The Different Dynamics of Femicide in a Small Nordic Welfare Society

Freydís Jóna Freysteinsdóttir

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.13.3.02

Authors

Freydís Jóna Freysteinsdóttir University of Iceland, Iceland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.13.3.02

Keywords:

Femicide, Intimate Partner Homicide, Ecological Theory, Gender Equality

Abstract

In this study, all cases of femicide in Iceland over a thirty-year period were explored. A total of sixteen women and girls were killed during the years 1986-2015. Femicide was defined in this study as the murder of a woman by a partner, former partner, or because of passion. According to this definition, eleven femicide cases occurred during this time period. The data analyzed were court verdicts and news reports of the incidents. Qualitative methods were used for analysis. Interestingly, there was a different dynamic related to femicide cases, which included 1) sex femicide, 2) former partners and 3) current partners. Alcohol consumption and the willingness of the victim to end sex appear to be a dangerous mixture, judging from the results of the sexually-related femicide cases. Alcohol consumption was a factor in all current partner femicide cases in addition to low SES status; empathy was lacking, and patriarchal views were prominent in some of them. In former partner femicide cases, jealousy and possessiveness were major themes, but not alcohol consumption. It is important to study such dynamics and contextual factors in greater detail in larger studies.

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Author Biography

Freydís Jóna Freysteinsdóttir, University of Iceland, Iceland

Freydís Jóna Freysteinsdóttir (MSW, PhD) is an Associate Professor in social work at the University of Iceland. She completed a B.A. degree in psychology with social work as a minor in 1992 and a graduate certificate program in social work in 1994 from the University of Iceland. She completed a master’s degree in social work from the University of Iowa in the U.S. in 1998 and a doctorate degree from the same university in 2004. She completed a diploma in teaching at a university level in 2013. Her main research area has been child abuse and neglect, and intimate partner violence. Her doctoral dissertation was on risk factors for repeated child maltreatment, wherein witnessing domestic violence was of special importance. She developed a definition and classification system for child maltreatment that has been used by child protection services in Iceland since 2005.

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