Conceptions of gender and age in Swedish Victim Support

Abstract

The aim of this article is to unpack how the categories ‘gender’ and ‘age’ are understood among Swedish Victim Support organizations. This is done through a study of how individuals who work in Swedish Victim Support organizations talk about victims as well as about their own role. In an analysis of 12 focus groups from Swedish Victim Support organizations, where one part was based on vignettes and the other part on open discussion, we focus on how the supporters understand gender and age. By working with three categorical pairs – victim and supporter, male and female as well as young and old – we show that gender is a dominant categorization in understanding both victims and victim supporters. Age seemed to have more importance in how women are understood, as female victims were described quite differently depending on age, and the ideal helper was described as a mature woman. Male helpers were regarded as a homogenous group and age did not matter. Conclusively, we found that, while gender as a category was important in the understanding of how people are perceived in Victim Support, the intersection of the categories of gender and age were important in supporting and enhancing this understanding. This article points at the importance of understanding how these specific categories work.