Sexist violence

Sexist violence

In the words of Isa Duque (La Psicowoman), in her guide “Connect without scratching us” (2020): “The violence that is exercised against women is the most extreme manifestation of the power imbalances and historical inequality that exists. between men and women. It is not circumstantial or neutral violence. It is a complex phenomenon in which very diverse factors come together. It is a structural and ideological violence that acts as a mechanism of domination and control.”

There are multiple types of sexist violence; below we present some of them: feminicide, sexual violence, sexual exploitation, human trafficking, female genital mutilation, child or forced marriage, violence in armed conflicts, cyber violence . , institutional violence, economic violence, objectification, obstetric violence, harassment in the school, academic and work environment, etc. In short, sexist violence is any attack against the freedom, integrity and dignity of women, girls, boys and people with sexual dissidence.

The volcano of sexist violence

Fuente: Colección de Guías Rebeldes de Género: parejas. Instituto Canario de Igualdad

There are several ways to graphically represent sexist violence, sometimes an iceberg is used with its visible part and its (much larger) invisible part, other times it is done with a tree, its roots, its trunk and its crown; In this course we have chosen to do it with a volcano.

Why a volcano? Because it represents the intensity and power of destruction. Because the patriarchal system is at the base of sexist violence. Because it is the system itself that naturalizes, makes invisible and legitimizes said violence. A little higher, still inside the volcano, other violence coexists, even invisible, which remains without being clearly identified as such. And then there are the most visible violences, those that are expelled by the volcano and emerge to the surface, those that the entire society could point to as explicit violence.