Does love forgive all? The role of the romantic love narratives in the legitimization of intimate partner violence

This study examines the influence of romantic narratives onperceptions of intimate partner violence and its legitimization.Through two experiments, we investigate how romantic themesin narratives shape views of victims, offenders, and the legalconsequences of IPV. Participants read articles depicting acts ofviolence. They were designed to be identical in structure,differing only in details regarding the offender’s motive forviolence (romantic, nonromantic, or unspecified) and therelationship status between the individuals involved (formerpartners vs. no prior relationship). Experiment 1 (n = 182)explored romantic versus nonromantic motives within romanticrelationships, while Experiment 2 (n = 405) expanded to non-romantic relationships. In both experiments, legitimization wasoperationalized through the perceived accountability of both thevictim and the offender. Our findings reveal a tendency toattribute greater accountability to victims when a prior romanticrelationship with the offender is mentioned. Furthermore,narratives featuring both romantic motives for violence andromantic relationships are associated with increased victimblaming and anticipation of more lenient punishment comparedto narratives devoid of romantic themes. Gender-specificresponses were also observed. We discuss the implications ofthese findings in terms of the portrayal of IPV victims as ‘non-ideal victims’ and societal stereotypes surrounding romantic love.