We know more about why laws on violence against women (vaw) were adopted than about how much and in what ways these laws affect society. The authors argue that even weakly enforced laws can contribute to positive social change. They theorize the expressive power of vaw legislation, and present evidence for a cautiously optimistic assessment of current trends on violence against women and the ways that vaw laws affect social norms. Focusing on a time of major legal change related to vaw in Mexico, this article explores trends in behavior and attitudes related to violence by analyzing four waves of the National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relations (endireh), which include detailed interviews with thousands of Mexican women. The authors find that over this period, the share of women experiencing intimate-partner abuse declined, attitudes condoning violence shifted, reporting rates rose, and most women learned about legislation to protect their rights. These changes are consistent with the authors’ expectations about the expressive power of anti-violence legislation.

我们更了解为什么要通过关于暴力侵害妇女的法律 ( vaw )，而不是这些法律对社会的影响程度和方式。作者认为，即使执法不力的法律也能促进积极的社会变革。他们对vaw立法的表达能力进行了理论化，并提供了证据，以谨慎乐观地评估当前暴力侵害妇女的趋势以及vaw法律影响社会规范的方式。本文着眼于墨西哥与vaw相关的重大法律变革时期，通过分析全国家庭关系动态调查 ( endireh ) 的四次浪潮，探讨了与暴力相关的行为和态度趋势。)，其中包括对数千名墨西哥女性的详细采访。作者发现，在此期间，遭受亲密伴侣虐待的女性比例下降，纵容暴力的态度发生转变，举报率上升，大多数女性了解了保护她们权利的立法。这些变化与作者对反暴力立法表达能力的预期一致。