Social Dynamics, Gendered Subjectivities, and Surreptitious Acts of Agency From Women to Face Intimate Partner Violence in a Rural Community of Peru

Abstract

The article analyzes women's inner subjective processes while engaged in male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) situations. Through in-depth interviews with 12 women who had suffered violence in a rural community in Peru, it examines three topics: social dynamics that simultaneously contribute to resist within and openly question IPV, the transformations of hegemonic femininity in the community and the implications on their gendered subjectivities, and women's surreptitious acts and processes of agency to recalibrate power within their situation of IPV. In conclusion, women experience inner psychic tensions about themselves, their partners, and their relationships, which enables them to question IPV while resisting within the violent situation.