Yasmin Curzi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, SSH Blog Correspondent

In order to address sexual violence, the first and necessary step is to identify what is violence. This involves the engagement of government and civil society as a whole.

In 2013, Avon Institute launched a report showing that some violent behaviors are not seen as such. Even though 52 million Brazilian men acknowledged what constitutes domestic abuse or violence against a female partner, 9.4 million admitted that they committed violence in their own personal relations. This study also showed that when the violence is detailed, the positive answers of respondents increases, meaning that there are some kinds of behaviors that are not comprehended as being violent by their perpetrators.

Another contradiction is the fact that 41% of Brazilian population knows a man that was violent with at least one of his female partners. However, only 16% admitted that they were violent with the actual or ex-partner and 12% admitted violence against the current female partner. The most common type of violence that appeared in the report was verbal insult, with 53% of the men admitting to it. This data can have a bias since it’s generally not as shocking as forcing the partner to have sex, what only 2% of the male respondents admitted to have done.

The report also shows that there’s no differentiation of class when it comes to general violence against women. Even though poor and Black women suffer with more lethal and sadist behaviors, around 50% of the male-respondent in every social class (high, medium and low) admitted that they had committed violence.

Male-respondents also affirm that the violence perpetrated by them weren’t isolated cases: 87% of the men who had once insulted their female partner, insulted them more than once, and the average is that it happens around 21 times per man; also, 74% of the men who had once forced sex, forced it more than once, and it happens around 5 times per man on average. Another shocking data point is that 37% of male respondents said that the law against domestic abuse makes them disrespect women more.

The importance of social engagement to stop violence against women is evident when we see that violent men have grown with abuse in their homes. Traditional roles, therefore, are their references. Male socialization is violent and often boys are taught not to show their emotions, except anger. Family and school are often environments that enhance toxic masculinity. The majority of the male respondents don’t see in their fathers a figure of care (only 14%), but only in their mothers (74%). Also 81% of the men who committed violence were beaten in their childhood.

The Internet creates the possibility for the victims to express their individual stories of abuse and violence. This is a big step for transforming culture since most violent behaviors are not seen as such, neither by the perpetrators nor by the victims, as the report shows.

Communicating with others makes it clear that an experience of violence is not an individual experience. When other women say that they have suffered with similar experiences, it changes other victims’ perception of that reality. I think that the most important thing is that they stop thinking that the situation that occurred to them was their fault, and instead, they start to see that there are many other stories like theirs and that it may be part of a larger structure. Their particular case starts to be seen as a collective issue. This is true of all forms of violence, from domestic abuse to street harassment.

But for the last step to be fulfilled, it’s inherently necessary that the public institutions take women’s issues seriously. Women must be listened to in order to change the perceptions of what is “publicly relevant” in policy-makers’ agendas.

Yasmin is a Research Assistant at the Center for Research on Law and Economics at FGV-Rio. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from PUC-Rio where she wrote her thesis on street harassment and feminists’ struggles for recognition. 

Patrick Hogan, Chicago, IL, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are certainly heinous situations. Many victims manage to liberate themselves from such horrid partnerships, others remain trapped in continued victimization. Others still die at the hands of their partner.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey states that “About 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner (e.g., hit with a fist or something hard, beaten, slammed against something) at some point in their lifetime.” It also states that “1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men in the U.S. have experienced stalking at some point in their lives in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed”.

How likely is it that these fears come to fruition? According to a different CDC study, very — “nearly half of [female victims of homicide] victims are killed by a current or former male intimate partner.”

You read that right: nearly half of all woman murdered in the United States are killed by an intimate partner.

Escaping domestic violence situations is often easier said than done. Economic status, housing status, parenthood, manipulation, danger and a variety of other factors make escaping domestic violence a difficult task. Even leaving an abusive or dangerous partnership can lead to issues, as stalking (as mentioned above) and angry outbursts may be a violent partner’s reaction. Attempting to leave a violent situation may not only be economically difficult, but may spur the violent partner to violence. What, then, can be done to end the epidemic of intimate partner violence?

Unfortunately, the answer is not simple; fortunately, it is not impossible. The response must be holistic, attempting to end existing violence, help victims, and prevent future violence. The CDC offers “scientifically credible” steps that can be taken: “addressing the beliefs, attitudes and messages that are deeply embedded in our social structures and that create a social climate that condones sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence. One way is through norms change”.

Changing societal norms is much easier said than done, but can be done. In her “Intimate Partner Violence: Causes and Prevention,” researcher Rachel Jewkes writes: “two factors seem to be necessary in an epidemiological sense: the unequal position of women in a particular relationship (and in society) and the normative use of violence in conflict. Without either of these factors, intimate partner violence would not occur”.

That is, gender equality and peaceful conflict resolution-strategies, if implemented, could greatly reduce intimate-partner violence. Children who are taught to settle conflict primarily with violence can be conditioned to continue to use violence as a problem-solving strategy. If women are still less-than equal in society, they can be more susceptible to violence. Thus, while many strategies have been, and need to be employed further, one strategy that is severely over-looked is education.

Educated individuals are more likely to have access to resources (health, legal, financial, social) that can prevent violence, and early education that encourages dialogue and non-violent problem solving can condition people to avoid violence. Violent tendencies can be learned: so can non-violent ones. “Education is of course not a silver bullet to fix a complex societal issue, but it is a often-neglected step. A UK organization, Refuge, states that: “Just 13 per cent of the young women questioned said they had learned about domestic violence when they were at school. Nearly 70 per cent of the young people said that they would have liked to have had lessons about domestic violence. Almost all those questioned said that domestic violence was as important, if not more important, than lessons on drugs and alcohol, sex and relationships education and the environment”.

Discussing intimate partner violence is taboo, and school sex-education classes seldom discuss the issue. This is an issue that should not be hidden; if it is to be solved it must be talked about, taught about, and addressed head-on.

Intimate partner violence, sexism, street harassment: these are all related in a societal disease that accepts (or at least ignores) these behaviors. Soraya Chemaly wrote for the Washington Post, “[street harassment] is a negative and costly phenomenon and part of a broader tolerance for a spectrum of gender-based violence. In the U.S., one in five women are raped, almost one in three women live with intimate partner violence, and three are killed every day by male partners.”

There are some who say street harassment is essentially harmless, or even intended to be flattering. This is not the case, however. No, instead street harassment is a public sign of a dangerous norm—a norm that allows for sexism and violence. A norm that must be dismantled.

Patrick is an undergraduate student majoring in anthropology and minoring in Islamic World Studies at Loyola University Chicago, preparing to continue onto law and graduate school. He is particularly interested in legal anthropology and the ways victims are viewed by legal systems.