Table 1.

Women’s experiences of stigmatizing and general negative reactions to IPV disclosure (N=212)

Stigmatizing Social Reactions	N (%)
Told you that you could have done more to prevent this experience from occurring.	118 (55.7%)
Told you to stop talking about it.	90 (42.5%)
Minimized the importance or seriousness of your experience.	81 (38.2%)
Said they feel you’re tainted by this experience.	77 (36.3%)
Made you feel like you didn’t know how to take care of yourself.	70 (33.0%)
Treated you differently in some way than before you told them that made you uncomfortable.	68 (32.1%)
Treated you as if you were a child or somehow incompetent.	62 (29.2%)
Told you that you were irresponsible or not cautious enough.	54 (25.5%)
Avoided talking to you or spending time with you.	51 (24.1%)
Acted as if you were damaged goods or somehow different now.	49 (23.1%)
Told you that you were to blame or shameful because of this experience.	44 (20.8%)
Pulled away from you.	39 (18.4%)
General Negative Reactions
Told you to go on with your life.	193 (91.0%)
Told you to stop thinking about it.	161 (75.9%)
Said they knew how you felt when they really did not.	157 (74.1%)
Expressed so much anger at the perpetrator that you had to calm them down.	147 (69.3%)
Distracted you with other things.	146 (68.9%)
Wanted to seek revenge on the perpetrator.	139 (65.6%)
Have been so upset that they needed reassurance from me.	130 (61.3%)
Told others about your experience without your permission.	123 (58.0%)
Made decisions or did things for you	122 (57.5%)
Focused on their own needs and neglected yours.	119 (56.1%)
Tried to discourage you from talking about the experience.	108 (50.9%)
Tried to take control of what you did or decisions you made.	98 (46.2%)
Said they feel personally wronged by your experience.	93 (43.9%)
Encouraged you to keep the experience a secret.	88 (41.5%)