Victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) often are blamed for remaining in abusive relationships. As a result, victims may communicate messages rationalizing why they stay. Systematic, comparative examinations of these messages directed toward self and others by males versus females have not been conducted. This study addresses a gap in the literature by exploring victims' communication regarding staying. Self-reports of 345 heterosexual IPV victims (N=239 women, 106 men) demonstrated that more justifications were communicated internally to self than externally to others. Men and women differed significantly in only 3 of 14 messages, with men choosing more stereotypically masculine reasons for staying. Findings are discussed in terms of applications to victims and their stay-leave decisionmaking in IPV relationships. (Published Abstract)