In the jaws of death: Surviving women's experience of male intimate terrorism

Abstract

AbstractAimsTo explore the meaning of male intimate terrorism, its evolvement and its impact on women from the perspective of female survivors.DesignThe Vancouver School of Doing Phenomenology.MethodsNine women were interviewed 1–3 times, in all 16 interviews. The interviews were from 68 to 172 min (average 87 min). Data analysis was done through interpretive thematic analysis.ResultsFor the surviving women, the intimate terrorism was a horrendous experience and they felt in the ‘jaws of death’. The violence got worse over time from theentrapment phasewhere the men were obsessed with the women and monitored them, to thesilencing phase, where the men silenced the women and thedeath phase, where the women felt as shadows of themselves. The women also described theawakeningandrecovery phases. The men's intense psychological aggression, marital rape and attempts to strangle them, were the gravest aspects of intimate terrorism and what contributed to them eventually feeling psychologically ‘more than dead’.ConclusionWhat is most striking in the findings is how the fundamental human rights of the women were violated and how close to death the women came. Nurses need to be knowledgeable about the danger of intimate terrorism, how to screen for it and provide trauma‐focused nursing care to women who have been subjected to such trauma.Patient or Public ContributionThe women who were interviewed in the study are not patients, but they are part of the public.