Have you ever heard of the vicarious violence? This type of gender violence refers to a cruel manifestation that seeks to exploit a woman’s sons or daughters to exercise control or cause pain to her.
In vicarious violence, the action, whether physical or psychological, replaces the person who is the victim of violence to cause greater and more permanent damagebut the objective of this is still the woman.
This type of violence manifests itself in various ways. Among the most common are the following:
- Threats to take the children, take custody of the mother or kill them.
- Insult the mother, humiliate her, threaten her and speak ill of her in the presence of her children.
- Cause the interruption of medical or pharmacological treatments that children require.
- During visits, invent painful information about the children or not give any type of information about them during that time.
A key aspect when vicarious violence is carried out is that the aggressor knows perfectly well that he is going to cause immense pain and irreparable damage that the victim will suffer for the rest of her life, in addition to generating a feeling of guilt in the woman for not having been able to protect her children.
Who exercises vicarious violence?
In most cases they are men who intend to cause pain to their partners or ex-partners. There is no specific profile of men who carry out this type of violence, nor has it been proven that those who do it have any type of mental illness. In your work group or in society They look like normal people and do not usually attack other people.
Vicarious violence is mainly associated with machismo taken to the extreme. The aggressors consider that they can set limits and exercise corrective violence on women.
How to identify warning signs of vicarious violence?
We often normalize many things and we tend to think that nothing bad can happen to us or to the people in our immediate environment, for this reason it is possible that many people realize in time the warning signs. Pay attention to the following:
- The aggressor usually speaks badly about the woman in front of the children.
- During visits, they do not cover the needs of the minors.
- He uses manipulation to turn the children against their mother.
- Threatens to harm children to subject the woman to interests or desires.
- Obtains information from women through children.
- Take advantage of meeting moments to warn of possible consequences.
Being attentive to the warning signs is essential to promptly identify a possible case of vicarious violence and avoid serious consequences.
How to prevent vicarious violence?
Although the reporting of cases of gender violence is frequently promoted, many times the negligence of the authorities leads to it not being reported and causes the cases to have unfortunate and even fatal consequences because In addition to physical abuse, the homicide of children and even the suicide of women are usually the result..
Among the measures that can contribute to prevent vicarious violence The following are counted:
- In trials of gender violence, the abandonment of a pregnant partner or couple with children should be considered violence.
- Women victims of gender violence must receive real and permanent support.
- When violence is suspected, it is important that both women and children receive protection and their autonomy is supported.
- It is important that no aggressor with a final sentence has legal access or custody of children at risk.
- It is essential that the sanctions be greater for any father or mother who has committed serious attacks against a minor.
- Implement the figure of the “children’s defender”, a person trained to identify, alert and report possible cases of abuse, especially when women do not dare to report.
In it # Movement We reject all forms of abuse and violence. Don’t forget that the only way to stop these scourges is through reporting. Don’t stay silent!
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