A Reading of Sexist Violence as Structural Violence

Abstract There are different types of violence which intersect in occurrences of sexist violence. This article, while granting that structural and symbolic violence are intertwined in a synergic relationship, focuses its attention on structural violence with three purposes in mind: first, to situate reflections made on sexist violence within the framework of epochal changes at the social, economic and political levels; secondly, to investigate in this new context if they are only reproduced, or if they reconfigure the same gender-sex orderings and patterns of inequality and violence that they trigger and legitimize; and, thirdly, to explore the ways in which contemporary socio-political transformations that undermine the functionality of institutions are having an impact on rising sexist violence trends today. Finally, based on the social and subjective changes that have come about in the face of adverse conditions produced through the insertion of social agents, progress is being made toward a differentiation of the forms of occurrence and functionality of sexist violence. In short, the purpose is to develop more specific approaches that will allow us to understand the scourge of sexist violence in our day and contribute to designing intervention strategies.