Violence against females is unfortunately an astounding reality in Guatemala. Some say it is even “naturalized” within the country. The country of Guatemala has one of the highest rates of violent female deaths in the world (Torres, 2019). According to Guatemala’s National Institute of Statistics, more than eleven thousand females (women and girls) were murdered between January 2000 and May 2018 (Torres, 2019). The politically correct term for this instance of violence is called femicide. Feminist sociologist Diana Russell brought this term into fruition explaining it as “the killing of females by males because they are female,” exists only because it is sustained by culturally accepted practices that promote gendered violence, including the socially tolerated forms of sexual abuse, physical and emotional battery, and sexual harassment” (Carey & Torres, 2010).
Though violence runs rampant in the country, violence and trauma are socially not considered to be health issues. Intimate partner violence can lead to injury as a means of deteriorating physical health, increased risk in developing mental health issues and suicidal thoughts, sexual and reproductive issues, and additional mortality resulting in homicide. The most common perpetrators for women being male intimate partners or ex-partners (World Health Organization, 2012). A survey in Guatemala City said that 18% of women aged 15-49 have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner abuse at least once in their lives (UN Women, 2016). An intimate partner is supposed to be one who is loving and supportive, so the statistic is disappointing.
A former Guatemalan coworker of mine who was slightly older than me had told of his time in Guatemala. His father’s violent tendencies towards his mother were one of the reasons he had come to America as his father did not get convicted and never went to jail. This can explain the concept of intergenerational trauma. In which trauma is passed down from trauma survivor to the survivor’s offspring. This concept of intergenerational trauma challenges the biochemical, mechanical models of health. Since it completely excludes the physiological and social influences. Intergenerational trauma actually can manifest physiologically. For example, my coworker’s mother did get into a new relationship after his father and her new significant other had been the same as his father.
When women courageously report their perpetrtors in Guatemala, less than 4% of murder cases result in conviction (Amnesty International, 2013). This in turn makes it even more difficult to obtain justice. Even when judges rule in favor of the female victim, the system gives little protection as around half of the convicted perpetrators can make bail and avoid any incarceration (Carey & Torres, 2010).
Violence in regards to women may have started in early history as early dictatorships’ repressive regimes had taken fully controlled citizens in Guatemala in the early 1900’s (Carey & Torres, 2010). Controlling regimes of rulers have used terror and violence to obtain full power. Some Mayan cultural practices like in highland Guatemala allow the occasional wife beating if the wife is being disobedient (Carey & Torres, 2010). Overall perceptions of women being looked at as ‘crazy’ when they’re angry has further justified the right for men to get violent in order to control women (Carey & Torres, 2010).
What action will be taken to revolutionize the way women are being violently treated? In reframing violence against women and trauma as health issues, it will mostly enforce the way in which we understand health, illness, and medicine. With mental health awareness being more apparent in society, it will help legitimize the violence against women and the trauma experienced. Medicine, which is used to heal an illness we “catch,” or more as a tool to help decrease pain will highlight the lasting effects of violence and trauma. Though, the trauma being treated as an illness that is consequential to the violence against women may make others see the violence in a different light. Illness can be lasting. Consequential illnesses and/or ailments resulting from the violence may make others realize the effects of violence and trauma being a lifelong burden of mental, physical, and/or emotional harm. Going to the source by educating others, especially males, on the issue will reduce violence against women. Also, increased governmental effort by the Guatemalan government in taking cases of violence against women will give other women courage and “normalize” the criminalization the perpetrators, and therefore, the act of violence.
Carey, D. & Torres G. “Precursors to Femicide: Guatemalan Women in a Vortex of Violence.” Latin American Research Review, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2010, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21188891.
“Global Database on Violence against Women.” Guatemala, UN Women, 2016. evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/en/countries/americas/guatemala?typeofmeasure=1aca09c2184e44908117235752781b4f.
Torres, M.G. 2019. “Gender-Based Violence and the Plight of Guatemalan Refugees.” Hot Spots, Fieldsights, January 23 2019. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/gender-based-violence-and-the-plight-of-guatemalan-refugees.
Understanding and Addressing Violence Against Women. World Health Organization, 2012, drive.google.com/file/d/1v3A9iFgtYMr27iQxastE2blCwzr72AUe/view.
“Why Does Guatemala Have One of the Highest Rates of Femicide in the World?” Amnesty International, 23 Jan. 2013, www.amnestyusa.org/why-does-guatemala-have-one-of-the-highest-rates-of-femicide-in-the-world/.
Hello Stephanie, I felt that your post was very enlightening and resourceful as many people are not aware of these violent acts that are occurring every day in Guatemala. I feel so terrible for the women who are going through this and wish there were more awareness about this so that people were aware of this. I found this similar to my country of Ethiopia, were domestic abuse from a male partner is normalized and it is against their culture to speak out about the abuse that they face constantly and can even be killed if they do speak out. A question that I have about your country is where does this hatred originate from? Is it a religious belief or could it have derived from slavery as many places in Central America were impacted by European settlers? My country also had one of the highest rates of violent domestic abuse deaths in the world and I am glad that we have brought awareness to this so further steps can be taken.
Intergenerational trauma manifests itself in different ways, not only does it affect the next generation in ways like your co-worker, it can manifest in another generation of abused and abusers. I have known many women to seek out relationships with men like their fathers (or mothers) and find themselves in abusive relationships like their mother or like they experienced growing up.
Have you had a chance to look into the recent Mayan genocide that took place between 1960-1996? That may provide you with some contexts to where some of the intergenerational violence stems from.
Hi Stephanie, thanks for sharing more with us about the country of Guatemala and your perspective on the medicalization of gender-based violence and trauma. The statistics you cited really highlight the horrific rate at which women are suffering at the hands of men in Guatemala, and it reinforces the need for political and social reform to protect women from femicide and other forms of violence/abuse. I like how you used more of a feminist theoretical perspective to analyze the prompt and this week’s topics, and placed women at the center of the issue of violence in an effort to view Guatemalan homicide statistics from another angle and break down just exactly why this group is being victimized. The physical and psychological health risks you tied to GBV and trauma really support the idea that medicalizing violence against women would help legitimize the issue, which seems to be one of the largest barriers to women’s push to end GBV in Guatemala (i.e. women being viewed as ‘crazy’, as deserving punishment, as lesser, etc.). I was surprised that you felt that medicalizing violence against women would shift the perception of GBV to one more representative of a “…lifelong burden of mental, physical, and/or emotional harm”; in my post, I took a different approach, and stated that viewing GBV as a health concern in a Western biomedicine would make people view sexual/physical/emotional abuse and its effects against women as something that should be ‘cured’ or something that can be solved quickly and efficiently. As it is now, our biomedical system is not designed to allow physicians take the time to be empathetic and address all of a woman’s needs as a survivor of violence or abuse. While I understand your take, I challenge you to see the medicalization of GBV and trauma as a potentially more detrimental way to examine violence against women; if you still disagree, what are some of the other advantages you see to GBV’s medicalization? How would this medicalization of trauma fit with Guatemala’s health framework, and would it challenge or reinforce Guatemala’s approach to health, illness, and medicine? Lastly, if we were to avoid medicalizing the violence facing women, what other way could we orient abuse, violence, and femicide in the public eye to spark a change? Great post!