Topic 3 Gender Based Violence Pyramid
All right, let’s keep that definition in a safe place, and we promise to come back…
But now move on…
In this topic we want to focus on the degrees, so to speak, of Gender Based Violence.
Johan Galtung defined a pyramid (as you can see, these authors, they are like pharaohs, always thinking of pyramids!) where you can place different acts of GBV. According to the Norwegian sociologist, GBV pyramid has two parts (a visible and an invisible one) but the visible one is, often, the tip of the iceberg. The basis of violence are not where we can see them, but where we cannot, it is in the cultural and social blueprints.
At the top of the pyramid we place the assassination (perfectly visible) of a woman from a man, something that there is a common agreement that is absolutely wrong and condemnable.
The level below is called the Explicit Visible Form. As its name suggests, there we find still explicit and also visible forms of violence, which they are, therefore, susceptible of being reported.
The next level below is called Explicit Invisible Form, meaning still explicit forms of violence but they rest “hidden” to the view of our social environment.
And at the bottom floor of the pyramid we find the Subtle Invisible Form, meaning “hidden” as the one before, but also subtle, sometimes even for the victim.
And it all takes place in a Patriarchal Society.
