Intersections between gender socialization and violence against women by the intimate partner

Abstract

The scope of this article is to identify intersections between gender socialization and intimate partner violence against women. It involves qualitative research in the mold of the topical life story. The study included 16 women who filed a police report in a Police Station for the Defense of Women in a city in the interior of São Paulo. For the interviews a semi-structured script that examined women from their childhood memories, family dynamics, relationship/marriage and post- marriage/marriage family dynamics was used. The patriarchal system as a societal order underpinned the socialization of these women who, because of the father’s domination relations (patriarchy) and guided by the mother’s model of submission, sought freedom in marriage/early unions with partners who repeated paternal behavior. Such family contexts may have influenced them in choosing potential aggressors. The results revealed that gender socialization reinforces gender inequalities and influences the behavior of men and women, thus pointing out the importance of highlighting this problem in different areas, especially in primary health care services, as a way to prevent intimate partner violence against women.