The Unascended Pyramid the Limits of State Response to IPV in Rural Michoacán

This study examines how rural women in Michoacán, Mexico understand and navigate intimate partner violence (IPV) amid poverty, limited state presence, and institutional promotion of legal intervention. Drawing on 64 qualitative interviews and embedded observation, the findings show a disconnect between institutional and community definitions of harm, strategic disengagement from legal systems, and reliance on relational, community-based responses often shaped by extended kin. Reframing the Dispute Pyramid through feminist criminology and decolonial feminist theory, the study highlights how survivors weigh competing harms and underscores the need for culturally grounded, non-carceral approaches aligned with local realities.