Visible-Invisible in Urban Latin America

• In Event: Ahora me ves, ahora no: Espacios invisibles en la geografía latinoamericana

Abstract

The critical increase of inter-personal violence in Latin America is a sort of violence that affects mainly urban youth. While social exclusion and related violence can have dire consequences for the general population, the effect on youth, both as victims and as perpetrators, is even more severe. No single factor can explain why so many countries and cities in the region are witnessing escalating levels of violence. In Latin American societies, as elsewhere, collective and inter-personal violence remains an extremely complex phenomenon with roots that can be traced to the interaction of overlapping factors –some biological, some social and cultural, some historical, and others economic and political. Gender violence is one of many perspectives we can take when analyzing violent behaviors in a society. The term itself, gender violence, is usually understood as violence against women, even though in reality any type of violence is gendered given that men and women face different risks as offenders or victims of violent behavior. For some men in Latin America, there is a significant gap between the dominant models of masculinity established by their traditional societies and the reality of what they themselves can achieve. This is particularly true in the case of young, unemployed, and socially excluded men. Still, the social pressure to conform to dominant versions of masculinity is often intense and the consequences of not conforming can be harsh.

Author

• Juana Gamero de Coca, Middlebury College