Summary of "Mód. 2 Clase 1: EL GÉNERO EN LOS VÍNCULOS INTERPERSONALES | Curso Pensar el Género"

Module 2, Class 1 — Thinking about gender: Gender in interpersonal relationships / gender‑based violence

Overall purpose

Introduce the concept and genealogy of the category “gender‑based violence” (GBV) and its meanings.
Situate GBV as a structural, political problem — not merely a private or security issue.
Prepare for a second video focused on university protocols and the National University of General Sarmiento’s procedure for addressing gender violence.
Prompt reflection on justice, reparation, and the limits of punitive/security responses.

Core concepts and lessons

Nature of gender‑based violence:
- GBV is rooted in and expresses a patriarchal social order of inequality, domination and hierarchy.
- It has an expressive function: it communicates and enforces social positions (it sends a message to victims and witnesses).
- GBV can operate instrumentally to restore or crystallize hierarchical positions (for example, reasserting masculine supremacy when perceived as threatened).
Addressing GBV requires structural, social change:
- Work on sociocultural patterns, roles, stereotypes and discourses that sustain inequality.
- Combine individual protection/repair with broader training, capacity‑building and awareness strategies to prevent reproduction of violence.
Politicization and historicization:
- Feminist activism reframed intimate and interpersonal harms as public, political problems and used legal language to demand state action (rights, reparation, protection).
- This produced a new political subjectivity (collective recognition: “what happens to me happens to others”) and mass mobilizations (e.g., Ni Una Menos) that pushed policy changes.
Risks and limitations of expansive use of “gender violence”:
- Overextension can make the term an “empty” or totalizing signifier; naming everything dilutes meaning.
- Over‑reliance on legal framing can lead to judicialization and punitive/security responses that may contradict feminist aims (e.g., strengthening repressive state institutions that harm women/diverse groups).
- The category should preserve nuance: not all harm experienced by women/gender‑diverse people is necessarily GBV; likewise, not all perpetrators are men. Avoid an automatic victim/perpetrator binary.
Justice and reparation:
- Reparation is broader than criminal punishment; restorative and institutional forms of redress matter (family, work, educational settings).
- Responses should guarantee reparation and protection, not only punitive measures.

Definitions, types and modalities

(Derived from Law 26.485 and the lecture)

Recognized types/forms of violence:
- Physical violence: harms bodily integrity; causes pain, injury or risk through mistreatment or aggression.
- Psychological violence: harms emotional integrity and self‑esteem via humiliation, discrediting, control, restrictions, insults, degradation.
- Sexual violence: undermines sexual autonomy and consent; includes sexual abuse, harassment, stalking and acts that subdue another’s sexual decisions.
- Economic and patrimonial violence: control or restriction of economic autonomy; mismanagement or appropriation of assets; destruction of personal belongings; limits on access to resources necessary for life/care.
- Symbolic violence: reproduction/transmission of stereotypical messages and images that normalize domination and discrimination (through media, discourse, official communications).
- Political violence: actions that hinder or restrict women’s or gender‑diverse people’s effective political participation (in institutions, unions, movements, public life).
Modalities / areas where violence occurs (nine modalities recognized):
- Domestic violence: within family/household or kinship relations (including ex‑partners), threatening dignity, bodily, psychological, sexual and economic integrity.
- Institutional violence: exercised by public officials, staff or agents of public entities, political parties, trade unions, social organizations.
- Workplace violence: obstructs access to, permanence in, or development at work (hostile environments, discriminatory requirements related to marital/maternal status, appearance, age).
- Violence against reproductive freedom: obstructs autonomous decisions about having children, timing, pregnancy decisions.
- Obstetric violence: dehumanized treatment by health professionals, abusive medicalization or pathologization in reproductive/childbirth contexts; breaches principles of respectful childbirth.
- Media violence: reproduction of stereotyped messages/images in mass media and social media that promote discrimination and subordination.
- Violence in public spaces: harassment, objectification, obscene comments, touching, behaviors that create discomfort or restrict freedom in streets, transport, campuses, etc.
- Public/political violence: intimidation or harassment that impairs political activity or office.
- Digital/telematic violence: harm facilitated or aggravated by technologies (social networks, messaging apps, web platforms).

Recommended approaches / methodological points

Do not reduce GBV to security or criminal policy; adopt a rights‑based, multi‑dimensional state response.
Combine:
- Individual protection and reparation mechanisms (legal and non‑legal).
- Institutional protocols for prevention and response (the university protocol will be explained in the second video).
- Training, awareness and capacity building to change sociocultural patterns.
Use a range of reparative responses, including restorative and institutional measures — not only incarceration or punitive escalation.
Maintain conceptual precision: apply the GBV category where structural, gendered motives and dynamics exist; avoid indiscriminate labeling of all interpersonal harms as GBV.
Be critical of appropriation of feminist language by sectors advocating punitive/security policies that may worsen rights protections.

Genealogy / political strategy

1970s: violence was often understood in political/armed resistance terms (different framing).
From the 1980s onward: feminisms shifted strategy — named interpersonal harms as “violence,” appealed to legal language and human rights frameworks (including international conventions), making private harms visible and demanding state responsibility.
The shift enabled public policy and laws (e.g., Argentina’s Law 26.485, 2009), conventions and the expansion of institutional responses.
Political mobilizations (mass movements like Ni Una Menos, campaigns for abortion rights) further advanced recognition and policy wins, while also provoking reactionary pushback.

Warnings and critical reflections

Beware of the punitive/security turn that co‑opts feminist framing to justify harsher penalties and bolster repressive institutions.
Recognize complexity: some harms require legal processing; others need restorative, pedagogical or institutional responses.
Avoid flattening identities and roles into a rigid victim/perpetrator binary; allow for nuance in prevention, intervention and subjectivities.

Materials and follow‑ups

Slide resources and links are provided in the course (including the full text of Law 26.485).
Suggested reading: “Habitar el desacuerdo” by Catalina (surname appears variably in transcripts; see Sources below) — recommended for historicizing the category (included in course bibliography).
The second video of the module will detail the university protocol, principles of approach, procedures and institutional treatments.

Speakers / sources featured

Unnamed course instructor/lecturer — National University of General Sarmiento course “Pensar el Género.”
Rita Segato (referenced for theoretical work on violence and “elementary structures of violence”).
Catalina Trevische / Trevisache / Treisacha — author of the article “Habitar el desacuerdo” (transcription variants noted).
Law 26.485 (Argentina): “Comprehensive Protection Law to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women” (2009).
International instruments referenced:
- Belém do Pará Convention (Inter‑American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women).
- CEDAW — Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (appears in transcript as misrecognized “SEDA”).
Ni Una Menos (social movement / mass mobilization).
National University of General Sarmiento (institution whose protocol will be explained in the second video).

Note on transcription errors: several names and terms in the subtitles appear mistranscribed (e.g., Catalina’s surname, “SEDA,” “Belendo Paran”). Where possible above, likely intended references are listed.