Violência nos Relacionamentos Amorosos: O que Dizem as Mulheres

Abstract

The present study sought, from the discourse analysis of the reports of women who experienced violent love relationships, to map the ways in which they themselves narrate and interpret their experiences. We also sought to discuss whether and how the social and historical construction of gender notions, gender identity and gender relations affect the constitution of conditions conducive to violence in relationships. In order to achieve these objectives, the following statements were taken from five women, collected on a video sharing site, which were transcribed and analyzed using basic elements of the theoretical and methodological framework of institutional discourse analysis. After individually analyzed, the reports were also cross-sectionally analyzed, highlighting the aspects that, due to their recurrence, allowed the construction of thematic categories. These can be taken as a constituent element of circulating, socially shared discourses about violence in love relationships, commonly referred to as “abusive relationships”. The analysis underlined the relevance of the imaginary construction of a partner and a relationship idealized as perfect, which seems to operate as a pre-existing ideal to meet the partner who will later be the author of the violence. Another important element is linked to the difficulties mentioned by the interviewees to recognize any evidence of violence at the beginning of the relationship. The blaming of the partner, unilateral blame for the violence suffered, is also recurrent in the reports, as well as the resulting failure of the relationship in contrast to the discourse that no woman victim of this form of violence would be guilty of being assaulted, nor responsible for it. In addition, another aspect emphasized in the statements was the difficulty of talking about the subject, the analysis also showed that the situations of violence experienced by these women seem to have produced deep emotional and psychic marks. So telling them what they have suffered has not only been described as difficult, but it seems to have required them great courage and willingness to expose themselves and even overcome such marks. All these aspects underline the importance of further studies, research and intervention in the field of psychology, so that professionals in the area can offer increasingly qualified services to women victims of this and other forms of violence.