Talking about "Victims", “survivors”, and “battered women”: How labels affect the perception of women who experienced intimate partner violence

Two studies addressed effects of the labels ‘victim’, ‘battered woman’ and ‘survivor’ on the perception of women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Spanish undergraduates provided free associations (Study 1; N = 54) and completed semantic differentials (Study 2; N = 142) regarding...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Romero Sánchez, Mónica, Skowronski, Marika, Bohner, Gerd, L. Megías, Jesús
Format: article
Publication Date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Granada (UGR)
Repository:Digibug. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Granada
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:digibug.ugr.es:10481/68046
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10481/68046
https://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2020.1840232
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Intimate partner violence
Violencia de pareja
Description
Summary:Two studies addressed effects of the labels ‘victim’, ‘battered woman’ and ‘survivor’ on the perception of women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Spanish undergraduates provided free associations (Study 1; N = 54) and completed semantic differentials (Study 2; N = 142) regarding the labels. Results showed that the term ‘survivor’ evoked more positive associations and ratings than both ‘victim’ and ‘battered woman’, which did not differ from each other. At the same time, however, when asked directly, participants rated ‘survivor’ as the least appropriate term. These seemingly opposing findings replicate research on the terms’ use in sexual aggression. Results were independent of individuals’ acceptance of myths about IPV or knowing a woman who has experienced IPV. Implications for the use of specific language when communicating about IPV are discussed.