Between experience and social ‘norms’, identification and compliance: economic and sexual intimate partner violence against women in Lithuania

Abstract

This article discusses economic and sexual violence against women, which are the two forms of intimate partner violence the least recognised by both Lithuanian society and the survivors of such abuse themselves. The authors of this article analyse the roots of this lack of recognition, and how it is affected and influenced by the patriarchal context and gendered conditioning of Lithuanian society. The article also explores how this conditioning contributes to the reasons why women in contemporary Lithuania still tend not to seek help, regardless of the endemic prevalence of intimate partner violence perpetrated against them. The article is based on a recent study completed in Lithuania. It suggests that a better recognition of economic and sexual coercive control as well as abandonment of ‘victim blaming’ attitudes could be followed by a broader education on gender equality and recognition of gendered stereotypes, in order to more effectively prevent and also respond to this significant social problem.