Her decision was not about leaving, but about living : A discourse analysis of the Swedish research field on women leaving abusive men

Abstract: This thesis identifies discourses of women leaving abusive male partners by examining the works on the matter by famous IPVAW researchers Viveka Enander, Carin Holmberg, and Margareta Hydén. Using discourse analysis, and thus a social constructivist approach, I have studied how the researchers explain women’s leaving processes and the resistance associated with those by drawing on the theories of Normalization of Violence and Neutralization of Violence respectively. Further, this thesis examines both what women are included in the research studies and how women leaving their abusive partners are portrayed in the material. By using an intersectional perspective, I explore who is missing from the research material and what impact their absence might have. I argue that discourses have an impact on people’s lived realities, thus who is depicted as a victim of abuse by being included as a subject in research is highly important. In short, the findings draw attention to how researchers within the same field provide different modes of explanation and thus comes to different conclusions based on the theories chosen for the study, ultimately leading to that they (re)produce different discourses which create a discursive struggle. The thesis also highlights the necessity of including an intersectional framework when researching women exposed to violence.