Global Journal of Human Social Science, C: Sociology and Culture, Volume 22 Issue 6

either in their family or in their relationships, this would favor the acceptance of violence and also the propensity to exercise it (Salas, 2005), because although this theory responds to some of the participants' discourses, it does not do so in its entirety nor does it cover many others. Also, the learning theory of Bandura and Walters (1974), which postulates that learning is due to how people interact with their environments, i.e., from family, school, etc., and how they teach how people should be, what roles they should fulfill and how their relationships should be (Aroca; Bellver and Alba, 2012). These, like other theoretical postulates, analyze and construct the problems presented from another perspective and, although they provide explanations to some of the discourses, they are not applicable to all, which again makes evident the complexity of these problems, and that is precisely why it was decided to conduct this research from the gender approach, which in turn, is complemented by the ecological theory of Bronfenbrenner (2002), which argues that there is a relationship between people and their context, which in turn is influenced by broader contexts (Cortéz, 2004); people, their relationships and, in this case, VAW, are affected by culture, and it is this theory that provides the basis for understanding the multiplicity of violence in its different spheres and how it influences the different social structures. In order to know how university men and women between 18 and 30 years of age interpret romantic love, it is necessary first to know how they conceptualize love, the types of love they know (romantic love, holistic love) and if they consider the existence of differences between them; taking into account that for both men and women, love is a feeling (in some cases only towards the partner and in others, a feeling towards any other person, and even an object), as mentioned by (Galarza et al.2005 ), love is difficult to define, but it is agreed that it is influenced by culture and context. Love itself generates pleasure, all people need to give and receive love, it is part of life as mentioned by Gualano (2018), love itself generates dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, which in turn, could also explain why it becomes somewhat addictive according to (Castañeda, 2020). Regarding whether there were differences between love and romantic love it is important to mention that a small number of people considered that there is no difference, understanding them as synonyms or being undecided about it. About holistic love, within the values attributed to it, the ones that were present for men and women were: well-being, respect, fluid communication, love as a construction , these factors, while unconditionality , is seen by men as the fact that the other person despite everything, is available to him, even though he may feel hurt by the situation, not as something reciprocal, while for women, it was identified that it is closer to putting up with, perpetuating that love cannot and should not be broken, that it should be eternal, and that from their imposed role, which neither for men or women is reciprocal; what for one is to be endured, for the other is to endure, propitiating idealizing unfair relationships and continuing to nurture the current model of love, based on gender roles and stereotypes, propitiating at the same time, an exercise of power of men over women and normalizing VAW, as Vara-Horna and López (2017) argue. The relationship between equals , curiously, encompasses reciprocity, which although it is present in both sexes, for women it goes more towards values and towards being seen both as beings with the same value, without any hierarchy, and for men it goes more towards both contributing the same, from the conquest towards the economic, as an attempt to detach themselves from the gender roles and stereotypes that society has placed on them. For women there is a longing for equality, and for men, the desire to transform all these roles and stereotypes that society has been delegating to them, and the construction of stable relationships with holistic love, starts from there, to transform these parameters set by society and also to seek equality, As Herrera (2012) mentions, the current model of love overrides men's emotions and puts them in the role of conquerors and providers, which they must fulfill in order to maintain their supposed masculinity, which distances them from holistic love . Understanding and acceptance of the other emerged only on the part of men and could be associated in a certain way to unconditionality in some cases, showing the need to be understood and accepted for what they are as people, which also implies moving away from these roles and stereotypes set by society, where the man should not show emotions and should be the "macho" of the relationship, he seeks to be simply who he is and being as he is, to be accepted and loved by his partner, this for this participant, is a value attributed to holistic love. For women, growth , which is a little closer to the concept of holistic love, in which both individuals grow together, implicitly shows the unconditional factor, the curious thing is that despite approaching the concept of full love as such, it seems to be implicitly recorded what society has imposed with its gender roles and stereotypes, and in the case of many women, is to put the other above her and her welfare, it is like wanting to grow with the partner and at the same time accept whatever comes, which leads to questioning: how much is it healthy to accept? Since according to Vara-Horna and López (2017), acceptance to violent behaviors is greater when they are mild and are linked to subordination and a greater rejection arises in the face of physical violence, which reaffirms the findings of this research. Among the barriers that hinder or hinder holistic love , for men are pride and the comfort zone , which are interpreted as an impediment to Volume XXII Issue VI Version I 16 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 © 2022 Global Journals C Romantic Love and Violence against Women from a Gender Approach