Violencia contra las mujeres, un análisis desde los imaginarios del cuerpo femenino

Abstract

The study of how women’s bodies are marked by the violence of war, organised crime and the patriarchal system of domination in general represents a challenge for sociologists since they must attempt to position the female body as an object of study within a highly complex cultural and socioeconomic context. Women’s bodies are reified as a territory of male sexual satisfaction and a place where warlords avenge their honour. The meanings that culture has imprinted on the female body are a cartography of historical capitalist-patriarchal violence against women and the always gendered relations of power found in armed conflict, in the drug-trafficking trade and within families. To understand the growing phenomenon of violence against women, and femicide in particular, this study analyses the collective stereotypes of the female body that promote and legitimise the hegemonic dichotomous view of women as inferior, precarious, vulnerable and dominated by a stronger, more powerful male superior.