Is there a profile of battered women?

The universality of vulnerability

Contrary to the popular belief that associates the abused woman with a weak, dependent person or with evident previous deficiencies, clinical reality shows that there is no single or exclusive profile.

Any woman, regardless of her economic status, educational level or social class, is susceptible to being trapped in a relationship of psychological violence.

In fact, it is a common mistake to look for the cause of victimization exclusively in the woman's personal history.

Studies disprove the theory that most victims come from violent homes; research indicates that up to 80% of battered women had not experienced or witnessed violence in their family of origin during childhood.

Therefore, vulnerability is not necessarily an inherent trait of the victim's personality, but a condition that can be generated within the abusive dynamic itself and the type of aggressor with whom she relates.

The paradox of the strong and vital woman

Following the thesis of experts such as Marie-France Hirigoyen, the victim profile preferred by the narcissistic perverse aggressor is usually, paradoxically, a woman with a strong, intelligent personality and full of vitality.

Far from looking for someone "poor in spirit", the aggressor is attracted to women who possess qualities he envies and lacks: joie de vivre, empathic capacity, responsibility and solid moral values.

The victim is usually a dynamic person who is committed to the welfare of others.

It is precisely this inner wealth that the aggressor seeks to appropriate and subsequently destroy in order to assert his superiority.

The woman enters the relationship with full confidence and an inability to conceive of gratuitous malice, which prevents her from seeing the destruction coming, since in her scheme of values there is no room for distrust of the partner.

Dismantling the stigma of masochism

Society often wonders why the woman does not leave the aggressor, mistakenly resorting to the stigma of female masochism.

However, in psychological violence, and especially in the perverse aspect, the victim does not stay for pleasure in suffering, but because she is psychologically bound and immobilized.

The relationship is not symmetrical; there is such a domination that it annuls the capacity to react. The victim is paralyzed by the lack of understanding of what is happening.

This is not weakness of character, but a state of helplessness caused by a strategy of systematic confusion that leaves her without tools to defend herself, leading her to a state of apathy that from the outside can be mistaken for acceptance, but which internally is an invisible prison.

Summary

Contrary to popular belief, there is no single victim profile; any woman, regardless of her social status or education, is susceptible to falling into a relationship of psychological violence. Vulnerability is not an inherent personality trait, but a condition generated within the abusive dynamic.

Paradoxically, perverse aggressors often choose strong, vital and empathetic women. They seek to appropriate that inner wealth they envy in order to destroy it and assert their superiority, attacking trusting people who do not conceive of evil.

The permanence in the relationship is not due to masochism, but to a psychological paralysis. The victim does not enjoy suffering, but is immobilized by a strategy of confusion that leaves her without tools to defend herself.