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Violence Against Women
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The Taming of the Shrew

Batterers' Constructions of Their Wives' Narratives

Dalit Yassour Borochowitz

Emek Yezreel College

Constructing a life story is a need shared by all humans to give their lives meaning and coherence. This article explores some of the narrative devices that batterers use to achieve a sense of coherence when telling their stories and justifying their violent behavior. A central theme that emerged from these stories centered on the men's perception of their wives as the embodiment of their own emotions and inner world. Two narrative strategies were identified in this context: (a) The construction of a "couple narrative" that focused on an idealized marital relationship rather than "allowing" the wife her story and (b) constructing a story around the theme of "she's not the same woman I married," which portrays the wife as "a shrew" and the violence as an attempt to discipline her. The stories of 18 batterers were used for this analysis, and two narratives were used to illustrate these strategies.

Key Words: batterers • emotions • life story

Violence Against Women, Vol. 14, No. 10, 1166-1180 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1077801208323761
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