This Violence Which Is Not One

In the publication Ese sexo que no es uno (This Sex Which Is Not One, Akal, 2009), the philosopher Luce Irigaray sets out to travel through the monolithic representation of the sexual to recognise and liberate difference and multiplicity in pleasure. Under the title This Violence Which Is Not One, this encounter looks to emulate this defiant gesture, questioning a rigid imaginary of violence against women and the ideas of social justice associated with it. 

Organised with La Laboratoria, this activity, part of a broader programme developed in parallel in Madrid, Terrasa and Manresa, is the outcome of a militant research process around systemic violence, set in motion by La Laboratoria two years ago through committed and situated dialogues in the cities of Quito, Buenos Aires, Porto Alegre, São Paulo and Madrid.

By way of a conversation and series of workshops conducted by researchers who have participated in this process, the activity reflects on the different manifestations of patriarchal violence (sexual, physical, economic, legal, psychological) and its inherent relationship with other forms of violence, uncoiling a radical critique of the punitive State and the dynamics of growing criminalisation. Consequently, it aims to foster the search for new horizons of justice and trace tools and strategies which, rather than weaken, strengthen the capacity to do and weave together.   

When we think of the lives of specific women, and the conflicts, paradoxes and challenges of their daily life, what comes to light immediately is the systemic dimension and complex framework of the different forms of violence they face. This violence is articulated permanently and simultaneously on multiple levels: implosion in domestic spaces; the disciplining of bodies on the streets via social and punitive institutions; the regulated movement of people between countries; violence operating as a principle of authority in working-class areas; the plundering of common land and resources; the exploitation and appropriation of vital energy; and the colonisation of futures through the financialisation of social life.   

The programme This Violence Which Is Not One. Taking Back the Power Stolen from Us is the continuation of two encounters held previously in the Museo Reina Sofía: the session Situated Research in Contexts of Violence, as part of the Critical Node Militant Research, from the Museo Reina Sofía’s Study Programme Connective Tissue, and In the Spider’s Web. Children, Institutional Violence and Feminist Horizons of Justice. Furthermore, it completes the initiatives driven by La Laboratoria, Weakening Violence. The School of Popular Feminisms, and the same-titled publication Esa violencia que no es una. Movimiento feminista, Estado punitivo y otros horizontes de justicia (This Violence Which Is Not One. The Feminist Movement, Punitive State and Other Horizons of Justice, La Laboratoria, 2024).