'He said he was going to kill me'
Case Studies of Attempted Intimate Femicide in São Paulo, Brazil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v13i1.159Keywords:
femicide, violence, public health, Brazil, qualitative, case studyAbstract
This article uses a case study design to explore attempted intimate femicide in metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil. We conducted 30 in-depth interviews with adult women on community and personal relationship experiences, health-care services, and national legislation about violence against women. Through a thorough transcript review, we identified two participants, Maria* and Raquel*, whose intimate partners attempted to kill them. We used a modified grounded theory approach to code the entire sample, and further analysed these transcripts to identify missed opportunities for intervention in both the prevention of- and responses to intimate partner violence (IPV), and the antecedents of attempted intimate femicide.
Both women had normalized experiences of violence, and experienced psychological abuse prior to the attempted intimate femicide. Social and familial networks were sources of shame for Raquel and support for Maria. Neither woman expressed confidence in law enforcement’s ability to protect women and girls from IPV.
These cases illustrate the need for multi-tiered interventions to prevent femicide in Brazil, which boasts one of the highest global female homicide rates. Although anti-femicide laws exist, better mechanisms are needed to integrate health, legal and social services for IPV and femicide prevention. In addition, community- and interpersonal- level interventions that counteract the Brazilian ‘culture of violence’ and machismo may provide support for at-risk women and girls.
*pseudonyms have been used to protect the identity of the participants
References
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Alvazzi del Frate, A. (2011). When the victim is a woman - Global Burden of Armed Violence 2011: Lethal Encounters (pp. 113-144). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Anderson, K. L. (2002). Perpetrator or victim? Relationships between intimate partner violence and well‐being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64(4), 851-863.
Ashford, L., & Feldman-Jacobs, C. (2010). The Crucial Role of Health Services in Responding to Gender-Based Violence. In USAID (Ed.).
Baldwin, J., & DeSouza, E. (2001). Modelo de María and Machismo: The Social Construction of Gender in Brazil. Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 35(1).
Barker, G., & Loewenstein, I. (1997). Where the Boys are: Attitudes Related to Masculinity, Fatherhood, and Violence Toward Women among Low-Income Adolescent and Young Adult Males in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Youth & Society, 29(2), 166-196. doi:10.1177/0044118x97029002002
BBC World (2015). Brazil femicide law signed by President Rousseff. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31810284
Bott, S., Guedes, A., Goodwin, M., & Mendoza, J. A. (2013). Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: A comparative analysis of population-based data from 12 countries. Washington DC: Pan American Health Organization.
Caldeira, T. P. R. (2002). The paradox of police violence in democratic Brazil. Ethnography, 3(3), 235-263. doi:10.1177/146613802401092742
Campbell, J. C. (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. The Lancet, 359(9314), 1331-1336. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08336-8
Campbell, J. C., Glass, N., Sharps, P. W., Laughon, K., & Bloom, T. (2007). Intimate partner homicide - Review and Implications of Research and Policy. Trauma, Violence and Abuse, 8(3), 246-269. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838007303505
Cannon, E. A., Bonomi, A. E., Anderson, M. L., & Rivara, F. P. (2009). The intergenerational transmission of witnessing intimate partner violence. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 163(8), 706-708.
Ceccato, V., & Ceccato, H. (2017). Violence in the Rural Global South: Trends, Patterns, and Tales From the Brazilian Countryside. Criminal Justice Review, 42(3), 270-290. doi:10.1177/0734016817724504
d’Avila, S., Campos, A. C., Bernardino, Í. d. M., Cavalcante, G. M. S., Nóbrega, L. M. d., & Ferreira, E. F. e. (2016). Characteristics of Brazilian Offenders and Victims of Interpersonal Violence: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:10.1177/0886260516674940
da Silva, J. (2009). In Brazil, a Culture of Violence Sees Wife-Beating as No Big Deal. Retrieved from http://brazzil.com/23390-in-brazil-a-culture-of-violence-sees-wife-beating-as-no-big-deal/
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de Albuquerque, A. L. (2017). Profile of sexual violence against women served in the service of women. Journal of Nursing UFPE online, 11(5), 2106-2115.
