In English, there is the word “homicide,” which means “murder” or “killing” of another human being. That term applies to victims of all genders. So why have a separate category for the murder of women? Unlike homicide, explains Forchieri, femicide refers specifically to the killing of women in which there is a gender-related element. These killings are the outcome of gender inequality, often in combination with racial and economic injustice or other forms of discrimination related to sexual orientation, ability, etc.
“The concept of femicide calls attention to the gender of victims and perpetrators and to the structural causes of the violence. For this reason it can help us understand the killing of women not as isolated, extraordinary incidents, but rather as a systemic problem. Perpetrators, in fact, are for the larger part not monsters, but instead ordinary men driven by patriarchal notions of women as objects that can be owned, disciplined, or punished by men.”
Latin America
The term “femicide” was first used by South African sociologist Diana Russell in the 1970s. But awareness about the term only increased significantly in the 1990s, when Mexican academics introduced it in the Latin American debate. At the time, there was a spike in the murder of women in the border town of Ciudad Juárez and local academics and activists began referring to the crimes as femicides. Forchieri: “They wanted to understand the crimes through a feminist lens and to incriminate state authorities for a climate of impunity that allowed the murders to continue.”
Naming the killings as “femicides” was enormously effective to move the topic of violence against women from the private to the public domain. The popularization of the concept of femicide, for example, enabled the emergence of new forms of feminist activism and collective commemoration. The victims were memorialized through monuments, memorials, books and plays. In the years that followed, more and more Latin American countries adopted laws characterizing femicide as a separate category of crime. 'The region is leading the way in fighting femicide,' according to Forchieri. The use of the word “femicide” plays a crucial role in this, she argues. 'You can't mobilize against something without a name.'
Forchieri studies books on femicide by women writers from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador. Over the past 15 years, many novels, as well as short stories, memoirs, and nonfictional works have been published in Latin American countries around this theme. 'Literature makes people much more aware of the problem,' said the literary scholar. 'Communities of survivors, writers, and readers have emerged in these countries who struggle to remember the victims and continue to call attention to the problem.'
Less sensational
Books in which women are murdered abound, but many do not do justice to the complexity and gravity of the problem. Forchieri: “Many older books romanticize femicide. They present the killing of women as a ‘crime of passion,’ excusing male violence by framing it as the uncontrollable result of jealousy or other strong emotions. In other instances, murders of women are presented as an erotic subject: that's called necropornography. You often see that in thrillers, with lots of details about the victim's body. A new generation of women authors is trying to change that narrative, by not sensationalizing these kinds of murders, but instead humanizing the victims or teaching the reader something about the system behind many murders of women.'
Mexican author Christina Rivera Garza won the Pullitzer Prize with “Liliana's Invincible Summer,” about the murder of her own sister Liliana, who was murdered at age 20 by her boyfriend. With that book, Rivera Garza wrote a reconstruction of Liliana's life and death, using diary excerpts. It shows that in the year before her death, Liliana became increasingly free and wanted to break off her unhealthy relationship, but was murdered for that reason by her boyfriend, who did not accept her leaving him. Forchieri: “The transnational popularity of books like this helps increase the awareness of femicide in Europe and beyond.’
Europe
This familiarity in Europe is much needed, the researcher believes. 'In countries like the Netherlands, the idea often prevails that femicide does not occur here, but mainly in 'the global south' or within migrant communities. This is called the ‘culturization’ of gender violence, which frames the phenomenon as specific to particular geographical locations or cultures. Murders here tend to be seen as isolated incidents, when in fact here, too, they are often rooted in gender discrimination in combination with other forms of inequality.' The term was picked up in Spain and Italy several years ago, but more recently in Germany and the Netherlands.
Through social media, Latin American books, artworks and campaigns around femicide went everywhere. For example, the activists hashtag #NiUnaMenos (not one woman less) from Argentina and #VivasNosQueremos (we want to live) from Mexico went viral. Similarly, the performance “Un violador en tu camino” (a rapist on your path) by Chilean feminist collective Las Tesis, was replicated across national borders in 2019 (see also this earlier Recharge article on research by Professor of Spanish Language and Culture Brigitte Adriaensen, ed.). And Mexican artist Elina Chauvet created the artwork “red shoes,” which was taken up in Amsterdam and elsewhere, in memory of women killed by femicide.
'Artworks and books don't solve the problem,' Forchieri says. 'But they do give the insight that there is a problem and create ways to commemorate victims where before there was silence and forgetting. Moreover, they can be used as teaching materials in schools and for adults. Literature can help us see how “ordinary” forms of violence such as street harassment and stalking can lead to femicide. Measures such as the Dutch action plan against femicide can help protect women from this kind of violence."