Trapped Within the Couple: The Complex, Dissociative, and Dissonant Experience of Intimate Partner Sexual Violence

Sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are widely recognized as major public health and societal concerns. Yet, although sexual violence is often examined within broader IPV frameworks, the specific experiential features of intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) remain underexplored. This study aimed to examine women's lived experiences of IPSV and the meaning-making processes through which coerced sexuality is understood and (sometimes) acknowledged as violence. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, in-depth interviews were conducted with two women who experienced IPSV within heterosexual marriages. An idiographic, case-based analytic approach was used to examine microprocesses and relational dynamics as they unfolded within the couple. Five experiential themes were identified: (1) the erosion of intimacy, (2) psychological violence as a relational infrastructure shaping sexual coercion, (3) IPSV as an embodied and alienating experience, (4) acknowledging IPSV as an evolving process, and (5) the mark of violence. Findings depict IPSV as elusive and invasive, occurring within a context of attachment and expected safety, and shaped by embodied ambivalence, relational constraint, and cognitive dissonance. Clinically and institutionally, the analysis highlights the risk of misreading performed sexual participation as consent and underscores the relevance of survivor-centered, trauma-informed responses that attend to embodied safety, sexual agency, and the longer-term relational sequelae of IPSV. Future research should further explore IPSV within diverse populations, including sexual minorities and individuals facing intersecting vulnerabilities due to polyvictimization.