Methodological Foundations for the Intervention and Cohesion of Female Survivors of Different Sexist Impacts
In this document, we outline different methodological foundations for working and conducting interventions in groups of women who have survived various sexist impacts. One of the first aspects we must recognize is the diversity of individuals within any human group.
When we intervene, it's crucial to understand that when a woman has experienced a sexist situation or impact, she goes through a process that includes decisions and actions occurring over months, years, or even a lifetime. Therefore, it's essential to respect their timelines and spaces, as each woman experiences her own unique journey.
This journey progresses from the experience and impact of the violence she has endured to her empowerment. However, the empowerment process doesn't mark the end of her path towards well-being or recovery of control over her life; it is a gradual and gradual process aimed at regaining control of their lives, decisions, self-esteem, self-concept, and psychological well-being.
In any human group, we find a great diversity of experiences, roles, personalities, needs, and ways of seeing the world. Women who have experienced different traumas in response to received sexist violence have seen their personality and control over their lives eroded due to situations of dominance and coercion.
In this project and in social projects working with this group, we must incorporate a gender perspective, moving away from the omnipresent androcentric conception in our world. Androcentrism assumes that the male perspective is the only possible and universal one, so it's understandable that participants may feel reluctant and alert when directed by a man, as he has not faced the same situations of violence and inequality that a woman experiences simply because of her gender.
Our project must have the objective and foundation of empowering the women who are part of it, becoming both the process and the outcome. We must view and approach the project as a participatory and developmental group process, serving as active and positive growth for the women involved, ensuring that participants have a voice and a vote. Communication should be horizontal, informing the participants about all elements of the activities, making them feel safe and comfortable. It's important to consult with them to determine their readiness to participate at each moment, allowing each woman to decide her level of involvement and exposure to the group.
The processes of empowerment and recovery for women who have experienced sexist impacts can extend for a long time, even a lifetime. Throughout the project, emotional support will be provided to the participants, reinforcing their personal value and dignity, promoting respectful relationships regarding their participation decisions, showing maximum empathy and respect when they express aspects of their experiences. They should not feel like mere sources of information for the project. All activities should be carried out with the participation and consent of the participants.
Our project aims to create a network of women, a support and mutual aid group, fostering sisterhood among participants. This network will be accompanied by one or several facilitators with specialized knowledge in promoting equality, gender perspective, and the prevention of sexist violence.
Working within an integrated ecological framework for understanding and studying violence against women, we will explore emotional styles, lack of emotional control, low frustration tolerance, difficulty in setting boundaries, lack of security, and assertive communication. We will consider learned family patterns, different life expectations and ways of relating (romantic myths about relationships and love, gender-based differential education, asymmetrical and unequal power relationships between women and men). At the root of sexist violence or impacts lie power imbalances in relationships between women and men, imbalances visible in all social spheres. These imbalances underpin inequalities and a greater power status for men compared to women.
Our societies have tended to normalize and justify these inequalities by promoting different values and expectations for men and women, known as gender-based differential socialization.
Currently, violence against women is seen as a social and structural problem. As a summary of the project methodology, we highlight the following premises:
Integral and specialized treatment of sexist violence.
Establishing relationships based on mutual respect among ourselves.
Avoiding re-victimization of participants, always respecting their processes and will.
Strengthening personal and group empowerment.
Exploring our bodies and other forms of expression to convey a clear message to the world. Our bodies carry the account of all our experiences, our life thread; exploring alternative ways of communication and expression is crucial to unlocking aspects that we cannot express rationally or consciously. Artistic expression and movement will be fundamental in conveying the message we want to share with the world.
Living together and forming bonds among women helps us understand that what we believed to be personal becomes structural when we hear it from others.
These methodological foundations will guide the entire project and activities carried out with different groups of women beneficiaries.
Author: Paula García Gironés operatrice di parità di genere, Igualtat Mmva Manco Vall d'Albaida
Progetto Silence is an Erasmus Plus project based on the bidirectional methodology of Theater-dance, autobiographical and authored by the drama therapist and director Domingo Ferrandis
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