The debate on whether the case of Anna and Olivia can be considered vicarious violence

Anna, one year old, and Olivia, six, her father, Tomás Gimeno, killed in Tenerife, throwing them into the sea.From that moment on, the term Vicaria violence is on everyone's lips, politicians, media, psychologists and experts, but there is a division of opinions on the proper use of the term.Since 2013, according to data from the Government delegation against gender violence, 41 minors are killed at the hands of their parents, mothers or couples of these.

Vicaria violence, is a term that popularized the clinical psychologist Sonia Vaccaro in 2012 referred only to cases of sexist violence.She defines it as "that violence against women that the violent man exercises using the daughters or sons as objects to damage it".

It can generate confusion

According to Vaccaro's approach, 'vicaria violence' would only affect women."It is an erroneous approach, because the use of minors to harm the other parent is a behavior observed in men and women, as well as in same -sex couples," says sexologist Loola Pérez.

The coroner Miguel Lorente, former government of the Government against gender violence, says that it is an ancient and emphasized that, "we are seeing in recent months that its use is not always done well, it is related to specific aggressions, not with violencethat children suffer daily, and this can produce consequences that are not accepted by the scientific community, such as the alienation of sons and daughters ".

"Vicaria violence is not gender violence, it can be used within gender violence, but also in other violent contexts when a person is put to cause damage to another.It is what happens when someone seeks to adjust accounts and kidnap a child or a daughter of her goal and uses it as a blackmail or to damage it directly, "says the forensic Lorente, in a recently published articulated.

"Although its use is related to the cases of gender violence that we have known lately, especially with the terrible murder of Olivia and Anna, its approach focuses the idea of violence in the fact itself of aggression, not on the context ofthe violence of which arises.Its use appears loaded with neutrality and facilitates confusion, as it can be used for both situations of gender violence, and has happened in Tenerife, and for other violent circumstances, as has happened these same days in the case of the mother who has murderedTo his daughter Yaiza in Barcelona, "Lorente adds.Yaiza, four years she was killed by her mother in San Joan Despí, in Barcelona.

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Minors are victims in themselves

Pérez, goes further, and assures that "the correct term is revenge (more concrete, referring to children) or doubly punitive family (as a general term, encompasses family members in general), alreadythat these terms allow us to compare international studies.Vicaria violence is an ideological and acientific term.That is, the filicide is used for violence to men and women not only to women as the Italian psychologist suggests.

"There are parents who use children to harm.It is often seen in family courts.That behavior exists.It is not about denying that reality but of understanding it rigorously and not exclusively associated with 'machismo' or male.That is to de facto a bias, "says Pérez who adds that" evaluating whether a minor suffers a risk of violence by the parent or parent is a crucial task for its integrity.Childhood is not a secondary issue.The indicators in this regard must be rigorous, not biased and not condition the diagnostic tools ".

Therefore, he focuses on other murders, committed by both parents and mothers, who do not receive the same attention.In the case of the Yaiza girl, her father has lamented in a letter to the media that the institutions have not "unanimously condemned the crime".

"There should be no first and second victims.Anna and Olivia are as victims as Yaiza although her mother has killed her, it would also be family, although in her point of view, non -violence vicaria."It is unfair that some victims receive more support and resources of help than others, depending on how they are cataloged inside or outside a case of gender violence.While Beatriz Zimmerman can socially assume that label and benefit from the available resources, Sergio, Yaiza's father, does not, "says the sexologist, and adds that this can be quite discriminatory and insensitive, especially considering that they have lived somethingvery similar and terrible.

This conceptual heart leads us to a negative practical impact because we do not address with guarantees the suffering of those victims who are independent.Therefore, he claims the investigation, in order to prevent this type of crime.The term does not focus on victims as a child.Vicaria violence is only addressed to women and we forget that children are victims in themselves not through their mother.It can be used by revenge but you have to focus on both parts, "concludes Pérez.

"Talking about vicarious violence to refer to the violence suffered by sons and daughters within gender violence must be accompanied by their explicit mention, and talking about" vicarious violence in gender violence ", otherwise the true will be hidden againOrigin of this violence against children, and the meaning of a violence characterized by continuity and perseverance will be lost, not only by specific attacks, "explains Lorente.

"It is not a legal term but correct"

For its part, the Observatory against Gender Violence points out that vicaria violence is not a legal term although it is correct."It is not a term that appears in any legal text, psychologists usually use it but it is perfectly correct to indicate the damage caused to a woman through the people closest to her, as the last case we have known of the girls of the girls ofTenerife.Although not only refers to children, if the current woman's or family partner is harmed that would also be vicaria violence. ”.

It is true that this term was used in the State Pact against Gender Violence, approved in 2017, and provides to extend the protection of the law to those who have suffered violence "as the most extreme damage that the abuser can exercise towards a woman: damage and/or kill the children ".Of course, it should not be used as something isolated, we must always refer to vicarious violence within gender violence, sources from the Observatory say.

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