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By Bernice González

Translated by Aline Aceituno

The term “feminicide” commonly refers to the gender-specific killing of women. Diana Russell and Jill Radford define “feminicide” as: ‘the set of acts and violent behaviours against women because they are women, which sometimes lead to murder’ (Diana Russell and Jill Radford cited in Lagarde (2006a: 2020)). This definition was further articulated in Mexico by the anthropologist Marcela Lagarde, so it would not be confused or lost in translation from English to Spanish as feminicide or female homicide; in other words, it would not only be considered a feminisation of the concept of homicide – the killing of a person by another person or group of people.

For this reason, understanding meaning and context is essential to articulate feminicide as a gendered crime and, at the same time, root it out from our communities. This is because ‘Feminicide is the culmination of violence against women… violence and impunity are added to the homicides’ (Lagarde, 2005: 151). Thus, articulating feminicide as a gendered crime appeals to a violent social structure in which impunity against women is not only perpetuated but also normalised. In the context of Mexico, feminicide as a concept has acquired a theoretical quality with a political sense, as Lagarde points out (2006a):

This is mostly a type of violence inflicted by men on women, not only by men, but by men placed in social, sexual, judicial, economic, political, ideological and other kind of supremacy, on women in conditions of inequality, subordination, exploitation or oppression, and with the particularity of exclusion (221)

It is extremely important to recognize this last dimension of the concept of feminicide, as it allows us to understand that feminicide is not only a fatal encounter between individuals – that is, between a perpetrator and a victim – but also the state/government because they have a responsibility; for instance, state failures are revealed in the number of cases that go unpunished, lack of accurate recording of feminicides, and neglect of the root causes.  “Las muertas de Juárez” (“The dead women of Ciudad Juárez”), the incessant death of women that occurred for 11 years (1993-2004) in Ciudad Juárez in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico and was perpetrated with excessive use of cruelty, with evidence of mass rape and torture on victims with similar physical and social characteristics, is a typical example of state failure.

The anthropologist Rita Segato identified that these cases were characterized by impunity in a) the absence of convincing defendants to public opinion; b) the absence of consistent lines of enquiry; and c) their consequences. The shameless and endless cycle of repetition of these types of crimes continues to target women across Mexico. Those impacted by the heinous crime are mainly women and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds including women living in poverty in situations of unequal rights and subordination. In fact, such murders are often committed by relatives, partners or people close to the victims and these murders are committed with extreme levels of cruelty including torture, rape, asphyxiation, dismemberment or/and burning of the bodies.

Therefore, feminicide continues to be perpetuated both in private and public spaces and places. In the end, feminicide is a misogynous crime fuelled by hatred, contempt, pleasure or an inhuman bondage of ownership. And such violent attitudes and practices are not only tolerated but also enabled by the patriarchal state.