Table of contents:
- What is Gender Violence?
- Causes of gender violence
- Types of Gender Violence and their Characteristics
- 1. Physical Gender Violence
- 2. Psychological Gender Violence
- 3. Sexual Violence
- 4. Economic / Patrimonial Violence
- 5. Symbolic Violence
- 6. Social Violence
- 7. Obstetric Violence
- 8. Vicarious Violence
- It's not your fault
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Gender violence is a matter of vital importance that concerns us all equally. It is a problem that continues to seriously affect a part of the population and that continues to be deeply rooted in our society.
It starts with the most normalized behaviors, such as a joke or a mockery, but its consequences can be fatal, even lethal. In Spain, for example, 49 people died in 2017 1 as a result of gender violence and in Mexico seven women are killed every day 2 due to the same circumstances.
It is very important to learn to detect it in time, whether you are suffering it yourself or if you think that someone in your environment may suffer it. To do this, in this Psychology-Online article, we will show you the different Types of Gender Violence and their Characteristics.
You may also be interested in: How to prevent gender violence Index- What is Gender Violence?
- Causes of gender violence
- Types of Gender Violence and their Characteristics
- It's not your fault
What is Gender Violence?
We can define gender violence, also called sexist violence, as any act that attacks women for the mere fact of being women. This type of mistreatment threatens the victim's well-being, freedom and dignity. It can occur in different spaces of our life, for example at work, at home (domestic violence), in a public space and even on social networks.
Sometimes it is very difficult to tell when we are being abused because we do not know to what extent it is. For this, we can use some very simple premises: if it makes you feel bad, if you feel attacked, if you are afraid or if, directly, you have suffered an attack, it is gender violence.
Causes of gender violence
Sometimes we wonder why it happens to us, what we have done to suffer abuse or mistreatment. The reality is that the causes of gender violence have social roots and stem from inequality between men and women. These inequalities are strengthened and are maintained by stereotypes and gender roles, which put women below men in all (or almost all) aspects of their lives.
Many times, the person who attacks does so to maintain power and dominate the other. The aggressors tend to have insecurity problems, low self-esteem and have received an education in which certain types of gender violence are normalized.
In relationships, for example, it tends to occur in a subtle way at first, controlling who you talk to and how you dress, until you reach insults, yelling and, finally, physical violence.
Types of Gender Violence and their Characteristics
1. Physical Gender Violence
Probably the most recognized type of Gender Violence, this involves the use of the body or other objects that can cause damage to the victim's body. We distinguish attacks such as punching, pushing, slapping or scratching the woman. This type of violence can leave visible marks that, at times, victims of gender-based violence cover up or lie about its origin for fear of possible reprisals.
2. Psychological Gender Violence
This type of abuse is more common than we can imagine. They are acts that cause emotional and psychological damage to the victim, they often have sequelae such as anxiety, depression and very low self-esteem. We talk about acts like name calling, teasing, yelling and threats.
Psychological abuse is very dangerous and completely annuls the woman, making her live in fear and feel alone, without hope and believe that no one can help her.
3. Sexual Violence
This type of violence encompasses all acts of a sexual nature that do not imply the consent of the victim, or that if the victim has agreed, it is because they have received threats and intimidation. The most obvious type of sexual violence is rape. Normally, we talk about abuse outside the partner but, sometimes, sexual violence can occur within it.
4. Economic / Patrimonial Violence
We speak of economic violence when we encounter barriers, imposed by the abuser, to access our money or our resources to get it. Being coerced into not working and staying at home or having credit cards controlled are very clear examples of economic violence.
5. Symbolic Violence
In some countries, symbolic violence has been recognized as another type of gender violence. We use this term to talk about all acts that indirectly contribute to keeping women in a position of inferiority in society. An example that helps us see this type of gender violence is the imposition of beauty standards that we must follow. This, at times, can generate discomfort and very serious psychological consequences.
6. Social Violence
We understand by social violence, when the aggressor humiliates, attacks and exposes the victim in a public setting. We also consider social violence to isolate the victim from their friends and family since, in this way, they withdraw from all their usual surroundings. It is strongly related to psychological gender violence since it also causes serious consequences in the mental health of women.
7. Obstetric Violence
This type of gender violence occurs in hospitals and other health institutions. It occurs when doctors or health personnel point out to us as pathological or bad some natural processes of our body. By pointing them out as bad, they proceed to make painful and unnecessary interventions on our bodies. It is usually during pregnancy and we find examples like.
- Doing a cesarean section without medical justification
- Unnecessary use of forceps
- Criticisms of the state of pregnant women
- Deny you information about your health status
- Accelerate delivery without the consent of the pregnant woman
8. Vicarious Violence
A third factor intervenes in this type of gender violence: children.
Vicarious violence consists of using children to harm their mothers, either through threats, insults to them or even physical attacks. The aggressors seek to control and dominate women so that they do not separate from them, or do not report their actions, through fear that something bad will happen to their children.
It's not your fault
Finally, comment that if you are suffering gender violence, do not feel guilty about it. You have not done anything to deserve it and if you must act in time it is to be able to get out of this situation as soon as possible. The responsibility is the abuser and not yours.
Seek help, tell your situation to other people so that they can help you in everything you need and if you see it relevant, report the person who is exercising gender violence. You are not alone.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Types of gender violence, definition and its characteristics, we recommend that you enter our Social Psychology category.
References- National Citizen Observatory of Femicide ©
- Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, Government of Spain.