Critical analysis of gender-based violence

Content description
Using a discussion tool, participants will be able to analyse sentences that can be heard in their daily lives, connecting them to diff erent situations of violence. This awareness is a way of launching a debate on
typologies of gender violence.

Practical use
As a first step, form groups of 3 to 4 people and hand out a copy of the table of different ways of control.
You can also display the board in a corner of the room.
Explain to the participants that they will be using the board during the exercise.

Before the workshop, you will prepare sentences from everyday life that can express a situation of inequality, control or submission between women and men.

Here are some examples of sentences to write on small papers for each participant to pick one :

• I didn’t hurt him very much.
• When I’m alone, my boss tries to kiss me.
• Sorry for the slap, I didn’t know what I was doing, I’d had too much to drink.
• I don’t want you to work, you have to stay home !
• In my relationship, there has to be sex almost every day.
• It’s a compliment when someone whistles at you in the street.
• When a girl says no, it often means yes.

In sub-groups, ask each participant to pick a piece of paper with a sentence written on it. The person presents the sentence to the others, indicating whether he or she thinks it was said by a man or a woman. Then, each
participant imagines the context in which the sentence could have been said and each links the sentence to the different ways of control board which was distributed/posted at the beginning of the workshop.
You can give a sheet of paper for the group to annotate their views. Give them about ten minutes to discuss the sentence.

Finally, open the debate in plenary. Each group is then invited to present the sentence they have picked, the context they have imagined and the means of control to which it corresponds. The other participants can complete or share their questions.

In conclusion, you can show the participants how relevant it is to be aware of the different types and techniques of control between people. Indeed, the
more an individual knows about the violence he or she may be confronted with, the more he or she will be able to identify, name and denounce it (cf.
section I want to understand).

Point of attention ! : The facilitation of this workshop requires the facilitator to have a minimum knowledge of the different types of violence and the cycle of violence.