The crossing of boundaries between four walls1

摘要

In Brazil, a woman's law is applied to protect women against the place where fear can also be engendered: her domestic ambit. The Maria da Penha Law encircles situations imbued with contradictions. The judiciary decides for the woman, but not with the woman. We aim at demonstrating that more than being engendered to encompass a reality, a legislation must be created in a direction that the individual understands its essence. Only this way, it will be a protective law. On the contrary, it will be merely a tool for an artificial protection. In this manner, this legislation was created to cross the boundaries of fear and cultural submission of Brazilian women. Will it be effective? In this study, it is evident that this law frequently allows women to cross their particular boundaries although, at a second moment, they realise that they do not want to cross them.