ABSTRACT. This article is based on qualitative research in Mexico City focused on low-income women who face intimate partner violence. It is in line with works that question, through the lens of intersectionality, the false opposition between agency and victimization observed in a large proportion of literature on intimate partner violence. The investigation analyzes the women’s descriptions of the everyday forms of resistance they use to survive alongside their aggressors. Our results demonstrate that, through different resistance strategies, they exert different forms of agency that are, or can be, a way of questioning male domination, and can lead to a more open demand for rights, if adequate social and institutional conditions are met.

Keywords: intimate partner violence; agency; intersectionality; Mexico

How to cite: Herrera, Cristina, and María Carolina Agoff (2018). “The Intricate Interplay between Victimization and Agency: Reflections on the Experiences of Women Who Face Partner Violence in Mexico,” Journal of Research in Gender Studies 8(1): 49–72.

Received 14 September 2017 • Received in revised form 13 November 2017
Accepted 15 November 2017 • Available online 10 December 2017

doi:10.22381/JRGS8120183