Abstract
Gender-based violence (GBV) has increasingly been recognised as a global issue. While initially focused primarily on men’s violence against women (VAW), in response to extremely high rates of VAW globally, the definitions of GBV used by different governments and organisations have expanded to include violence against the LGBTQIA+ community, and sometimes violence against men. However, in practice, many organisations still apply narrow understandings of VAW. This article argues that the exclusive focus on VAW in GBV prevention efforts may in fact hinder their effectiveness, by excluding many groups who also experience GBV, often at higher rates than the cis-gendered women who are traditionally seen as its victims or survivors. Thus, a narrow focus on VAW may result in the exclusion of violence against those in the LGBTQIA+ community from interventions, support, and legal and other protective mechanisms. Similarly, it may result in the exclusion of violence against and between men, despite the overwhelming societal heteropatriarchal pressure on them to enact and receive violence. With a particular focus on South Africa as a case study, this article posits that failing to address the full range of gendered violence may result in a failure to effectively address GBV at all.
Highlights
Gender-based violence (GBV) is increasingly being recognised as a serious issue worldwide
Despite the organisation’s stated broader definition of GBV, studies found that the interventions maintained a narrower violence against women (VAW) focus, with the result that participants are less likely to view violence against the LGBTQIA+ community as a form of GBV (Viitanen and Colvin, 2015; Graaff and Heinecken, 2017), and do not necessarily see it as problematic
While men undoubtedly experience extremely high rates of violence, as will be outlined below, this article is not implying that this violence is predominantly being perpetrated by women, those in the LGBTQIA+ community, or any other marginalised groups
Summary
Gender-based violence (GBV) is increasingly being recognised as a serious issue worldwide. Despite the development of increasingly inclusive definitions of GBV, this article argues that, in reality, the focus remains almost exclusively on men’s violence against women (VAW) as the only recognised form of GBV.2 South Africa is no exception.
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