Marital violence against women from the point of view of the men who were the aggressors

Abstract

This article aims to analyze causes of marital aggression against women from the aggressors' (men) perspective. It is based on an exploratory descriptive study using Focal Groups as a means of collecting information. Research subjects were 11 (eleven) men who had been involved in domestic violence episodes and who voluntarily participated in the Domestic and Intrafamily Violence Assistance Program of a city in Santa Catarina. The analysis of the information yielded three categories: "She", "I" and "Others". The results revealed behaviors and attitudes that allowed to identify the causes that had led the aggressors to attack the partner, such as: strange people's interference in the conjugal relation; presence of partner's inadequate actions; woman's control over the partner; reply to the physical, verbal or psychological aggression of the partner; chemical dependence and financial situation. The results also showed that these causes are mixed in the daily routine, accumulate in the form of conflicts and come out in acts that configure the conjugal violence of the man against the partner. The research subjects do not demonstrate active understanding that they are aggressors, that is, they recognize the violence acts that they report; however, they do not identify that these actions characterize them as aggressors.