Debert, G. G., & Gregori, M. F. (2016). Conceptualising violence and gender in the Brazilian context: New issues and old dilemmas. Feminist Theory, 17(2), 175-190. doi:10.1177/1464700116645876
Ellsberg, M., & Heise, L. (2005). Researching violence against women: A practical guide for researchers and activists. (9241546476). Geneva, Switzerland, Washington, DC: Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) Retrieved from http://www.path.org/publications/pub.php?id=1175.
Fanslow, J. L., Gulliver, P., Dixon, R., & Ayallo, I. (2015). Women’s Initiation of Physical Violence Against an Abusive Partner Outside of a Violent Episode. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(15), 2659-2682. doi:10.1177/0886260514553632
Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, Peace, and Peace Research. Journal of Peace Research, 6(3), 167-191.
Garcia-Moreno, C., Guedes, A., & Knerr, W. (2012). Femicide. In Understanding and addressing violence against women. Retrieved from Geneva: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/77432/1/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf
Gattegno, M. V., Wilkins, J. D., & Evans, D. P. (2016). The relationship between the Maria da Penha Law and intimate partner violence in two Brazilian states. Int J Equity Health, 15(1), 138. doi:10.1186/s12939-016-0428-3
Goodman, L., Dutton, M. A., Vankos, N., & Weinfurt, K. (2005). Women's resources and use of strategies as risk and protective factors for reabuse over time. Violence Against Women, 11(3), 311-336. doi:10.1177/1077801204273297
Goodman, L. D., Dutton, M.A., Weinfurt, K., & Cook, S. (2003). The Intimate Partner Violence Strategies Index: Development and Application. Violence Against Women, 9(2), 163-186. doi:10.1177/1077801202239004
Hennink, M., Hutter, I., & Bailey, A. (2011). Qualitative Research Methods: Sage Publications.
Hernandez, P. M. (2002). Myth of Machismo: An Everyday Reality for Latin American Women. St. Thomas Law Review, 859-882.
Kendall-Tackett, K. A. (2007). Violence against women and the perinatal period: The impact of lifetime violence and abuse on pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 8(3), 344-353.
Kiss, L., d'Oliveira, A. F., Zimmerman, C., Heise, L., Schraiber, L. B., & Watts, C. (2012). Brazilian policy responses to violence against women: Government strategy and the help-seeking behaviors of women who experience violence. Health Hum Rights, 14(1), E64-77.
Laurent, C., Platzer, M., & Idomir, M. (2013). Femicide: A global issue that demands action. Retrieved from Vienna: http://www.genevadeclaration.org/fileadmin/docs/Co-publications/Femicide_A%20Gobal%20Issue%20that%20demands%20Action.pdf
Liang, B., Goodman, L., Tummala-Narra, P., & Weintraub, S. (2005). A theoretical framework for understanding help-seeking processes among survivors of intimate partner violence. Am J Community Psychol, 36(1-2), 71-84. doi:10.1007/s10464-005-6233-6
Mart'nalia/Mombaca (1995). Entretanto on Minha Cara. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
MaxQDA (2017). Software for qualitative data analysis (Version 12.2). Berlin, Germany: VERBI Software – Consult – Sozialforschung GmbH.
Mayorga, M. N. (2012). Risk and Protective Factors for Physical and Emotional Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in a Community of Lima, Peru. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(18), 3644-3659. doi:10.1177/0886260512447522
Melanda, F. N., Santos, H. G. d., Urbano, M. R., Carvalho, W. O. d., González, A. D., Mesas, A. E., & Andrade, S. M. d. (2017). Poor Relationships and Physical Violence at School Are Associated With More Forms of Psychological Violence Among Brazilian Teachers: A Cross-Sectional Study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:10.1177/0886260517696857
Meneghel, S. N., & Hirakata, V. N. (2011). Femicídios: Homicídios femininos no Brasil. Revista de Saúde Pública, 45, 564-574.
Nowak, M. (2012). Femicide: A global problem. Retrieved from Geneva: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/140363/SAS-Research-Note-14.pdf
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Penglase, B. (2007). Barbarians on the beach: Media narratives of violence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Crime, Media, Culture, 3(3), 305-325. doi:10.1177/1741659007082468
Prefeitura de Santo André (2015). Mulheres de Santo André em pauta: Perfil socioeconômico e mapa de violência. Retrieved from: http://www.santoandre.sp.gov.br/pesquisa/ebooks/370220.PDF
Presidência da República (2006). Lei No. 11.340, de 7 de agosto de 2006, D.O.U de 08.08.2006. Retrieved from http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2006/Lei/L11340.htm.
