Visible & Invisible Marks: Facial Injuries Suffered by Women as the Result of Acts of Domestic Violence

This article focuses on female facial injuries caused by domestic partners in the light of the cultural assumption that the face is the most valued area of the human body. Through a quantitative/qualitative approach, the study aimed to estimate the prevalence of lesions on the face, head and neck of women abused by their partners. The intention is to comprehend the significance, from the victim's standpoint, of the marks originated in the violent episode and investigate issues concerning healthcare in the treatment of injuries. Statistical data were obtained from reports of the Special Police Department for Women in Salvador, Bahia, and the qualitative phase of research consisted of interviews with women who filed such reports. The results showed that, in 63.2% of studied cases, there were injuries to the face and/or head and/or neck of battered women. Speech analysis revealed that facial injuries, especially permanent ones, tend to result in feelings of low self-esteem, shame and humiliation in the victim, causing severe psychological distress. It was revealed that healthcare was limited to the physical aspects of victimization, without the perception of domestic violence as a health problem and the consequent lack of referral of patients to the centers for women in situations of violence.

Table 1 Absolute frequency (f) & relative frequency (%) of HNF injuries in women beaten by their intimate partners. DEAM-Brotas, Salvador, 2004-2008. 

HNF Lesion	f	%
No	101	31.0
Yes	206	63.2
No information	19	5.8
Total	326	100

Table 4 Absolute frequency (f) & relative frequency (%) as regards the location of the violent incident and link between the aggressor and the victim. DEAM-Brotas, Salvador, 2004-2008. (N = 326) 

Information about the incident		f	%
Location of violent incident
	Victim's home	219	67,2
	Public place or street	81	24,8
	Home of third parties	12	3,7
	Aggressor's home	10	3,1
	Other location	1	0,3
	No information available	3	0,9
Aggressor (relationship with victim)
	Partner	229	70,3
	Ex-partner	92	28,2
	No information available	5	1,5

Data related to the place where the violent act took place and where the woman's partner was the main aggressor, are also corroborated by many other published works^2,3,7,18,21

Via: http://ht.ly/S0hvV

By: Suzana de Magalhães Dourado ¹  , Ceci Vilar Noronha ²  

¹Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia da Bahia. R. Emídio dos Santos s/n, Barbalho. 40301-015 Salvador BA Brasil. suzana.m.dourado@gmail.com

²Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia.