The assault on the self: Stages in coping with battering husbands

Abstract

From interviews with women who have left battering relationships, we learn of their shifting definitions of the situation and their changing responses to their husbands' assaults. While some women may be more at risk for victimization than others, we see that victimization is a gradual process rather than an inherent quality of individual women. The process involves five stages: entering a violent relationship, managing the violence, experiencing a loss of self, re-evaluating the violent relationship, and restructuring the self. As the stages are discussed, variations in the definitional work of these women are also explained.