Exploring public sentiment on intimate partner violence in India

In India, literature suggests that 64.62% women face physical Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), 23.87% are victimized with severe violence, 2.15% are victimized by sexual violence, and 9.36% women face emotional violence. The current study aims to analyse the public’s positive and negative attitudes, sentiments, opinions, and feelings towards IPV. To affirm the importance of dealing with and finding relevant solutions to such gruesome concerns, the study analysed 309,652 comments on Indian movie trailers depicting IPV, streaming on YouTube. Affective reactions, relational distress, activism, and social justice emerged as significant themes gathered from sentiment and content analysis through the lens of Aker’s Social Learning Theory (SLT). The study revealed a dominant negative sentiment toward IPV through frequent use of words like “violence,” “crime,” “disgusting,” “toxic,” and “disrespect.” A widespread disapproval of IPV perpetration is evident, highlighting the role of social media in raising awareness. Positive comments indicate the appreciation of the movie trailers for depicting the gruesome actions effectively through visual means, reaching a large audience. Moreover, cultural dynamics and patriarchy also contribute to accepting IPV in specific contexts. The study opens avenues for future research, particularly examining factors such as age, gender, and ethnicity, and exploring attitudes and sentiments over other online platforms while using objective measures explaining the causes of IPV victimization and perpetration, and an immediate need to prevent such occurrences.