“Basta uma crise”: a violência doméstica e familiar contra mulheres na pandemia da COVID-19 analisada a partir da teoria da reprodução social

Abstract

The research analyzes the socio-material factors associated with the increase in domestic violence against women in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on criminology as a theoretical basis, particularly the critiques addressed by feminism to critical criminology, and on Social Reproduction Theory, which seeks to analyze the oppression of women in the capitalist mode of production from a unitary theory, recovering the Marxian notion of social totality. To achieve its intended objective, the research sought to answer the following question: how is it possible to establish, through Social Reproduction Theory as an analytical lens for the phenomenon, the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of neoliberal capitalism, and the increase in domestic violence against women experienced in Brazil during the pandemic period? The analysis relied on data produced by the Brazilian Forum on Public Security. From the analysis of the documents produced by the Forum, there is evidence of an increase in femicide cases at the beginning of the pandemic compared to the same period in 2019, while records of intentional bodily injury, threats, and rape showed a decrease in comparison to the same time frame in 2019, possibly due to women’s difficulties in moving around and their continued coexistence with aggressors as a result of lockdowns imposed by certain state governments. Such data indicate that, although there was a reduction in the records of these crimes, the increase in the number of femicides reveals that violence against women rose during the pandemic period. The impact of the pandemic, coupled with the context of neoliberal policies, is highlighted as an aggravating factor for women’s vulnerability. Finally, this research examines the relevance of social solidarity initiatives as forms of resistance and responses to economic and social crises, as alternatives that reaffirm the importance of collective organization and the mobilization of male and female workers in the face of the limitations of the capitalist social order