Presidência da República (2015). Lei No. 13.104, de 9 de março de 2015, D.O.U de 13.10.2015. Retrieved from http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2015-2018/2015/Lei/L13104.htm.
Pulerwitz, J., & Barker, G. (2008). Measuring Attitudes toward Gender Norms among Young Men in Brazil: Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the GEM Scale. Men and Masculinities, 10(3), 322-338. doi:10.1177/1097184x06298778
Racovita, M. (2015). Lethal violence against women and girls In Global Burden of Armed Violence 2015: Every Body Counts (pp. 87-120). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ralo, J. M., Schor, N., Tavares, C. M., & Silva, V. (2016). Prevalence of Family Violence and Associated Factors Among In-School Adolescents in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(9), 1618-1633. doi:10.1177/0886260515569059
Russell, D. (2008). Femicide: Politicizing the killing of females. Retrieved from Washington, DC: http://www.igwg.org/Events/femicide.aspx
Santos, C. M. (2010). Da delegacia da mulher à Lei Maria da Penha: Absorção/tradução de demandas feministas pelo Estado Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais [Online]. Retrieved from http://journals.openedition.org/rccs/3759 doi:10.4000/rccs.3759
Stockl, H., Devries, K., Rotstein, A., Abrahams, N., Campbell, J., Watts, C., & Moreno, C. G. (2013). The global prevalence of intimate partner homicide: A systematic review. Lancet, 382(9895), 859-865. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(13)61030-2
Waiselfisz, J. J. (2015). Mapa da Violencia 2015 - Homicidio de Mulheres no Brasil. Retrieved from Brasilia: https://www.mapadaviolencia.org.br/pdf2015/MapaViolencia_2015_mulheres.pdf
Woman Stats Project (2017). Social sanction for the murder of women/femicide. Texas A&M University.
World Health Organization (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/violence/9789241564625/en/
World Values Survey Network (2014). The World Values Survey. Retrieved January 2, 2018 http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSOnline.jsp
de Albuquerque Netto, L.M. Vasconcelos Moura, M./A., Araujom C.L., Souza, M. S., & Fernandes e Silva, G. (2017). Social Support Networks for Women in Situations of Violence by an Intimate Partner. Texto & Contexto - Enfermagem, 26(2).
Alvazzi del Frate, A. (2011). When the victim is a woman - Global Burden of Armed Violence 2011: Lethal Encounters (pp. 113-144). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Anderson, K. L. (2002). Perpetrator or victim? Relationships between intimate partner violence and well‐being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64(4), 851-863.
Ashford, L., & Feldman-Jacobs, C. (2010). The Crucial Role of Health Services in Responding to Gender-Based Violence. In USAID (Ed.).
Baldwin, J., & DeSouza, E. (2001). Modelo de María and Machismo: The Social Construction of Gender in Brazil. Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 35(1).
Barker, G., & Loewenstein, I. (1997). Where the Boys are: Attitudes Related to Masculinity, Fatherhood, and Violence Toward Women among Low-Income Adolescent and Young Adult Males in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Youth & Society, 29(2), 166-196. doi:10.1177/0044118x97029002002
BBC World (2015). Brazil femicide law signed by President Rousseff. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-31810284
Bott, S., Guedes, A., Goodwin, M., & Mendoza, J. A. (2013). Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean: A comparative analysis of population-based data from 12 countries. Washington DC: Pan American Health Organization.
Caldeira, T. P. R. (2002). The paradox of police violence in democratic Brazil. Ethnography, 3(3), 235-263. doi:10.1177/146613802401092742
Campbell, J. C. (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. The Lancet, 359(9314), 1331-1336. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)08336-8
Campbell, J. C., Glass, N., Sharps, P. W., Laughon, K., & Bloom, T. (2007). Intimate partner homicide - Review and Implications of Research and Policy. Trauma, Violence and Abuse, 8(3), 246-269. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838007303505
Cannon, E. A., Bonomi, A. E., Anderson, M. L., & Rivara, F. P. (2009). The intergenerational transmission of witnessing intimate partner violence. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 163(8), 706-708.
