Narratives of Intimate Partner Femicide without Love

Abstract

I turn now to some cases where the perpetrator’s violence was perceived as unacceptable, and this was largely when he did not declare or show love, either before, during or after the killing. These men were represented in narratives as bullies or thugs, or as pure evil. Victim voices via family and friends are given more copy, and sympathy is shifted more significantly to the primary victim. Tariffs in these cases were much higher.