Violence in puerperal women associated with their beliefs about sexual autonomy and rights

Abstract

Introduction: Social and traditional gender norms frequently often make women more vulnerable to intimate partner violence. Objective: Sought to associate believes about autonomy and sexual rights with violence on postpartum women. Materials and methods: retrospective investigation, with secondary sources and consecutive sampling. 304 postpartum women were interviewed at a public hospital with a structured questionnaire containing socio-demographic characteristics, Strauss and Gelles Scale to measure different forms of violence and a list of 11 popular sayings. Analytical and descriptive statistics used to analyze data. Results: 32,2% (98) was victim of psychological violence; 8,6% (26) of physical violence; 8,6% (26) sexual abuse. There was association between (p < 0,000) victims of psychological violence and the ones who believed “who loves you hits you” and (p < 0,039) “if woman is hit by her husband, there must be a reason”. Correlation (p < 0,000) among victims of physical violence and agreeing with “who loves you hits you” and (p < 0,035) “if a woman is hit by her husband, there must be a reason”. Conclusions: Most agreed with sayings about women empowerment and sexual rights, and at odds with those of gender violence. Finally, it is worth noting the significant association between a minority of postpartum women, victims of different forms of violence, which was at odds with women empowerment and sexual rights, and in accordance with expressions that legitimize gender violence.