Ceccato, V., & Ceccato, H. (2017). Violence in the Rural Global South: Trends, Patterns, and Tales From the Brazilian Countryside. Criminal Justice Review, 42(3), 270-290. doi:10.1177/0734016817724504
d’Avila, S., Campos, A. C., Bernardino, Í. d. M., Cavalcante, G. M. S., Nóbrega, L. M. d., & Ferreira, E. F. e. (2016). Characteristics of Brazilian Offenders and Victims of Interpersonal Violence: An Exploratory Study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:10.1177/0886260516674940
da Silva, J. (2009). In Brazil, a Culture of Violence Sees Wife-Beating as No Big Deal. Retrieved from http://brazzil.com/23390-in-brazil-a-culture-of-violence-sees-wife-beating-as-no-big-deal/
DataSenado. (2017). Violência Doméstica e Familiar Contra a Mulher. Retrieved from https://www12.senado.leg.br/institucional/datasenado/arquivos/aumenta-numero-de-mulheres-que-declaram-ter-sofrido-violencia
de Albuquerque, A. L. (2017). Profile of sexual violence against women served in the service of women. Journal of Nursing UFPE online, 11(5), 2106-2115.
Debert, G. G., & Gregori, M. F. (2016). Conceptualising violence and gender in the Brazilian context: New issues and old dilemmas. Feminist Theory, 17(2), 175-190. doi:10.1177/1464700116645876
Ellsberg, M., & Heise, L. (2005). Researching violence against women: A practical guide for researchers and activists. (9241546476). Geneva, Switzerland, Washington, DC: Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) Retrieved from http://www.path.org/publications/pub.php?id=1175.
Fanslow, J. L., Gulliver, P., Dixon, R., & Ayallo, I. (2015). Women’s Initiation of Physical Violence Against an Abusive Partner Outside of a Violent Episode. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 30(15), 2659-2682. doi:10.1177/0886260514553632
Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, Peace, and Peace Research. Journal of Peace Research, 6(3), 167-191.
Garcia-Moreno, C., Guedes, A., & Knerr, W. (2012). Femicide. In Understanding and addressing violence against women. Retrieved from Geneva: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/77432/1/WHO_RHR_12.36_eng.pdf
Gattegno, M. V., Wilkins, J. D., & Evans, D. P. (2016). The relationship between the Maria da Penha Law and intimate partner violence in two Brazilian states. Int J Equity Health, 15(1), 138. doi:10.1186/s12939-016-0428-3
Goodman, L., Dutton, M. A., Vankos, N., & Weinfurt, K. (2005). Women's resources and use of strategies as risk and protective factors for reabuse over time. Violence Against Women, 11(3), 311-336. doi:10.1177/1077801204273297
Goodman, L. D., Dutton, M.A., Weinfurt, K., & Cook, S. (2003). The Intimate Partner Violence Strategies Index: Development and Application. Violence Against Women, 9(2), 163-186. doi:10.1177/1077801202239004
Hennink, M., Hutter, I., & Bailey, A. (2011). Qualitative Research Methods: Sage Publications.
Hernandez, P. M. (2002). Myth of Machismo: An Everyday Reality for Latin American Women. St. Thomas Law Review, 859-882.
Kendall-Tackett, K. A. (2007). Violence against women and the perinatal period: The impact of lifetime violence and abuse on pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 8(3), 344-353.
Kiss, L., d'Oliveira, A. F., Zimmerman, C., Heise, L., Schraiber, L. B., & Watts, C. (2012). Brazilian policy responses to violence against women: Government strategy and the help-seeking behaviors of women who experience violence. Health Hum Rights, 14(1), E64-77.
Laurent, C., Platzer, M., & Idomir, M. (2013). Femicide: A global issue that demands action. Retrieved from Vienna: http://www.genevadeclaration.org/fileadmin/docs/Co-publications/Femicide_A%20Gobal%20Issue%20that%20demands%20Action.pdf
Liang, B., Goodman, L., Tummala-Narra, P., & Weintraub, S. (2005). A theoretical framework for understanding help-seeking processes among survivors of intimate partner violence. Am J Community Psychol, 36(1-2), 71-84. doi:10.1007/s10464-005-6233-6
Mart'nalia/Mombaca (1995). Entretanto on Minha Cara. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
MaxQDA (2017). Software for qualitative data analysis (Version 12.2). Berlin, Germany: VERBI Software – Consult – Sozialforschung GmbH.
