What is (not) feminicide

professionals’ narratives about murders of women

Abstract

Faced with the murder of a woman, which factors will be considered for this death be framed as feminicide? This article aims to analyze, based on interviews with  professionals working on multiple agencies in the criminal justice system, the centrality of the domestic setting in the understanding of feminicide. If the deaths of women in others contexts, like state violence and drug trafficking, can be crossed by gender inequalities, it is worth questioning why they are not framed as feminicide. Furthermore, we problematize that policies that aims to combat violence against women disconnected from the debat for changes in security policies that have victimized young black men, make the lives of certain womane more vulnerable, preventing the access to protective mechanisms. This reflection seeks ways to think about policies for women in a broader way and articulated with racial inequalities.