Våld i kärlekens namn : Kvinnors självbiografiska skildringar av våld i nära relationer

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study was to investigate how women exposed to violence in close relationships portray their experiences in autobiographies, to generate understanding of what is significant in their choice to stay or leave the relationship. To investigate this phenomenon, the following questions have been used as starting points: (1) How are the women’s inclination to report the perpetrator described? (2) How are the turning point that causes women to leave the relationship described? (3) How are the social services and the judiciary’s help to the women described? The intention has been to investigate how four women form their experiences from a relationship where violence has occurred, focusing on what makes women stay in the relationship or leave the relationship. Examples and quotes from the autobiographies have been analyzed using theories as well as relevant research on the subject of intimate partner abuse. This study shows that only the woman herself can take the decision to leave the violent relationship. If the woman has normalized and internalized the violence and developed a traumatic band to the man, she has to go through different stages of the breakup process before she can leave the man, when the traumatic band between them finally has been broken.