The study draws on interviews with 21 Swedish women who have been victims of domestic abuse and their social networks. The article discusses the initial disclosure process when women that are victims of domestic abuse tell people from their social network that their partner abuses them. This first revealing was not planned to be the focus of the research study at first.
– But after reading through the interviews we noticed how some women described the scenes and situations when they revealed what they had kept hidden, and this first telling turned out to be an important and sensitive issue, says Susanne Boëthius to the Nordic Research Counsil for Criminology.
In the analysis two sub-dimensions emerged: planned and unplanned first disclosure.
Women who had a planned disclosure had decided to tell someone regardless of concerns about potential negative outcomes, referring to the need for emotional and practical support. These women told a person of their choice in a situation they themselves chose.
Women also revealed the abuse as an unplanned response to a specific situation described as turning points. Unplanned disclosures were also a result of someone in the woman’s network noticing the abuse, more or less forcing the woman to tell.
Considering that being in an abusive relationship is not altogether unusual, and that the violence is illegal and in contemporary society publicly condemned and morally questioned, it can seem like a paradox that many women do not disclose the abuse and seek help.
The study shows that shame, a desire to protect the perpetrator, stigma, guilt and fear are some reasons that women subjected to abuse give when explaining why they do not turn to the police or seek help from other official institutions.
The winning team's next project:
What are you working on now?
We are currently working with our project “Call the Police? A study of social networks’ responses to domestic violence”, financed by FORTE.
The research team also includes Margareta Hydén, LIU and Elisa Bellotti, Manchester University. We are focusing on how social networks’ responses interplay with the decision for abused women to contact the police.
- Learn more on Susanne Boëthius' personal page soc.lu.se/en/susanne-boethius
- Learn more on Malin Åkerström's personal page soc.lu.se/en/malin-akerstrom
About the prize:
Learn about the Nordic Journal of Criminology Best Article Prize on think.taylorandfrancis.com
About the article:
"Revealing hidden realities: disclosing domestic abuse to informal others" published by Susanne Boëthius and Malin Åkerström in the Nordic Journal of Criminology, and available as Open Access.
Interview with Susanne Boëthius and Malin Åkerström:
The the Nordic Research Counsil for Criminology interviews the winners on nsfk.org