A Feminist Approach to Gender-Based Violence: The Role of Objectification and Sexualization of Women

Abstract

This chapter approaches gender-based violence through a feminist lens and argues that it is closely related to a broader societal phenomenon of objectification and sexualization of women in the public sphere. Amankaviciute and Zalnieriute note how too often gender-based violence is framed as a "neutral" issue, detached from wider structural sexism. While such decontextualized liberal approach attracts less opposition, legal reforms fail to effectively tackle gender-based violence without addressing its fundamentally systematic nature and root causes that permeate all facets of society. To bring the structural and systemic nature of genderbased violence to light, authors argue for understanding the mutually reinforcing relationship between gender-based violence on the one hand, and objectification of women in the public sphere through images and sexualized commercial advertising on the other. The sexualization and objectification of women are part of the wider structural discrimination against women, whereby public spaces are designated as a male domain, where women are mere objects and targets of derision, mockery and violence, and their voices are unwelcome. Gender based violence thus is not an isolated policy problem, but takes place in a sexually hostile and violent environment for women. Acknowledging and understanding this connection is the first step towards an effective framework for responding to gender-based violence.