Mayorga, M. N. (2012). Risk and Protective Factors for Physical and Emotional Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in a Community of Lima, Peru. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(18), 3644-3659. doi:10.1177/0886260512447522
Melanda, F. N., Santos, H. G. d., Urbano, M. R., Carvalho, W. O. d., González, A. D., Mesas, A. E., & Andrade, S. M. d. (2017). Poor Relationships and Physical Violence at School Are Associated With More Forms of Psychological Violence Among Brazilian Teachers: A Cross-Sectional Study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi:10.1177/0886260517696857
Meneghel, S. N., & Hirakata, V. N. (2011). Femicídios: Homicídios femininos no Brasil. Revista de Saúde Pública, 45, 564-574.
Nowak, M. (2012). Femicide: A global problem. Retrieved from Geneva: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/140363/SAS-Research-Note-14.pdf
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Penglase, B. (2007). Barbarians on the beach: Media narratives of violence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Crime, Media, Culture, 3(3), 305-325. doi:10.1177/1741659007082468
Prefeitura de Santo André (2015). Mulheres de Santo André em pauta: Perfil socioeconômico e mapa de violência. Retrieved from: http://www.santoandre.sp.gov.br/pesquisa/ebooks/370220.PDF
Presidência da República (2006). Lei No. 11.340, de 7 de agosto de 2006, D.O.U de 08.08.2006. Retrieved from http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2004-2006/2006/Lei/L11340.htm.
Presidência da República (2015). Lei No. 13.104, de 9 de março de 2015, D.O.U de 13.10.2015. Retrieved from http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2015-2018/2015/Lei/L13104.htm.
Pulerwitz, J., & Barker, G. (2008). Measuring Attitudes toward Gender Norms among Young Men in Brazil: Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the GEM Scale. Men and Masculinities, 10(3), 322-338. doi:10.1177/1097184x06298778
Racovita, M. (2015). Lethal violence against women and girls In Global Burden of Armed Violence 2015: Every Body Counts (pp. 87-120). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ralo, J. M., Schor, N., Tavares, C. M., & Silva, V. (2016). Prevalence of Family Violence and Associated Factors Among In-School Adolescents in São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(9), 1618-1633. doi:10.1177/0886260515569059
Russell, D. (2008). Femicide: Politicizing the killing of females. Retrieved from Washington, DC: http://www.igwg.org/Events/femicide.aspx
Santos, C. M. (2010). Da delegacia da mulher à Lei Maria da Penha: Absorção/tradução de demandas feministas pelo Estado Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais [Online]. Retrieved from http://journals.openedition.org/rccs/3759 doi:10.4000/rccs.3759
Stockl, H., Devries, K., Rotstein, A., Abrahams, N., Campbell, J., Watts, C., & Moreno, C. G. (2013). The global prevalence of intimate partner homicide: A systematic review. Lancet, 382(9895), 859-865. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(13)61030-2
Waiselfisz, J. J. (2015). Mapa da Violencia 2015 - Homicidio de Mulheres no Brasil. Retrieved from Brasilia: https://www.mapadaviolencia.org.br/pdf2015/MapaViolencia_2015_mulheres.pdf
Woman Stats Project (2017). Social sanction for the murder of women/femicide. Texas A&M University.
World Health Organization (2013). Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/violence/9789241564625/en/
World Values Survey Network (2014). The World Values Survey. Retrieved January 2, 2018 http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSOnline.jsp
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2018-07-25
How to Cite
Evans, D. P., Williams, N. S. D., Wilkins, J. D., Chiang, E. D., Manders, O. C., & Vertamatti, M. A. (2018). ’He said he was going to kill me’: Case Studies of Attempted Intimate Femicide in São Paulo, Brazil. Journal of Comparative Social Work, 13(1), 57–80. https://doi.org/10.31265/jcsw.v13i1.159
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