Six Reasons Why Women Stay In Abusive Relationships

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In abusive relationships, women are at a much higher risk of being the victim then men (Mata-Pariente, Plazoala-Castano, & Ruiz-Perez 2006). A large number of women leave and return to their abusive relationships numerous times before they come to a realization of the victimization and break away (Cavanaugh, Gelles, & Loseke 2014). During the time of abuse, women may suffer psychological or physical consequences to their health. Many studies have shown that a majority of women who have been abused showed signs of anxiety, low self-esteem, and depression (Estrellado & Loh 2014). Although remaining in abusive relationships can affect the victims in a negative way, many women choose to stay because of several reasons. According to Mata-Pariente, …show more content…

These six reasons why women stay in abusive relationships can be explained using the three theoretical perspectives - the psychological perspective, the sociological perspective, and the feminist perspective. The psychological perspective accounts for two of the six reasons.
The psychological perspective has previously been used to explain why some women stay in unhealthy relationships. Out of the three perspectives, the psychological perspective focuses more on creating an explanation for the behavior of the abuser. According to Cavanaugh, Gelles, & Loseke (2014), the psychological perspective is is created around the idea that the batterers are behaving in abusive ways due to a psychological problem. A very common disorder that many abusers develop are personality disorders. They are usually developed at a young age due to exposure to violence and neglect in the home. The personality disorders that they develop …show more content…

Similar to the sociological perspective, the feminist perspective also justify their reasoning through social factors that these women have to face (Cavanaugh, Gelles, & Loseke 2014). What distinguishes the feminist perspective apart from the sociological perspective is that the feminist framework only focuses on social constructs that are attributed to gender inequality or the gendered nature of society. In society, men are usually seen as superior to women. This may explain why women choose to stay because of the fear of retaliation. The masculine traits that men possess are usually used to justify their abusive nature (O’Neal and Beckman ____ ). The feminist theory emphasises that there is a link between masculinity and violence. Some of these masculine traits include aggression, domination, confidence, and independence (Eckstein 2011). Contradictory to the behaviors men are expected to possess, women are expected to be submissive, empathetic, vulnerable, and patient. Because of these gendered stereotypes that exist, women may be more willing to put up with the men’s abusive nature. They may be scared to retaliate because there could be more severe consequences. The last reason why women may stay in their abusive relationships is due to the fear of losing their child (Mata-Pariente, Plazoala-Castano, & Ruiz-Perez 2006). Women are seen as

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