses of the campaigns in place in Spain from 1998 to 2017. The impact of these on the identity processes of women who survive violence and leave their abuser is explored through in-depth interviews. A victim–agent dichotomy is created, in which women are encouraged to exercise their ‘free will’ by denouncing their abusers but which may contribute to their re-victimization. In Spaces free of violence, Serradell, Ramis, De Botton and Solé research the involvement of Moroccan women in the processes of conflict prevention and resolution in schools in an area of Catalonia. The authors identify elements that promote effective participation by these women and the impact of this on improvements in coexistence both inside and outside the school. In The anti-racist potential of care, Schmid explores the role of gender in volunteering with refugees in Germany and how female volunteers, who outnumber male volunteers, understand their involvement. The data emerging from this study suggest that refugee support work is often classed as a form of care but that women widely interpret it as an expression of their political attitudes, specifically about anti-racism and anti-right-wing activism. It is argued that these two forms of motivation for volunteering; care and politics, do not need to be mutually exclusive. In, Femicide, intimate partner violence and legal complaints in Spain, Bosch-Fiol and Ferrer-Pérez view the consequences of intimate partner violence against women on their health. Available information reveals a lack of previous legal complaints in the case of intimate partner femicides in Spain and this article reflects on the reasons for this as well as the consequences of it. In Youth male identities in a correctional setting, Magidson interviews incarcerated young males in the United States to explain how gendered identities are constructed, performed and challenged. Traditional notions of masculinity are found and the role of aggression as well as the importance of criminal activity, as a strategy for ‘being a man’, are also noted. These identities are indicated to motivate delinquent behaviour, and particular perspectives on women, which distinguish the subjects to be men. The study gives voice to male juveniles living in facilities and contributes to frameworks exploring how gender is constructed and negotiated through micro-level interactions. In The misogynist representation of women in Palestinian oral tradition, Hamamra shows how Palestinian proverbs reinforce an ideology of gender difference based on subjugating women to men’s authority. The paper analyses proverbs, alongside contemporary Palestinian practices, such as arranged marriage; the objectification of women; the silencing of women’s voices and honour killing. It is argued here that the Israeli occupation perpetuates the construction of gender roles where JOURNAL OF GENDER STUDIES 2020, VOL. 29, NO. 2, 115–116 https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2019.1706266