Gender-Based Violence: Perspectives

In light of the current context—including the ongoing discussion in the Senate about Bill 1,168 of 2024, which proposes that the crime of bodily harm committed in situations of domestic and family violence against women become non-bailable—I decided to revisit the 18th Brazilian Yearbook of Public Security 2024. Published in March, the document exposes a devastating panorama of gender-based violence in Brazil. The statistics reveal significant increases in all types of aggression against women, but it is still important to remember that official data represent only a fraction of this reality.

Underreporting is a serious issue. According to estimates, a large portion of victims never report the crimes they suffer, often due to fear of retaliation or distrust in the protection system. Feminist sociologist Heleieth Saffioti once stated that “violence against women is not an isolated act, but a mechanism of social control.” This control is reflected in the rising numbers, but also in what remains hidden within the statistics.

Among the most alarming data are femicides, which continue to grow, totaling 1,467 women murdered in 2023. Of these cases, 63% of the perpetrators were intimate partners and 21.2% were ex-partners. These numbers, though tragic, do not capture the entirety of the problem. As anthropologist Rita Laura Segato noted, “femicide is the culmination of a trajectory of invisible violences that begin long before the final crime.” In addition, there were 258,941 reports of domestic violence, and attempted femicides increased by 7.1%, totaling 2,797 victims.

Cases of psychological violence also rose sharply, with a 33.8% increase, while stalking reports grew by 34.5%, highlighting how these forms of violence, though often less visible, are equally devastating. As Bell Hooks wrote, “patriarchy has taught men to dominate and women to submit, and silence is one of the most powerful weapons in this process.” That silence fuels underreporting and perpetuates cycles of abuse.

Sexual violence also showed alarming growth, with 83,988 victims of rape or statutory rape in the past year—an increase of 91.5% between 2011 and 2023. Among the victims, 76.0% were classified as vulnerable and 88.2% were women, with 52.2% being Black. Furthermore, sexual violence disproportionately affects the most vulnerable age groups: 61.6% of rape victims were 13 years old or younger. Writer and activist Audre Lorde consistently emphasized the need to protect the most vulnerable, stating that “revolution is not a single-issue struggle but the interconnection of all struggles.”

The profile of aggressors reveals that most cases of child sexual abuse occurred within the home, with 64% committed by family members. These numbers reinforce the claim of author and social critic Silvia Federici, who argued that “the home is often the space where patriarchal violence is most intensely reproduced, even though it should be the place where women feel safest.” Federici stresses that the reproduction of violence in the private sphere is an integral part of the patriarchal structure that keeps women subordinate and vulnerable.

Other forms of violence have also grown at alarming rates. Reports of sexual harassment increased by 47.8%, with 41,371 cases recorded, and reports of the dissemination of rape scenes or pornography rose by 48.7%, showing the proliferation of violence in digital spaces as well.

In this context, it is clear that gender-based violence in Brazil remains an urgent and structural issue, demanding solutions that go beyond punishment alone. As feminist writer Angela Davis has pointed out, “we are not fighting for reforms; we are fighting for radical transformations.” Therefore, it is crucial to rethink public policies and promote structural change—changes that not only protect women but also challenge the patriarchy and racial inequality that sustain this violence.