La percepción de la violencia sexual por parte de mujeres de distintas generaciones

The purpose of this article is to explore the experiences of sexual violence endured by women from different generations, to determinate whether they recognize these situations as such, and, finally, to analyze the meaning they attribute to the concepto of sexual relations.To achieve these objectives, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 women residing on the island of Tenerife, belonging to three different generations (7 interviews for each generation): those born between 1965 and 1981 (Generation X), those born between 1982 and 1995 (Millennial Generation), and those born after 1996 (Generation Z). The analysis of the testimonies indicates that all women, regardless of their generation, believe that sexual intercourse involves mutual pleasure; however, all of them have suffered some form of sexual violence, both within and outside of relationships. Additionally, except for the Millennial Generation, the other two generations have difficulties in identifying these practices as sexual violence and therefore do not perceive themselves as victims of sexual violence. Among the reasons for this normalization of sexual violence are sexist socialization and a rape culture driven by pornification of society and the mass media.