“Until today I do not know what the word love is!” :the impact of sexual abuse on women.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the factors associated with sexual violence and its repercussions on women’s lives. For that, three women between 36 and 71 years old, living in a city in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul, were interviewed. Data were analyzed through content analysis. The results show that the participants developed physical, social and emotional consequences, such as lack of pleasure in sexual intercourse and compromising their sexuality, but mainly psychological consequences that were evident throughout life, such as depression, apathy, and anxiety. Facing this, several coping strategies are evident: seeking public policies to confront sexual violence, asking for help from family members, and remaining silent in an attempt to preserve the family. It was identified that the events causing sexual violence occurred in the family context and the following reasons were observed negligence of the parental figures and the social vulnerability of the participants.