AND I WENT BACK - BATTERED WOMENS NEGOTIATION OF CHOICE

For battered women who participate in social and police services desig ned to help them, a dominant cultural script has emerged that directs them to get away and stay away from their abusers. Using in-depth inte rview and participant-observation data, the author examines the strate gies battered women employ to resist that script. Staying with an abus er, ignoring and lifting restraining orders, and refusing to call and cooperate with police were active, reasoned choices battered women mad e in response to an array of conditions including fear of and harassme nt by abuser, complex everyday-life contingencies, and emotional attac hment to abuser. The battered women tried to use the dominant cultural script to get away and stay away, but found that the script was overl y narrow and there was a tack of coordinated institutional support for their decisions. This study extends sociological perspectives on batt ered women by viewing them as a culture of resistance and focusing on strategies they employ to assert control and make choices relevant to their needs and interests.