Fragments of female corporeality in victims of domestic violence: A phenomenological approach

Abstract

This was a phenomenological study undertaken at the Women’s Police Station in Guarapuava in the Brazilian state of Paraná that aimed to understand the significance of living with the offender after filing a domestic violence report at the station. Data were collected by means of interviews with 14 women victims of domestic violence, who continued to live with their attackers after reporting them. The women’s discourses were interpreted through the lens of the framework of French philosopher Maurice Merleau- Ponty. The results showed that the victims’ body images were modified, distorted, and negative. Coexistence with the offenders was sustained through destruction and weakening of the victims’ body image, thereby reducing their coping skills because they felt threatened, insecure, and inferior to the other, which perpetuated the cycle of violence. In conclusion, there is a need for professionals trained to capture the invisible beneath the visible, in order to take care of abused women in their multidimensionality.