What do I mean by ‘tactics’ and ‘strategies’? These are mental operations – ways of seeing, conceptualising and naming reality – which materialise in behaviour, are deposited as common sense and become ideology when they centre on the interests of those in power and may be ‘institutionalised’ in various ways, such as laws, scientific or pseudoscientific theories and the work practices of legal and social services. These institutionalised forms influence and sometimes determine the way we perceive reality and therefore our reactions, feelings and behaviour. I define ‘strategies’ as complex, articulated manoeuvres, general methods for hiding male violence and allowing the status quo, privileges and male domination to be maintained; by the term ‘tactics’ I mean tools that may be used across the board in various strategies, without being specific to violence against women.

Talking of strategies and tactics gives the idea of an organised movement working together, in which various people combine with various means to obtain a single result: an image that is not really suited to the complexity and contradictions present in modern societies. But just because a strategy exists, it does not necessarily follow that those involved act consciously to achieve its purpose. The police officer advising a battered woman to withdraw her report against her violent husband may do so for various reasons: because he sincerely believes that it is the best way of helping her, to avoid extra work, because he is ignorant of the law, because he is convinced that a man has a right to make his wife ‘toe the line’, because he is also a violent husband and sympathises with the aggressor. Whatever the motive and awareness of the police officer in question, the consequences for the woman will be similar. In short, we may talk of a ‘system’ and strategies to maintain it, when various actions centre on the same purpose, even if those involved are not fully aware of it.

I will begin by describing the tactics, since these form the basis for the strategies (legitimising and denying violence) to work. The tactics I have identified are euphemising, dehumanising, blaming, psychologising, naturalising and separating.