Representações sociais da violência doméstica para mulheres acompanhadas em Centros de Referência de Atendimento à Mulher

Abstract

This work deals with domestic violence against women and the intersections of machism, patriarchy and asymmetrical power relations between the genders. The general objective was to understand the social representations of domestic violence and their construction processes for women monitored at the Women's Care Reference Centers in Salvador - BA. The specific objectives include identifying the behaviors perceived as violent by women who have suffered domestic violence, describing the explanations given by women for violent acts committed by men and understanding the role of the Reference Centers in the care network for these people. To this end, the method used was semi-structured interviews with nine women who were being followed up at these centers, followed by Bardin's content analysis based on the identification of nine categories of analysis and their respective themes. The research offers a psychosocial analysis based on theoretical tools from the social representations approach, studies on the attribution of causality and processes of social identity construction.Among the results, it was possible to identify other types of violence objectified by women besides physical violence, such as psychological, sexual, moral and property violence. With regard to the attributions of causality, both causes internal to the man were identified, such as his character, feelings of possession/ jealousy, justifications for protection/care, as well as those internal to the woman, based on her self-blame. With regard to causes external to men, alcohol and other drug abuse, machismo, patriarchy and the psychopathologization of behaviour were identified. With regard to reference centers, the importance of these facilities for the support network of women victims of domestic violence was revealed, based on specialized care, especially psychological monitoring, group activities and contact with other women who have been through the same situation. The conclusion points to a broadening of the concept of domestic violence by the women who took part, attributions of causality that fluctuate between internal and individual causes of men and external causes that are more collective and social, generating an interlocution between these contents and the functions of knowledge and guidance of conduct present in the social representations approach. Finally, the women interviewed pointed to the Reference Centers as a place of support, contributing to their sense of belonging.